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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Accidentally didn't pay..

158 replies

Epilepsyhelp · 03/08/2015 11:14

So I went shopping for my friend's DS first birthday. I bought a few little outfits in M&S, I was vaguely aware that I'd spent maybe £70. Added some food bits in as well, went to the till.

I watch the guy ring everything up, carefully taking things off hangers etc and scanning them all. Came out at £58. Ooh, I must have added wrong, I thought.

Headed home, wrapped them all up, put the receipt away in case something didn't fit. Handed gifts over.

I was thinking about it later and thought, I'll check the receipt. A whole outfit wasn't scanned. Shock

AIBU not to go back and explain/pay? Maybe this should be in WWYD - I feel guilty but it's five days later now!

OP posts:
DownWithThisTypeOfThing · 03/08/2015 11:49

I'd leave it I think. But I'm lazy and I hate shopping - doing one trip to m&s is a PITA so doing a second one because of someone else's error just wouldn't happen.

Etak15 · 03/08/2015 11:53

It's their fault you didn't hide anything you put all the stuff there to be scanned and they didn't scan it. The charity idea is good though will make you feel better. Or if you real feel that it rightly belongs to M&S you could email them to explain and offer to send them a cheque?Why should you have to waste your time and fuel going back to the shop to pay for it when it was there mistake.

TheFlis12345 · 03/08/2015 11:54

I bought a big fluffy dressing down that was on sale in a department store a couple of years ago. It was only when I got home and put it on that I found 2 MAC lipsticks in the pocket! I must have unwittingly interrupted someone else's shoplifting scam. Very glad the assistant didn't find them as she put it through the till or it would have looked like I was trying to nick them. I didn't take them back!

gabsdot45 · 03/08/2015 11:54

Why not pay the £12 forward. Give it to charity or something

Littleen · 03/08/2015 11:55

I would just leave it, it's a big chain, they can cope :P

ImperialBlether · 03/08/2015 11:56

My mum left M&S with a bottle of wine they hadn't paid for. They went back a week later (when they would normally have gone back) and told the supervisor. Great big kerfuffle ensued, but they did pay and were given a tiny gift (something chocolate, I think) for their trouble. The staff were very, very glad they'd paid, though.

I don't agree with everyone saying, "Oh don't bother going back" - it's theft if you keep the goods and it's theft that helps keep prices high.

ActiviaYoghurt · 03/08/2015 11:57

It happened to me in Next recently, only realised when I looked for the receipt as it was a gift. Don't worry about it OP, don't risk getting the cashier into trouble by going back and I have just looked at M&S annual report for 2014, their turnover was £10.3bn, this really is a drop in the Ocean

BadLad · 03/08/2015 12:07

Why not spend the twelve quid in their shop? Then they make some of it back in profit, and you get a few extra bits of food or a bottle of wine. Everyone's a winner.

Original poster
Epilepsyhelp · 03/08/2015 12:13

I was worried someone would come on and say it was theft Sad I thought there had to be dishonesty involved for that. I put it through the till, he picked each item up and took them off hangers etc, I cannot think how he came to not scan it because it looked like he did.

I have never knowingly taken something without paying nor would I. Overwhelmingly it sounds like I'm going to get in trouble if I go back, or the cashier is. Only one person so far has said the shop was grateful and nice about it.

OP posts:
DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 03/08/2015 12:13

I've seen threads like this before and the majority tend to say it's stealing/ go back to the store/ give to charity .

In reality everyone I know in RL would be delighted and leave it at thatWink

ShortandSweeter · 03/08/2015 12:22

I'd go back but only when I happened to be passing. I wouldn't feel comfortable otherwise.

Kreeshsheesh · 03/08/2015 12:24

I would go back. My dm did something similar at an m & s. They were so touched by her honesty (and it was a few days after) that the manager came over and presented her with a bouquet of flowers.

BerylStreep · 03/08/2015 12:31

It's not theft. The definition is to dishonestly appropriate property with the intention of permanently depriving them of it.

There was no dishonesty. They made a mistake. You only discovered the mistake later.

I personally wouldn't go back. Too much inconvenience, likelihood of hassle.

