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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:
Fugghetaboutit · 29/09/2015 20:59

This thread made me laugh.

Last month - identical thread - everyone yelled 'keep it!'

Different day, different response.

Lunastarfish · 29/09/2015 21:00

Keep them.

If you go back the sales assistant manager will then find out amend she'll probably get in trouble.

OhBigHairyBollocks · 29/09/2015 21:01

Go back. The girl could lose her job for this.

specialsubject · 29/09/2015 21:02

not yours. Get in touch and return.

not yours. What did your parents teach you?

Clear what many here are teaching their kids...

riverboat1 · 29/09/2015 21:04

I'd go back and pay probably in case the till staff hsd realised their mistake and were kicking themselves about it.

I don't have really strong moral feelings one way or the other about this though, to be honest.

Original poster
MinecraftWonder · 29/09/2015 21:07

I think the 'you've obviously decided what to do, you want us to make you feel better' and the like are way harsh tbh.

I opened the bag about half an hour before posting - so I've known for about 1.5 hours. Hardly something I've been concealing...I couldn't do anything about it right now if I wanted to.

OP posts:
Floggingmolly · 29/09/2015 21:08

What difference does the fact that "it's not your fault" make? Keeping them is still theft.

And I don't believe for a second that you just stuck your card in without checking the amount you'd been charged.
Nobody does that.

Branleuse · 29/09/2015 21:11

didnt matalan make a fortune out of slavery workfare?

iMatter · 29/09/2015 21:14

Go and pay for them. Why wouldn't you?

It's a big company. So what. Theft is theft is theft.

And didn't you notice when the person on the till asked you for £5.05?

celtictoast · 29/09/2015 21:18

I don't believe for a second that you just stuck your card in without checking the amount you'd been charged.

It does happen! I've done that before, and only noticed I'd been overcharged when I was looking through my bank statement.

Senpai · 29/09/2015 21:19

Nobody does that.

Blush I have. It happens when you have adhd you're distracted.

But I think if I heard "Five dollars and five cents" it would immediately prick my antennas up if I was budgeting for a 50+ bill at the end of it all. You'd have to tune out both the amount verbally and visually to "not see it". That's a pretty extreme space case even for me.

As a PP pointed out, handing items to a cashier to "hold" for later and then collecting later is a common scam between both parties to shoplift and make it look "legit". It really won't look good for you at all if you're caught, especially since you waited until a different cashier was there to do it. It's going to be hard to prove you didn't intend to steal these coats if they do an investigation. Unlike me, you probably don't have a legit diagnosis of any learning disorders to justify an extreme lapse of attentiveness like that to give your story any credibility.

Justaboy · 29/09/2015 21:22

If it were me?. I'd go and tell them. Big shop small shop scanned thru the till or not the principle remains the same!.

Bit of a moral one this. Most people use the phone at work for personal calls. That's taking money off the company.

Now if the petty cash box is open would you help ourself from that ?.

That's taking money off the company to.

Hope that doesn't sound too sanctimonious;)

If i was the manager there and was receiving the goods as a goodwill gesture I'd probably let them have a coat free as a thank you or at least some sort of discount voucher as a reward for their honesty.

ohtheholidays · 29/09/2015 21:23

Go back that poor women could loose her job!

I can't believe anyone would think this is okay.

toastedbeagle · 29/09/2015 21:23

I was in Sainsburys and bought a load of baby clothes with my shop. Two pairs of the trousers went through together, meaning the total was £5 less that it should have been ( on a £40 shop). Realised when I was back at my car and checked the receipt as didn't match my mental total. I ran back to customer services to pay up - the lady looked at me in surprise and said "you could have had them for nothing!" to which I replied, "yes, it would have been called stealing".

If a friend admitted they'd done something like that I'd take a pretty dim view.

Original poster
MinecraftWonder · 29/09/2015 21:23

No I didn't iMatter - so either she didn't say the amount or I didn't hear it.

