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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To accept accidentally reduced item as karma?

29 replies

Badbudgeter · 25/08/2023 18:33

Was in Supermarket going through self checkout and you have to get store staff to punch through discount. They have reduced something priced £50 by 75% along with the fruit and veg.

There have been a few times they’ve failed to reduce stuff so you pay full whack for going off that day produce. Also double scanned stuff that you realise later. I once paid double for laundry pods about £8 and was really annoyed as I was home before I realised and felt I couldn’t insist on a refund later in the week.

Anyway IABU go back and pay up

YANBU keep the money, life is balancing itself out.

OP posts:
Hiddenvoice · 25/08/2023 18:36

I think to me it would depend what it was- if it’s something a couple of pounds or cheaper then my accidental adding extra bags has probably made up for it but anything more then I’d probably say.

Poivresel · 25/08/2023 18:36

You didn’t check your bill so you didn’t realise, always works for my conscience.😂

itchyhand · 25/08/2023 18:37

If accept it and a bit of good luck

My medela pump went through the till at boots at £8 instead of £80 ... I didn't correct them, I skipped out the shop to merrily feed my baby

Savemesos · 25/08/2023 18:37

I wouldn’t go back.

Leftphalange100 · 25/08/2023 18:43

I probably wouldn't go back.

But just own that fact, I've got to laugh at your attempts to justify it 😂

vera99 · 25/08/2023 19:02

My dear dad (RIP) was as honest as the day is long. I bought a packet of foreign collectors stamps from the local newsagent and took 2 packets instead of 1 by mistake. When I got home as an 9-year-old (yes you could go out on your own in the 60s -it was amazing!) I proudly showed him what I had he made me turn round and take it back straight away. 200 people came to his funeral he was a lovely man and honesty was part of who he was. Sad to say I'm nothing like him. I would keep it. Sorry dad ....

Rainbowx · 25/08/2023 22:49

I wouldn't go back,a shop I ordered from the other day,they sent me double bedding I only ordered one thanks the extra is handy I'm very grateful lol

Callmesleepy · 25/08/2023 22:57

Depends on how much effort it was to sort. If it's more than about 10 mins of my time I'm not going out of my way to sort it unless it's the sort of shop where I thought they'd do it for me. I once spent over an hour unsuccessfully trying to sort a misdelivered parcel and still haven't recovered.

upsidedownandturnaround · 25/08/2023 23:05

Definitely for a small indie business but probs not for huge chain

FadeAwayAndRadiate · 25/08/2023 23:22

Anything that the store loses through their self-checkouts is fair game. They're the ones that chose to put self checkouts everywhere, and often they outnumber the 'regular' ones.... In my local Morrisons (quite a large one,) they have got 9 checkouts with people serving at them - and 24 self checkouts!

Hilariously, there's only ever about 3 or 4 of the ones that are supposed to be manned that are ever open. Most people just go to self checkouts as they've got very little choice. Go to self checkout - or wait 20 minutes in a queue of 10-12 people - some with a load of vouchers, (half out of date and they waste time disputing it with the checkout operator!) Or it's a problem with their debit card, and they're trying to figure out how to pay. Or they run off back into the store to get the eggs as they forgot them (and they're a 3-4 minute round trip away.)

So the self checkout is the least worst option.

As far as I'm concerned, if I end up getting something cheap, or for free, because of a self checkout error, there's no way that I'm going to go and give the money back for it. They made the choice to put two or three self checkouts to every one manned one. (And as I said, even then, over half of them are shut a lot of the time!)

I've had occasions where I've had certain small/light in weight things and they haven't scanned, and they don't come up as anything on the weighing scales... So I've ended up walking off with it for free. No-one notices and no-one seems to care. As I said, that's the price they pay for forcing these self checkouts on us. #Sorrynotsorry.

Precipice · 25/08/2023 23:36

I wouldn't call it karma. Neither would I query a reduction - clearly someone coded it in to reduce by that much; it's not like you did something to override their settings in a fraudulent manner. There's nothing for you to 'pay up'.