SantasLittleMonkeyButler · 03/08/2015 12:37

Am I the only person thinking that £70 for a friend's DS's first birthday is a bit overly generous? Blush

Maybe I'm just mean Grin.

Anyhow, no, I wouldn't go back. It was their mistake. Had you realised at the till then, yes, mention it. But go back once you've unpacked the shopping & wrapped the items up? No.

JaneAustinAllegro · 03/08/2015 12:38

theFlis that dressing gown story gives me the heeby jeebies - having once been apprehended by Lillywhites store security as a suspected thief (I wanted to buy some sports kit but the security tag had come off and made a hole; i went to the till and asked for the same item but new without the hole - they reported me as a thief even though I walked up to the till and tried to purchase!). It was hideous - they really aren't friendly to people they think are stealing. I was bloody furious afterwards, but at the time it was pretty frightening - they sent three big blokes to stop me on the stairs and physically manhandled me back up - am sure it's not allowed

blondegirl73 · 03/08/2015 12:44

This happened to me in M&S. I went back and fessed up. I was worried that NOT going back would get the cashier into trouble rather than the other way round.

Later on that day, as a reward for my honesty, I ran to answer the phone at home (PPI, natch), skidded on the Batmobile, fell on top of the Batcave (damn you Fisher Price and your sturdy toys) and broke my finger.

So my advice to you, is stay at home and stay quiet (and make your children tidy up)

imwithspud · 03/08/2015 12:58

I wouldn't go back, I wouldn't want to get the checkout assistant in trouble.

My DGM accidentally stole a pair of shorts from Sainsbury's a while back, they were half price in the sale. She'd hooked them onto her trolley to make room for her food shop and genuinely forgot to put them on the conveyor belt. She only noticed when we got back to the car, she didn't go back and pay.

IWentAwayIStayedAway · 03/08/2015 13:00

I would ring them tbh.
It is a staff training issue as well - imagine if you had been stopped on the way out!
ask them what they want you to do?

happened to me before and i went back to the till - had not left shop but had went to cafe and was putting receipt in safe part of purse and thats when i noticed i wasn't charged (had bought lots of things)

CalmYourselfTubbs · 03/08/2015 13:05

oh, i would soooooooooooooo not go back.
i wouldn't bring it on myself.

TheRealMaryMillington · 03/08/2015 13:05

M&S and all big companies have a contingency in their budgets for this kind of thing. Their prices reflect this.

You have done nothing dishonest, please don't feel guilty.

IHopeYouStepOnALegoPiece · 03/08/2015 13:18

I "stole" a pack of mini bagels, some chocolate, some cream cheese, a beaker, a pair of kids shoes and an outfit...in one shopping trip to one store last week Hmm

I'd given the baby the bagels to hold and the beaker and cream cheese to the toddler and hung the shoes and outfit on the pram...baby fell asleep so I lay her back and she disappeared under the hood from my view, toddler put the bits under the buggy without me realising and in the midst of the giant tantrum her threw, I forgot about the outfit and shoes and the chocolate was on the hood

That was vaguely mortifying to traipse back in that afternoon with half a bloody weekly shop felt like one anyway

pinkisthenewpink · 03/08/2015 13:33

I've ended up with a random top that wasn't scanned or from my shopping (for a bloke and too big for my dh). Must've just put it in as it was at the side of the till. I hadn't paid for it. I went back (debenhams) and the shop assistant was very Hmm about it, as if I'd had a crisis of confidence about shoplifting. Very unpleasant. I wouldn't go back.

Original poster
Epilepsyhelp · 03/08/2015 14:39

Thanks everyone, definitely too nervous to go back, I will contribute the money to charity instead!

OP posts:
AnnoyedParent22 · 03/08/2015 14:44

I have found I tend to be regularly overcharged in M & S [discounts not registering at the till and items being scanned twice]. My local store is also pretty poor with customer service so when I go to the service desk to rectify the error [and get my money back] I find I am kept there waiting for an eternity and then some brusque, uninterested sales assistant will say nary a word nor an apology and just pass me back my couple of quid or whatever the difference was....

So if your situation happened to me I wouldn't bother going back, no, I would consider it divine retribution against M & S and their shitty customer service Grin

RosePetels · 03/08/2015 14:57

Op I wouldn't go back because they might think you stole it and have a guilty con