New Weekly "off Topic" Topic (12/03/12)

Ludwig Venter

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Some time ago my wife bought 8 buttons at the Supermarket and due to some miscalculation, the clerk gave her 15 buttons, but only charged her for the 8 she wanted..... It was a mediocre 15 cents per button and she only noticed the mistake when she got back home.

The next day, my wife "Smuggled" the 7 extra buttons back into the store by putting it in her handbag..... sneaking up to the shelf where the buttons are on display and when no-one was looking..... she quickly put them back on the shelf. I pointed out to her that it was a kinda stupid move..... if she was caught bringing them back like that...... no-one would've believed her story..... She just said that she felt guilty with the extra merchandise and felt much better after returning them.

This week the question is...... If you get back home from a store and notice that you've been under-charged for an item..... will you go back to the store and offer to pay for the shortfall, or do just ignore it as being their own fault??
 
Personally, I ignore it as it's their own fault. When I was a child, my Mum sent me to the shop to buy a sheet of gift wrapping paper. In the shop, the paper was displayed on those little metal arms that you move around to see the different papers. So i slid off the one i wanted, and took what I thought was one sheet to the till (I didn't count it, I was about 7) and when I got home, realised that I had 5 sheets. The shop assistant hadn't counted the number of sheets, and only charged me for one. I was only little, and it was a complete accident, so I didn't return the others!
 
If I notice in the store that too little is charged, i'll tell them.

If i don't notice it untill I get home, I don't bother anymore... :)
 
Since having children we have had 2 or 3 little mishaps. You know how it is...in the store, your two year old is throwing a tantrum cause it's nap time, your 3 month old baby is wailing cause he's hungry! All you want to do is buy your groceries and get the hell out of there in peace! So you hand the 2 year old a small cheap toy, or spatula, or box of cookies...whatever aisle your on {you get the point} Next thing you know you are putting them in the carseat and they are still holding it. But your 3 month old is still wailing away and you need to get home....

If I notice money thigns at the register I fix it, but for the small accidents, I try to do a few good deeds to balance out my karma.
 
Nope. Money is too tight with me to be worrying about someone undercharging me. Their own fault.

If it's a small little business I might feel bad, but not at all if it's a big chain store making loads of money every minute. I've never felt bad enough to go back.
 
Honor is what we do when no-one is looking.
I wouldn't condone sneaking merchandise back. But I would return it.
It's not a matter of the size of the shop, it's a matter of integrity.
 
I'm not going to lie. If that were me, I would have been happy the clerk screwed up. I do not steal, but if you give me free merchandise, there is a chance I am not going to notice, expecially if it is a low price item. But if its a huge miscalculation, you best believe I am returning it/
 
I'll only return it if it's a large amount and it's not a chain store. Otherwise it's their fault and I take it as a present.
 
It depends on what mood I'm in I suppose/what shop I'm in etc. There's a shop down the road and a horrible old ***** owns it, she tried shouting at my kids one time because they were looking at magazines, only the front cover and weren't opening the magazines. I rarely carry cash and when I do its because I've taken it out because a certain place doesn't take cards or the kids want their pocket money so I don't really see mistakes until the end of the month.
One HUGE mistake was made when I was working for myself, I needed a new stone cutting guillotine which was over £2500 alone. I also got new Makita cordless drills and SDS drill. Timber for making profiles and lots of other stuff including chopsaw, circular saw etc. I was saving up for this new stuff as that sort of cash just isn't available to me off hand but I needed them to do my job. Within two weeks the shop was closed, it was a general tool shop, private and I got on well with the owner. The shop never opened again and I never seen the man again. It was at the end of the month I checked my bank statement and seen I was only charged the price of the box set of Makita drills.
I did try and find where the man lived and I'm sure within the two weeks that single mistake wouldn't have made his business collapse but I did want to pay the man the money I owed him especially as he ordered in the stone guillotine for me as he wouldn't have a need to stock them normally.

When it come to my tax deductions at the end of the year it was a different story though.
 
Reminds me of a mail order for a hang-on aquarium filter I got once..... I tried all sorts of tricks to get it primed, but it would not run.... I sent the guy an e-mail to tell him that the pump is not working, so he just mailed me another one without even requesting this one back....

Some 7 months later, I again took the non-working one out of the useless items storage box and noticeced a very thin hairline crack all allong the seam.... I sealed it with silicon and the pump worked as good as the new one..... without even contacting the guy who sent it to me, I made an online payment into his bank account for the full amount.... Only much later, I sent him an E-mail to tell him what had happened.

My next mail order from this guy was sent with no shipping charges.....
 
We had this topic in Tropical Discussion a few months ago.

My view is that if you expect a company to put right an error in their favour (and rightly so), then it is equally right for you to put right an error in your favour. Please also consider that many chain stores hold their employees personally liable for any errors on their shift, so for those who say it's fine, because the chain store can afford it - it may well be the assistant who pays, and they may well not be able to afford it.

Honesty is always the best policy, IMHO.
 
just like the inland revenue, i wont tell them if they've given me too much, but i will let them know if i am given too little... it works the same3 way with the governments taxes here, you can pay too musch and they woint tell ya, but pay even a penny under and you are screamed at...
 
Bubble, I thought you couldn't be taxed under 16?

Idk bout the uk but here I believe it's 14. As long as you legally have a job and aren't being handed money under the counter to get out of taxes, you are taxed if I am correct.
 

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