TheYearOfSmallThings · 25/08/2023 23:39

I would let it go, especially if it was ASDA, because they frequently fail to reprice things that are on special offer and charge the full price. If you shop there the universe is definitely trying to rebalance things.

Hecate01 · 25/08/2023 23:44

@FadeAwayAndRadiate as an ex Tesco manager I can categorically tell you that any losses supermarkets make is clawed back. This could be by putting prices up or reducing their payroll budget but believe me customers take the hit never the shareholders, the house always wins.

waltzingparrot · 25/08/2023 23:48

I'd just assume the item was very heavily discounted by their system and staff had just forgotten to mark the price label down. That way, I wouldn't have to give it another thought.

Maggiemaggieooo · 26/08/2023 02:01

Sounds like their mistake not yours I wouldn't worry

CherryMaDeara · 26/08/2023 02:16

Always check your receipt before you leave. I sat in my car and used my phone calculator to add it all up, or I sit on the bench in store.

I personally would have flagged that they made a mistake, keeping quiet is essentially theft.

You could have complained about the double charging, they would have refunded you.

Bizarre that staff are making so many mistakes on your shopping, I use self-checkout most days and staff have never made a mistake.

Threenow · 26/08/2023 02:31

I probably would have said nothing. The amount of times I have bought something which is on special, only to get home and find I have been charged the usual price would be enough for me to feel it was balancing out. I've yet to see a supermarket not making a decent profit!

cariadlet · 26/08/2023 02:39

Supermarket mistake and only a few quid?
I would leave it.

Small independent shop?
I would always go back.

Narnien · 26/08/2023 02:42

Don't worry about it. Pricing is all to cock now and most times you're serving/charging/packing yourself. That's their model and if they can't keep it right fuck them.

Maraudingmarauders · 26/08/2023 03:08

I wouldn't say anything. I used to manage a shop (specialist retail) and take the attitude it's staff/store responsibility to ensure prices are correct and items are scanned. They get it wrong, it will come out in a later audit and be written off in some format. It can encourage better training etc but doesn't bankrupt anyone.
The only time I went against that was as a worker, I accidentally refunded someone x number of boxes of an item rather than x number of items (so 36 items rather than 6 for example, except the numbers were way higher. Both of us should have noticed at the time but somehow didn't.). I really had to try and resolve the issue or my head would have been on a block. It was totally my error so when I called to explain and beg to redo the transaction we gave them a discount to make up for the inconvenience.

Threenow · 26/08/2023 04:22

Narnien · 26/08/2023 02:42

Don't worry about it. Pricing is all to cock now and most times you're serving/charging/packing yourself. That's their model and if they can't keep it right fuck them.

Yep, I agree with this. More and more the customers are doing the work, as well as paying high prices, so if the supermarket can't keep their pricing right it's tough luck for them. They make more than enough out of us as it is.

JMSA · 26/08/2023 04:57

I definitely wouldn't go back.

dhilez · 26/08/2023 05:20

Keep it if you want but your attempts to justify it are pathetic 😂

SushiSuave · 26/08/2023 05:41

CherryMaDeara · 26/08/2023 02:16

Always check your receipt before you leave. I sat in my car and used my phone calculator to add it all up, or I sit on the bench in store.

I personally would have flagged that they made a mistake, keeping quiet is essentially theft.

You could have complained about the double charging, they would have refunded you.

Bizarre that staff are making so many mistakes on your shopping, I use self-checkout most days and staff have never made a mistake.

Have you ever found that the receipt has calculated the incorrect total? I spent £70 in sainsburys today on virtually nothing and was shocked at the total but always assume the "adding up" on a receipt would be correct. Perhaps I should double check.

YeOldeBuxomWench · 26/08/2023 06:09

I once bought a £15 game card for my son and realised it didn't scan at self service. I did go back, but only because I was worried about getting caught or It wouldn't work if it hadn't been scanned.

I think if it's a small business it's impact is bigger. If it is a huge company like Asda or Tesco that have probably been fleecing people with 'inflation' this last year then keep it (as long as it isn't Wilko!).