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AIBU?

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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:
Original poster
Epilepsyhelp · 03/08/2015 16:53

Problem is SDTG I'd already gifted the outfit before I'd realised! Blush along with all the other outfits that he did manage to scan.. I could of course go back in and explain all of it, but I'm nervous I'll be treated as a thief and frankly it's a long way back to town and would use all my lunch break!

OP posts:
Andrewofgg · 03/08/2015 17:20

I have found myself in a similar fix - I just put the money in a charity box and decided that the shareholders of Boots could live without it.

GetTheFudgeOutOfRodge · 03/08/2015 17:52

I once was having a little look around some shops, went to get something from pushchair basket and found several items of baby clothes that must have fallen in whilst I was squeezing it through too small gaps pushing it through Matalan.
My heart started thumping, I felt myself blush, I froze to the spot!
I just stared at it for a minute whilst deciding how best to deal with it and going through the conversation in my head with a shop assistant.
In the end I knew from seeing Orange is the New Black that I would never survive lock up so I ran back in, threw the clothes in the right area and ran away as fast as I could whilst feeling like I was in some sort of heist based film.

Original poster
Epilepsyhelp · 03/08/2015 20:22

getthefudge Grin

OP posts:
SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 03/08/2015 21:24

Andrewofgg - the Boots' shareholders were never going to lose that money - as I said earlier, it is classed as shrinkage by the retailers, and makes up a percentage of the price of everything in the shop - so it was the customers of Boots who paid for your items.

whatarethose · 03/08/2015 21:25

I would think 'result'.

nitsparty · 03/08/2015 21:51

I'd like to say I would, but tbh, I most probably wouldn't.

Nervypreg · 03/08/2015 22:02

I can't believe you have given it another thought, other than "ha haaa!". Don't even think about going back, they've got bigger fish to fry. My dd once put a load of stuff in the pushchair basket of her little ds and I walked out of that shop completely oblivious. If it's a little one-off shop I'd take it back, but a great big profiteering giant like m&s?! Pffft! Not a chance.

ListenWillYou · 03/08/2015 22:04

I would phone customer services and offer to pay. I wouldn't feel comfortable getting something for free because a cashier made a mistake.

I once ordered a kitchen utensil,from M&S and got sent a whole box of them by mistake. I returned the extra ones without any thought. It's the right thing to do.

It's irrelevant to talk about whether Marks and Spencer's can afford it or not. Either you want to do the right thing or you don't.

DurhamDurham · 03/08/2015 22:08

I wouldn't say anything now, not five days later. If you'd noticed straight away you could have given the cashier time to correct it but now you just risk getting them in to a lot of trouble. I couldn't have that on my conscience.

thebear1 · 03/08/2015 22:16

It was an error on their part and you don't have the item to take back. I would leave it.

BanditoShipman · 03/08/2015 22:29

I would go back or phone/email and have done so when this has happened to me (twice in one day in Scotland I got given change for a twenty when I handed over a ten, gave it straight back). Once you've realised their mistake and you don't recitfy it surely it becomes theft?

Battleshiphips · 03/08/2015 22:56

Any other shop I would say go back but M&S staff have terrible customer service skills. My sister was treated disgustingly by them when returning an item of clothing.

minitoot · 03/08/2015 23:12

leave it- M&S is not a charity and it wasn't your fault. Their business will survive.

MsJuniper · 03/08/2015 23:25

I nearly started a thread earlier on a similar subject, although it was entirely my fault.

DS (2) was 'helping' me scan the items in our baskets in Sainsbury's this afternoon; after scanning everything and putting aside all of his selections I got him strapped into his pushchair, put the bag of shopping on the handle and walked out. It was only when I got home I realised I hadn't actually paid. Mortified. We had been chatting away to the self service assistant too and he obviously hadn't noticed but must have thought we were scammers after we left and he saw all the items still rung up with no payment.

Dashed back after DH got home and found the man, explained my mistake and put the shopping through. He did ask if I'd tried to cancel the transaction - presumably the next customer had tried to clear the till. So I did feel a bit like he thought I'd done it on purpose even though clearly I wouldn't have gone back if I had.

Anyway I did go back but I still had the bag of shopping intact - if it was a week later and I had eaten or given it away I'd probably not have done as it would have been so difficult to explain. Or written to head office - is that an option?

TOADfan · 03/08/2015 23:26

Same happened to me in Primark. I didn't realise it didn't scan but said to the cashier "wow that cheaper than I expected" she looked at the till and went "I know you got some bargains" got home and looked at the recipt and the start of my shopping didn't scan on.

