Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
kungfupannda · 30/09/2015 19:27

you just seem to be scaremongering tbh

Er, ok then. Must have imagined the cases I dealt with at the police station. I've said twice that I don't think you're at high risk. But there is a risk. If that store has had previous problems, or the relevant member of staff is already under suspicion, or there is a particularly suspicious manager, then yes, you could find yourself dragged into an investigation. I dealt with one case in London where the staff member was under ongoing suspicion and was then caught on CCTV scanning only some of the goods. They tracked the customer and there was strong suspicion that they were involved, but they couldn't find any obvious connection between the two (my personal suspicion was that it was part of a larger scam being organised by a third party) The goods were recovered and the customer wasn't charged, but still spent several hours in a cell and then several weeks on police bail before finding out that no action was being taken against them. The staff member was charged as there were other incidents, and the police also believed they were part of a wider conspiracy.

They might believe you if you lied and said you had no idea until the police came knocking, or they might not. Again, I think there's only a small risk of it getting to that point, and it's entirely up to you whether you decide to take that risk. I have no interest in 'scaremongering' - I'm just presenting relevant information. The circumstances of the error just happen to sound very similar to one of the ways in which these scams are carried out which may lead to it coming under closer scrutiny than otherwise. You have the information - it's up to you what you do with it.

kungfupannda · 30/09/2015 19:30

I meant to say that if it was the other way round, and a £5 packet of pants slipped in with a spend of £45, I wouldn't think there was any chance in hell of it coming back to bite you. But the paid small value item/unpaid large value item combination is a common scam method.

Lagoonablue · 30/09/2015 19:32

Go back and pay. Or the Karma police will get you.

Prettyeyedpiratesmile · 30/09/2015 19:33

OP like I said in a PP it wasn't your error and EVERYONE seems to be completely saintly on here. It would absolutely cross my mind to keep them so I'm not judging you on that (I also straw poled the 17 women in my office and all bar three said they'd consider not going back to pay) but I'd still go back and explains what happened. Your conscience is clear and if I'm right in my thinking then you'll get good karma in return. I still can't believe the uproar on here though! Shock you've set the cat amongst the pigeons OP!

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 30/09/2015 19:35

Regardless of whether or not you get into trouble, Minecraft - you still know that keeping something you know you haven't paid for IS dishonest, don't you? Why not just be honest?

If it had been the other way around, and they'd overcharged you by £45, you'd have hotfooted it straight back ere, to demand that they set their mistake right, wouldn't you? So why not be equally committed to honesty when you have benefitted from their mistake.

ExasperatedAlmostAlways · 30/09/2015 19:37

Actually, from experience of working for a very large retailer I can say that it would probably not even be noticed till stocktake and no one would be none the wiser. If the two people work it out between them and keep quiet they will get off with it. IF HOWEVER you go back in and explain the story about the girl just handing you the coats without checking they'd been paid and not charging you she would definitely get a disciplinary at minimum.

Eveysdad · 30/09/2015 19:37

I'd keep em. If you'd paid twice for something so you think the manager would be chaing you down the street to reimburse? Would he eckers Lark.

I'd put it down to good fortune, we could all do with a little now and then.

Original poster
MinecraftWonder · 30/09/2015 19:40

You obviously work in a den of immorality pretty Shock

I don't for one minute believe that everyone who's posted would do as they've said and return them/go in and pay. It's easy to give it the big morality I am when you're talking hypothetically.

I appreciate your reasonable post though (and all the others who've managed to reply civilly and not lost their heads over it Smile )

OP posts:
ExasperatedAlmostAlways · 30/09/2015 19:41

Also by the way for people to be charged with theft, they need to be recorded picking up the items and walking out with them. As far as the cameras seen she was handed them and then she put her card in and paid
They won't know if the cashier had a suspended transaction that she brought back up to pay for them with.

TroubleinDaFamily · 30/09/2015 19:48

The staff member was a bit dim.

You however are a thief.

Personally, I would rather be dim and without malice.

Sapele · 30/09/2015 19:51

You've been a complete knob to Kungfu who was advising from her own professional experience, without 'losing her head' or having a go at you.

You've been a knob to everyone in fact who thinks you ought to pay for the coats.

Enough said.

So what's making you so defensive? And what's stopping you from doing it? Are you afraid your DH will be annoyed with you? Is he in charge of the money? Are you afraid of looking 'soft'?

Not getting it, at all. I'm really not. There are some really decent people on here, contributing useful information, and all you can do is try and big yourself up.

It's not clever.