Regarding the card - I often don't check the amount tbh - my bad, I know I should.

I don't even usually look at the receipt, it was only because she put it in the bag. If she'd handed it to me and it had disappeared into the depths of my purse or bag i'd probably have been none the wiser for months.

OP posts:
bessarabiantiger · 29/09/2015 21:24

minecraft you're right about the enormous (and possibly unstoppable) theft bandwaggon. Loud and derailed.

FWIW, I think that no amount of internet noise one way or the other is going to make a difference, to me it sounds like you're a Mum like me a few years ago, I'd have felt pretty awful naturally, but wouldn't have wanted to look a gift horse in the mouth? I'd have been unsure, and maybe needed some extra advice one way or another. I couldn't afford good coats for my children in those years, it would have been a stretch to buy new, even at Matalan, and this kind of mistake may have seemed like serendipity, or just a fucking break for once. I don't know your circumstances.

I don't have any concrete advice, do what you think is right. I also hope they're fabulous coats and pants & that they have sharks and Unicorns on them.

Carlywurly · 29/09/2015 21:26

I once accidentally nicked a cashmere comb from the white company. Possibly the most middle class crime ever.
I took it back the next day once I'd realised it wasn't a freebie and had a £5 sticker on it. They were so rude I wished I hadn't bothered Hmm

MackerelOfFact · 29/09/2015 21:28

I might call them, but I wouldn't go back to the store - you have no receipt and no proof that you didn't steal them!

leghoul · 29/09/2015 21:29

my crim law is rusty too - I'm remembering something about property being transferred in petrol tanks at the point of filling up the car? historically.. a loophole.. and eating something as a loophole? I don't think you'd be done for theft, you need actus refs (the thefting..) plus mens rea (intention/guilty mind) however if you notice you're subsequently forming the mens rea at a later date. Imagine a bank account is accidentally credited.. you don't notice, fine - but when you do, erm..
so.... personally, I'd not have posted this thread and would have thought 'oops' but then I also have adhd and make various errors as par for the course, and yes it really does have that effect and it's a liability.
Hmm. On balance, I'd think if you didn't check your card transaction, maybe you could have been charged twice Hmm separate receipts - erm..
eat the coats?

Original poster
MinecraftWonder · 29/09/2015 21:29

I'd have felt pretty awful naturally, but wouldn't have wanted to look a gift horse in the mouth?

That's pretty much exactly how I feel! Your post made me smile (and there are no sharks or unicorns but there are dinosaurs and spacemen Smile )

OP posts:
Justaboy · 29/09/2015 21:29

Yes MOF call them frst not just walk in there bit ambiguous that!.

iMatter · 29/09/2015 21:30

Presumably you would have been back there in a nanosecond if she'd charged you £500 instead of £50 and you hadn't bothered to pay attention to the shop assistant.

You know you haven't paid for those goods, whatever you say about only just finding out.

Your choice, your conscience.

TimeToMuskUp · 29/09/2015 21:31

Go back and pay, please. Stuff like this bothers me because if there's a knock-on effect for the staff member on the till at the time the coats were scanned, you won't ever know.

I once bought an outfit from Karen Millen, dress, shoes, bag, jewellery. The lady on the till said the amount, I paid and all was fine. It was only as we walked through Touchwood that I said to DH that the amount didn't tally, checked my receipt and she hadn't scanned the dress. I went back and paid and the woman was shocked that I'd made the effort to return, but I was horrified at the thought of wearing something I hadn't paid for. It's just stealing, no matter how big the company.

leghoul · 29/09/2015 21:31

actus reus, I mean

but yeah - to be completely un-PC and honest as it was a genuine mistake I think I'd keep quiet.

(though this happened the other day paying for coffees and banana bread, and I went back the next day to pay them unnecessarily Confused)

iMatter · 29/09/2015 21:36

It's not a loophole ffs!

It's pure and simple theft.

Dishonestly appropriating property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving blah blah blah.