To think my friend is wrong and this can't be classed as stealing?

[Keyansier]

Whenever I order a home delivery from Tesco I always get a refund on stuff that they have substituted in exchange for what I originally ordered to get money back and to keep the food, sometimes when I genuinely dislike their substitute choice or sometimes when I just want some money back.

My friend said "that is what is known as stealing". I replied "HOW can it be stealing when I call up and ask for a refund and it's at their discretion if they give one or not?" Also, I used to work in a few call centres and so probably speak to people who work at call centres politer than most other people, so that might factor their decision to give me refunds.

Unless someone tells me that they work for Tesco on the call centres and they are obliged to give everyone a refund that asks for one but they will later be punished or sacked for it if they say yes, then I can't see what the issue is if they say yes? I don't shout, or threaten or rant. I ask nicely and they say yes. If they were to ever say no, I'd simply say "okay then" and that would be that. So how is it stealing?

I just can't believe in this day and age someone would begrudge someone free food. Their tagline is "Every Little Helps". This is helping me. If they didn't want to help, they can easily say no. Or AIBU and out of touch?

I always get my Tesco receipt in plenty of time before the delivery too. I check to see what subs I have & if they are acceptable. If not, they go back. Anything else is immoral to my way of thinking.

You're being a CF. You've got your substitutions and you want the cost of said substituted items as well?! Eh, you can't have it both ways!

You’re a liar too. Everyone gets receipts in advance of their order and notification of substitutes. You can carry on lying and say you never get them but being a dishonest person, can’t say I believe ya.

Stealing? Probably not.

Cheeky fuckery? Definitely yes.

You don’t know the meaning of the word honest op, you are a liar !

just tick no substitutions
go into tescos and shoplift - that way your "free stuff" will be exactly what you'd like.

Amazon recently banned someone from using their site for this reason.

@justusandmoo
As an idea... why don't you get the refund and then donate the food to a food bank to help out those who need it?

With the substitutions I dislike, I do do that.

Why aren’t you checking your delivery note when they hand it to you? Substitutions are clearly listed and if not happy you are supposed to give them back to the driver.

To deliberately do this for a refund is certainly dishonest and some may consider it to be stealing, but if tescos procedures allow it then it isn’t legally stealing.
However, have you ever checked the terms and conditions? I expect you will find that when you enter the contract to have the delivery you are agreeing to a substitutions procedure which is not the one you are following, I guess in that case it would be illegal insofar as you are breaching the contract terms?
Also, why should you get free food from tescos? Your actions aren’t victimless.

But the receipt is now emailed to you some hours before the delivery so you can see any substitutions and be prepared to hand them back if you don't want them. Even with the paper receipts the driver would often read out the subs so you could decide there and then. Does seem a bit suspect if you can't be bothered to check them, and then ask for a refund. Just tick the no substitution box in future. I'm happy to call them for a refund if something is off or past its date/unusable, which you can't always know at point of delivery.

Yeah, doubtful.

It's always fascinating to see things from the CF's POV.

Forgot to add OP that what you're doing is little different from stealing/shoplifting and thus causing prices to rise for everyone else.

You're knowingly taking something you know you don't want/require and using it as a tool to get Tesco to give you money for nothing.

I get emailed receipts after it's been delivered

No, you don't. You get emailed the receipt as soon as the order has been picked, before it even leaves the store. You might not see if until after it has been delivered, but that's on you.

Is this the same friend you posted about a few days ago who you told that you cried because you were not asked for ID when buying wine? At least you paid for the wine that time.

If it is, that’s now twice that your friend has been right that you’re being unreasonable. You might want to start listening to your friend more.

@Dontcareforthehaters
Yeah, doubtful.

Does it seem on this thread that I care what people morally think about me? If it wasn't true and wasn't specifically asked, then I wouldn't have bothered mentioning it. I do do it. If you don't want to believe it, that's your choice.

@BlueMongoose what's she gonna do then?! Use the self-service tills in store and scan pomegranates through as bananas???🤔

OP you seem obsessed with wanting people to say you are not stealing.

Technically, you could say that you are not, in as much as you are not covertly taking things. But it is a grey area so stop trying to pretend it isn't. Whether you are stealing or not depends on how your moral compass is aligned.

If you are given too much change but don't return it, are you stealing?
If a shop assistant puts something in the bag but forgets to scan and you don't return it, are you stealing?
If you demand a refund for a meal that was below par AFTER you've eaten most of it, are you stealing?
If buy something, wear it, then repackage and return as new, are. you stealing?

All potentially 'not technically stealing' but all morally reprehensible and could be considered stealing.

It really comes down to how low you set your personal bar. Sounds like yours is pretty low - you've found a loophole and you are exploiting it.

No such thing as a free lunch OP, someone has to pay for it.

ie: the rest of us and eventually you.

You are a cheeky, grubby fucker.

Not gonna really respond to this any more for a while, what with people bringing up past threads and just generally not listening to me or understanding what I'm saying, I'm not flouncing as previously accused, but just not giving this much more head space for the time being.

Not here or there but it was the same friend

If they refuse to refund you would you go quietly cry in the toilet?

It’s all down to intentions, and as your intention is to thieve, you are a thief.

You only “consider” stopping doing this even if you knew the driver could be sacked?! Well aren’t you a peach….

Getting refunds on substitutes that are wildly inappropriate and that you won’t use is fine. But you’ve admitted you do it on everything only because you fancy the money back,

So yes that’s deception and is stealing.

And while you might not care about stealing from a big company, if the system is abused by enough people they’ll tighten it up which could be genuinely problematic for those who are barely scraping by.

And also, contrary to everyone else on this thread you never get asked by your driver re substitutions, you never get handed a sheet with your subs on, you don’t get an email til after your delivery and you don’t get a text or an email to let you know there’s subs…… Aye, all right. Sure.

You’re acting like a giant arse. But then reading one of the PP, it seems you’re the person who cried in the toilet because you weren’t ID’ed recently. You didn’t come across well on that thread either so I’m less surprised about your insistence that this is fine too.