I didn't bring it back because half was used at this point, it was only about £10 and I did technically point it out to the cashier.

eightoutoften · 03/08/2015 23:27

This happened to me once in Matalan. I too did not realise until I had got home so rang their Head Office who asked for the receipt details so they could check on the cashier training but told me to keep the item.

As an aside, a Lloyds bank error many years ago caused me dump my Ex bf. He was a penniless student, I was working on £1500 per year and we had £20 left in the bank to last us two weeks. I took my bank book to the bank one extremely busy lunchhour and asked to withdraw the £20. Bf stayed outside the bank.

Cashier got a bunch of notes totalling £100, counted out £20 and handed me the £80 in error. It wasn't until I got to the door that I realised and so went to the back of the massive queue and finally handed it back. When I explained to cashier she just took it and said 'oh ok'.

When I explained to ex bf why it had taken so long, he went ape and called me all the names under the sun and asked how I could have been so stupid etc. Had a massive row, I went back to work and got a rollicking for being late back too. Went home that night and packed my bags - I could not live with someone who had totally different morals to me.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 03/08/2015 23:45

Ordinary people pay the price when this happens - NOT shareholders. It comes out of shoppers' pockets, NOT the stores' profits.

So when people say, 'if it was a little independent store, it would be different', or 'result' or 'their business will survive' - what you are really saying is, 'it's fine, all the other honest bloody mugs shopping there will pay for it, and I don't give a shit that shrinkage means ordinary people are paying more - as long as I got something for nothing!'

But I am sure many people reading this will dislike what I am saying, but I can't see how people can justify doing something that other ordinary people end up paying for. And yes, I know that your little, tiny, inexpensive item only has a minuscule effect on shrinkage - but everyone else doing this by accident is saying the same thing, and it adds up.

I resent having to pay more because other people don't want to pay (thieves) or because they accidentally don't pay for something (fair enough - happens to most of us, I bet) but decide not to do the right thing.

I'm sure I will get flamed for this now.

Stingingthistle · 03/08/2015 23:57

People saying it's not theft as you didn't realise at the time - that is neither here nor there as now you do know and have kept it. Arguably it is theft with "later appropriation" and the dishonesty element comes in at the point when you kept it, not the point when you were in M&S.

However in practice I think most people would leave it (as borne out by the thread) and I couldn't bring myself to get that het up about it.

flyingspaghettimonster · 04/08/2015 00:04

Maybe he didn't scan it deliberately. I used to loathe working retail and used to pass the time by not scanning ever item for the customers who were nice, or giving them a staff discount or something. I once slipped a pair of chicken fillet breast enhancers in the gift box of a bride who wanted them, but couldn't afford them. Looking back, it was utterly stupid, but it seemed ok as a teen. If someone had brought an item back I could have been in trouble.

slithytove · 04/08/2015 00:13

I went to the kiddicare in Liverpool? When it was closing down and had a really good chat with the assistant, very sympathetic and critical of head office as I'm in retail too. Gave her a contact at babies r us. She helped me pick out a bunch of items, and then opened a till to scan them.

Gave me a wink and said goodbye.

When I got home and filed the receipt, I saw she had "forgotten" to scan an expensive changing bag and a baby monitor. I know she dealt with them as I watched her take the tags off. Nice woman, shitty situation.

HerRoyalNotness · 04/08/2015 00:23

If they had scanned the outfit twice and you didn't notice until a few days later, would you be on here asking if m&s should reimburse you? Of course

Ring them or pop in next time you are passing and pay for it! I've done this and have had no bother paying for the goods that were in my possession.

If some idiot teller wants to accuse you of stealing, point out the fact that you are there paying!!

maggieryan · 04/08/2015 09:45

Flying spaghetti monster, that's mad. I wworkedorkes in retail as a teenager and did the same. Often didn't scan items if customer looked like they hadn't much money or were very nice, god when I think of it, imagine they got caught walking out of the stores and no receipt and done for stealing. I was too young to realise the seriousness of my actions. I actually forgot(or blocked it out) that I did this until you reminded me.

FishWithABicycle · 04/08/2015 10:01

This isn't what I would do but it would work:

Go to m&s. Find the identical outfit. Buy it. Ask to keep the hangers. Keep the receipt.

Later on, go back. Put the outfit back on the display. Leave.

You have now paid for and have a receipt for the item you have, and do not have any goods not paid for.

maggieryan · 04/08/2015 10:57

That's crazy. Imagine getting caught by security doing that and then trying to explain the reasoning behind why you were doing it. You'd become a laughing stock :)