Eveysdad · 30/09/2015 19:52

Wow theres a lot of moral people here. The sorts of people that would tell a bank they've been given £20 more out the cash machine than they wanted, the sort of people that upon finding a £10 in the street hand it to the police, the sort of people who never EVER do anything wrong EVER..... Or, as I like to call them, Liars. Grin

PaulAnkaTheDog · 30/09/2015 19:53

Ugh sick of this. Your attitude is fucking disgusting Op. A misunderstanding to begin with, total theft now. Especially thanks to your abhorrent, blasé attitude. Disgraceful. You actually have no shame.

Prettyeyedpiratesmile · 30/09/2015 19:53

minecraft you'd think that but I actually work with normal women who gave an honest answer. I'd for sure be thinking YEEEEESSSS! But then the old conscience would kick in and I'd feel bad Sad I do believe honesty is repaid 10 fold. Cant be bothered with fake hysteria and all that pious,holier than thou shit that people seem to spout on here.

Sapele · 30/09/2015 19:57

Yes, Eveysdad and then there's the other faction which appears to consist of the ones who have very poor morals and can't conceive of anyone else having any either.

Being moral is a good thing. That's the whole point. You wouldn't believe some of the gaffes I've made in my life, some of the awful decisions and wrong actions. I have learned from them though.

Some people never do learn.

Original poster
MinecraftWonder · 30/09/2015 19:57

You win the thread for the most ridiculous post so far Sapele.

I don't think I've been a knob (but then I suppose a knob wouldn't, would they?). I've taken the piss at times, out of posts/posters that have verged on the hysterical and ridiculous.

I'm grateful to those that have answered with a sensible head on, regardless of which side of they sit on...which I've already stated.

But like I said, you win IMO with the most ridiculous yet.

OP posts:
AnnaMarlowe · 30/09/2015 19:58

*Minecraft
I assume you realise that you've just called everyone on this thread who said they'd pay up liars and hypocrites? And you've done so in order to validate your own immoral choice?

Not terribly polite all in all.

You've decided not to pay. Take some personal responsibility for that choice, don't fall back in the pathetically sheep like 'everyone else does it'.

It makes no difference to me or anyone else on this thread if you make poor choices. You make your decision. Not us, not Pretty's colleagues, not your DH.

It's your responsibility either way..

PaulAnkaTheDog · 30/09/2015 19:58

And I'm guessing the clothes have not yet been paid for?

Sapele · 30/09/2015 19:59

FFS it isn't about what you think. Many of us might think 'get in!' when we have an unexpected financial gain, even at someone else's expense.

What you DO about it is what counts. No one would point the finger at the OP for considering, fantasising about keeping the items unpaid for.

Actually doing it though? It's crap. People don't judge your wistful thoughts. They judge your actions.

Sapele · 30/09/2015 20:01

I don't mind being called ridiculous, because I don't feel I am being hysterical or indeed that I'm wrong. Your saying that is very predictable. I can cope with it because I have a really low opinion of you from your posts on here.

I don't think I am the one who looks ridiculous.

Original poster
MinecraftWonder · 30/09/2015 20:02

I assume you realise that you've just called everyone on this thread who said they'd pay up liars and hypocrites?

I've done no such thing Hmm

OP posts:
ConfusedInBath · 30/09/2015 20:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

sharonthewaspandthewineywall · 30/09/2015 20:05

Thanks lagoon ive got Radiohead as an earworm now

kungfupannda · 30/09/2015 20:06

There are a lot of honest people in the world. I sometimes forget that because I spend a lot of time dealing with the dishonest ones. But many, many people choose to return property they've found, or money they've been wrongly given, or goods they didn't pay for. Some do it because that's just part of their basic moral code. Some do it because they're sure they'd get caught if they did the wrong thing.

I've had my wallet returned to me with all the cash in it, after someone put themselves to enormous trouble to track me down. I've had someone chase after me on the street after I dropped a five pound note. I've seen people go into a bank to say that the cash point had given them too much money.

People do the right thing all the time. Which is nice. Not something to be mocked or doubted.

Original poster
MinecraftWonder · 30/09/2015 20:07

what's stopping you from doing it? Are you afraid your DH will be annoyed with you? Is he in charge of the money? Are you afraid of looking 'soft'?

Somehow, my post about a pair of coats and my own moral tussle has turned into you implying my dh financially abuses me Hmm

I think you're pretty unhinged tbh - or more likely, getting progressively more wound up because I'm refusing to bite, fling insults and flounce., despite your best attempts. You're trying hard, i'll give you that.

OP posts: