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AIBU?

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Original poster

To keep these clothes that weren't charged for?

465 replies

MinecraftWonder · 29/09/2015 20:03

Yesterday I went shopping and picked up a new coat each for the dc (at Matalan if it's relevant)- total cost was £45.

I got to the till, went in my bag and didn't have my purse Angry Blush
So I apologised, said i'd nip home and the man on the till put them behind the counter for me.

Returned a couple of hours later and picked up some packs of pants by the till when I was queuing, which were a fiver. Handed them over and asked for the coats behind the till that had been put by for me (this was a woman). She put everything in a bag for me, I paid with my card and out I went.

Anyway, it's only tonight I've pulled them out of the bag along with the receipt - and I have a receipt for £5.05 (the pants and a 5p bag charge). The coats weren't charged for. I didn't even check the amount at the checkout, just stuck my card in and paid.

WWYD? I feel really guilty even though it wasn't my fault. I don't know if the second person who served me just made a mistake or thought maybe they were already paid for (but why would they be?!). They've not got security tags on so one of them must have taken them off.

So keep and look at it as good luck or be honest and go back and pay for them? Opinion is currently divided in my house!

OP posts:
SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 30/09/2015 12:31

Minecraft - I don't think it makes any difference that it is a big store chain, not a small independent.

Losses like this do NOT come out of the company's profits - they form part of 'shrinkage' - which forms a percentage of the price charged by the shop for every item they sell.

So Matalan and their shareholders will not be paying the cost of your coats - everyone else who shops at Matalan will.

Please go back and pay for your coats - I think that is the right thing to do, and have gone back into a shop to pay for a much smaller item that had ended up under my handbag in the trolley and got missed at the checkout.

MoonSandwich · 30/09/2015 12:31

If you are stuck at home then give them a call. You don't need to return the coats you just want to pay for them. Surely they can do that over the phone. Confused It's hardly an inconvenience to call and there is always the chance they might tell you to keep them.

DamnBamboo · 30/09/2015 12:32

Another mindreader! MN is just full of them lately

One doesn't need to be a mind-reader. A bit slightly informed, armchair psychology will do.
If you were going to pay, you'd have done so by now. Not asked any questions and just got on with it.
Your actions in this case speak so much louder than your words.
The fact that you might now pay after this thread, is not necessarily any indications of your original intentions.

Original poster
MinecraftWonder · 30/09/2015 12:35

The fact that you might now pay after this thread, is not necessarily any indications of your original intentions

So basically, i'm morally fucked now whatever I do now?

OP posts:
moopymoodle · 30/09/2015 12:35

I'd not go back! I went Christmas shopping not long ago. Spent £300 so didn't notice anything off at the till as wasn't particularly keeping track , got home and noticed I had got a furby free!

It's not steeling, it doesn't make me feel guilty in the slightest.

Week before that I sold a few bits and bobs, lady passed me the money and she over payed me by £10 so off I went chasing her to her car and gave her it back. She looked confused bless her but no way would my conscience allow me to leave it, wasn't even an option.

Witchend · 30/09/2015 12:37

My rule for that sort of thing is would I bother going back in if the error was the other way. You bet I would in case.
Although I do check the amount before I enter the pin number as I have had things like £20 cashback entered as 20p, so I doubt I'd have got out of the shop.

If I think that actually it's too far and hassle to go back for the difference, if the error was against me, then I don't worry.

In this case I doubt you even need to go in, I expect you can phone them and pay by card over the phone. Certainly worth phoning and asking.

Original poster
MinecraftWonder · 30/09/2015 12:37

I went Christmas shopping not long ago

Moopy yabu. It's still (just) September! Shock

OP posts:
Sapele · 30/09/2015 12:42

I've come back to post this. I shan't stay for long.

OP: Shall I keep these or pay for them?

Rest of MN: [moral debate ensues]

OP: well aren't you all hysterical and stupid. Ha ha

Rest of MN: Hmm

It's a kind of trolling. Starting threads to laugh at people's responses. It says quite a lot about the kind of person you are, and as such I have little doubt that those coats will never be paid for.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 30/09/2015 12:43

Moopy - your furby was not free. It will be paid for by all the other customers at that shop. And I think that, once you know you have not paid for something, if you decide to keep it, it is theft - morally if not legally.

Original poster
MinecraftWonder · 30/09/2015 12:43

I don't mean to dripfeed - really - but a few recent posts have been about the retail/shareholder/manager impact so this seems more relevant now.

Dh works in retail - he's a manager of a large retail chain (think along the lines of Debenhams).

When I said in my first post that opinion was divided in my house, it was actually me making noises about 'oh I should probably go back' and him being the one to say 'don't be so bloody stupid'. He has to stockcheck and balance the (inevitable) losses in his store and his pov is that two 20-odd pound items would hardly even register on his records or be concerning/impacting at all. It's when a £600 item goes missing that everyone has a shit fit.

OP posts:
DamnBamboo · 30/09/2015 12:44

he fact that you might now pay after this thread, is not necessarily any indications of your original intentions

So basically, i'm morally fucked now whatever I do now

Err, no! Where do you get that from? Clearly paying for them is the right thing to do and the goods will at least be properly owned by you.
And more generally speaking sometimes otherwise decent people do bad things (even non-taxpayers who don't give to charity!).

This 'coatgate' is very minor in the grand scheme of things. Of course it is. But you have made your own decision, not to pay for them and the situation is thus. You made that decision and have knowingly kept misappropriated coats so why are you still engaging with people here?

Original poster
MinecraftWonder · 30/09/2015 12:44

To clarify - DH is the manager of one store in a large retail chain, not the whole chain itself!

OP posts:
Sapele · 30/09/2015 12:45

You made that decision and have knowingly kept misappropriated coats so why are you still engaging with people here?

Because she enjoys winding people up.

AnnaMarlowe · 30/09/2015 12:53

Regardless of what your DH does for a living, if you don't pay for the items it's wrong.

Unreasonablebetty · 30/09/2015 12:53

I would go back and pay. It's only right

mileend2bermondsey · 30/09/2015 12:55

No Anna stealing stuff is only wrong if it's worth £600, if it's £45 it's fine. OP has explained this clearly.

Gruntfuttock · 30/09/2015 13:00

OP, you will have noticed that the shop assistant took the coats off the shelf and put them in a bag without scanning them, even if you didn't notice the total you paid.

specialsubject · 30/09/2015 13:01

If I understand the current position (haven't read it all) OP seems not to see theft as wrong, and so will not be calling the police if she is burgled.

mistakenly taking stuff is possible, but the answer is simple - you contact the store and make arrangements to pay or return.

Gruntfuttock · 30/09/2015 13:04

You know that until you have paid for those coats you've stolen them. It's not complicated.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 30/09/2015 13:05

Even £20 items have to be paid for somehow, though - I am surprised your dh does not acknowledge this, Minecraft. Just because no-one is making a fuss about it, doesn't mean it doesn't have an impact.

Any losses - breakages, spoiled food, theft and accidental undercharging like this - all have to be paid for - and that is done in the prices charged in the store.

I bet your dh would not be as blase about this if you had been overcharged by £45 - and you would not have stopped to consult MN, you would have been in touch with the store IMMEDIATELY to demand a refund!

MoonSandwich · 30/09/2015 13:07

So you were 'making noises' about paying for the coats and you were feeling 'really guilty'

but, but, but...... Wink

wowfudge · 30/09/2015 13:12

Eleven pages on this? It's quite simple: you haven't paid so go back and do the right thing. It matters not that it's a big company nor that it may be the case that no one will ever realise it was you. It's morally reprehensible to keep the coats without paying.

Let me guess: if they had double charged you instead, you'd have been banging down the door for a refund, plus an apology and possibly compensation.

mileend2bermondsey · 30/09/2015 13:15

I will never begin to understand how some peoples minds work.
Moopy When you got your stolen (oh sorry, 'free'!) Furby, it was because it had been given to you in error, which in your mind makes it yours to keep. When you got an extra £10 from the transaction with the woman, it was because she gave it to you in error; why is that money not also yours to keep? Why does your 'consciene not allow that' but the other, more expensive, stealing is fine??

kali110 · 30/09/2015 13:18

Because you couldn't possibly pay for them over the phone could you op?
No lifting the phone would be too much hassle, as would emailing customer services.
I have worked for a very well known retail store and they do put pictures of shoplifters and scammers in the cctv room to watch out for, so it's not bollocks.
You wanted lots of people on here to say 'oh yes, keep the coats....'
You're a thief.
How do you hope to teach your kids right from wrong when you don't know yourself?

eddielizzard · 30/09/2015 13:29

i would go back. otherwise i'd feel like crap every time i looked at those coats.

imo not to do with big retail chains.

i would explain to person behind counter that you were mistakenly not charged for them, and you'd like to pay for them now. they're not going to make any waves because they'll be happy you want to pay, and they're not going to want to get anyone in trouble. and if you're asked who it was say you can't remember.

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