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Original poster

Shoplifted by accident, should I take it back?

199 replies

guiltymind · 18/02/2017 16:49

Been on holiday for half term with kids. We went to a shop that is unique (there isn't one near us for about 100 miles). We were looking at some things, and I put something on the buggy (about 10 pounds). I was fully intending to pay for it but then 2 year old DD started to have a tantrum and I had to rush out of the store. It was only when I got back that I emptied the buggy and found that I still had it! I feel incredibly guilty, someone please tell me what to do....Blush

OP posts:
Cherrysoup · 18/02/2017 19:22

Ring and pay or its theft. That wouldn't sit well with me.

Trainspotting1984 · 18/02/2017 19:26

You have to witness someone leaving the store with goods to charge them with shoplifting. The VAST majority of shops deal with shoplifting as a civil matter anyway and will only involve the police in repeat offenders. They don't check all the cctv at the end of the day and chase up unnoticed shoplifters 😭

CircleofWillis · 18/02/2017 19:30

Phone them up. If they say forget about it that is different to you deciding yourself to forget about it. All these nice middle class women who would "never deliberately take something" but would not repair their mistake if they found they had taken something by accident are entitled thieves and would be treated the same way as someone who deliberately took an item if stopped. How is a store supposed to tell the difference? Not being an ethnic minority or being middle class shouldn't give you extra privileges. I am making assumptions here I know but I'm sick and crotchety.

limitedperiodonly · 18/02/2017 19:37

I did this once with broccoli

It's an entry crime. Next it'll be asparagus and then truffles.

Confess now, OP, before it is too late

lougle · 18/02/2017 19:39

You need to either return it if you are close enough, or phone and pay by card if you aren't. It isn't a difficult dilemma.

limitedperiodonly · 18/02/2017 19:39

I'm sick and crotchety

I'd definitely try to use that in mitigation

EB123 · 18/02/2017 19:48

Years ago when I was heavily pregnant with ds1 I went to a supermarket queued up , paid and went home only to find that I had a bag containing a couple of sweet potatoes looped over my wrist that I had totally forgotten about.
I just left it, if it was something more valuable or a small shop I would have taken it back but it was about 50p worth of potatoes from a huge supermarket chain.

OliviaStabler · 18/02/2017 19:49

Call them and pay by credit card.

Strygil · 18/02/2017 19:50

The fact that you are asking shows that you know that keeping the item and saying/doing nothing will make you a thief. Mind you, I once took a book back to Waterstones that I had accidentally shoplifted, and the manager was so impressed by my honesty that he gave me the book as a gift. You never know your luck!

littlefrog3 · 18/02/2017 19:50

I have to admit I would ring the store and explain what happened, and yes I would pay. My conscience would make me! I wouldn't be able to look at the item again without feeling shitty.

This kind of thing has happened to me twice! One time I walked off with 2 lots of loo rolls from a local spar, that were in the bottom of the pram, and when I rang them they told me to keep them. And the other time was when me and DH went for a meal at a little restaurant with the kids. Should have been about £70 in total, and for some reason the transaction came up as £4. For some reason the waitress had done something wrong that resulted in us only being charged for the 4 cokes we had when we came in! I put in the PIN at the end and never even noticed what the amount was - silly me, coulda been £300!!!

Anyhoo, I saw the receipt when we got back to the hotel, and saw it was £4 that we had been charged!

We knew it wasn't right and it was a sweet little place with very few people in the Scottish Highlands. So we went back the next day and said we have been massively undercharged. They said they DID notice the £60+ discrepancy and wondered where it had gone wrong, and they were very grateful and took the other £66 off us.

Next day, the waitress saw us in tesco and came up to us and said thank you, and it was her who made the boo-boo, and if we had not come back, she may have lost her job, as that was the 3rd boo-boo she had made that month.

So that is worth thinking about. if we hadn't been honest and gone back, a woman could have lost her job.

Do the right thing; ring them and tell them you want to come in and pay what you owe.

mathanxiety · 18/02/2017 19:58

I suspect the OP is worried about the police being called if she were to identify herself by returning the item in person or even making a payment over the phone, where the cardholder's name would need to be given.

So maybe call and ask for reassurance that this won't happen, explain that you only want to pay, had no intention of stealing the thing, apologise profusely.

flamingtoaster · 18/02/2017 19:59

I would ring the store and explain and offer to send it back. They may well tell you to keep it but then you could with a clear conscience.

OVienna · 18/02/2017 20:01

mathanxiety I was wondering about that too - whether the OP was worried she would get the wrong person on the phone who would decide the story sounded odd and the next thing she knew, having decided to do the right thing, the situation went pear shaped with 'action taken' against her.

honeyroar · 18/02/2017 20:08

"I am shocked at how many suggest you should phone and pay by card"

Not everyone is a thief. There are still good people around!

WinterWonders · 18/02/2017 20:10

I was in a shop one day last week, and the assistant askede if I realised I had something in my hood (big hood)! She then produced a pack of lip balms from Claire's, that had obviously got caught it the hood as I was looking at something else!

I was mortified, and couldn't back to the store quick enough to return it and explain how I had managed to take it.

I would ring the store, OP and pay over the phone/post it. I couldn't have it on my conscience if I didn't do that.

FiveShelties · 18/02/2017 20:11

If you had left your handbag in the store, would you have wanted them to inform you?

septembersunshine · 18/02/2017 20:11

Bad karma not to pay for it or post it back. Honest mistake op but i would have to rectify this. It is an individual shop not a chain with hundreds of shops too

mathanxiety · 18/02/2017 20:13

I think I might take a photo of the item along with bar code or price tag and send it with cash to the shop if I were worried about the whole thing coming back to bite me in the arse.

littlefrog3 · 18/02/2017 20:13

I can't see any shop getting her arrested for returning the item. Surely not!

mathanxiety · 18/02/2017 20:17

The law of unintended consequences might kick in.
The OP might have something else hanging over her like unpaid parking tickets, etc., or a few bounced cheques - even without any of those worries she could well find herself dealing with someone over the phone who might be really unpleasant and who might assume the worst and try to scare her straight, so to speak, as OVienna says.

LanaorAna1 · 18/02/2017 20:26

well, this is what happened when I swanned off with a pot of paint at Wilko by mistake having paid for everything else.

I called them and they said come back into the shop and pay. So I did. The very second I entered the shop all the alarms went off, the intercom began bawling its code word for shoplifters 'Alert! Alert! Inspector Pocket to the back office' :) and I was followed by about 6 large men on the way to customer services. Where no one appeared. :)

I told one of the security guards what was going on and he took me to a till so I paid there. Honestly. I wouldn't bother again.

YouJumpIJumpJack · 18/02/2017 20:32

I did this with lemons a few weeks back. DP had the basket elsewhere so I put the lemons on the pram to add to the basket.

Got home and noticed. I was almost hysterical and DP was pissing himself.

I didn't take them back Blush

Hisstory · 18/02/2017 20:36

The very second I entered the shop all the alarms went off, the intercom began bawling its code word for shoplifters 'Alert! Alert! Inspector Pocket to the back office' Smile and I was followed by about 6 large men on the way to customer services.

Hmm, I think you might be exaggerating a wee bit. 😂 However, If you aren't then I'd have found it hilarious.

wrinkleseverywhere · 18/02/2017 20:37

I've done this a few times. I've always gone straight back into store or, if I've got home, ring them. On one occasion, I was Xmas shopping in John Lewis, remembered something I had to get in another shop & walked out with the basket still over my arm. I turned around to spot two security people watching me &, when I went back, they said they were giving me two more steps before they came after me. I was very glad I'd noticed as I work in an area where a criminal conviction could lead to the loss of my job.

littlefrog3 · 18/02/2017 21:39

The very second I entered the shop all the alarms went off, the intercom began bawling its code word for shoplifters 'Alert! Alert! Inspector Pocket to the back office' smile and I was followed by about 6 large men on the way to customer services. Where no one appeared

Why did all this not happen when you walked out with the can of paint in the first place lanaorana?

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