If I got a bargain at the checkout...

[stogie bear]

So; Just supposing I pop out to the IT section of Seacon Square and buy a Creative Labs 80 gig W series media player...

And just supposing that the credit card machine racked up 1,799 baht instead of 17,990 baht and I signed it KNOWING that they had made a mistake and walked off with my bargain...

Would that make me a bad person?

Should I have mentioned it to them at the time?

Should I go back and beg to pay the difference?

It's a question of guilt and morality isn't it?

They fucked up so should I pay?

What do you think YOU would have done in the same circumstances?

[perth_couple]

Depends.. If it were a big chain store where no-one would be personally responsible for the loss - I'd walk and drink the difference

If it were an owner/operator store I frequent often, or one in which I knew the poor bastard who stuffed up would be sacked/have to cough up the cash themselves, I pretty much always let em know..

[seamus]

Depends wot day I had been having LOL, but in most cases I would have flaged up the mistake, just incase the person severing was gonna get it in the neck & as Glenn said if it were a small independant retailer, then 100 % I would have flaged it up.But thats Just Me, dont make you a bad person Uncle Stogie, I mean if it were in the UK, We would be paying twice as much as the states in the first place, so bargin LOL



Seamus too honest for own good

[dummy_plug]

I'd adhere to the golden rule - treat others as how I would like to be treated. I don't think just because someone fucks up, or makes an honest mistake, that it lets me get off the hook for my responsibilities as an individual. I'm sure we've all made our own mistakes and appreciate the fact people were honest with us. I was just in Tokyo and paid a Y800 cab fare with a Y10,000 note which I thought was a Y1,000 note. I said keep the change. The taxi driver could have been shady - justifying to myself he made a mistake - and kept the money. However, he stopped me and pointed out I had just given him a Y10,000 note to which I promptly took back most of the money but gave a healthy tip as a reward for his honesty.

At any rate, you end up paying for it (as well as innocent others) indirectly in the long run. The store has just lost money it should have earned and will probably treat the shortfall as shrinkage. To compensate, they'll raise margins on their products (prices) which will make other items more expensive than they ordinarily would be. So what happened here isn't going to make a material difference, but I think you can see my point here.

I probably wouldn't have done the same thing - I would have wanted to pay my fair price, but I don't think you necessarily need to go back and try to pay the difference.

[marshal]

I would be honest,and mention the mistake.
Reason being i'm a great believer in what goes around comes around.
If i find a tenner(£10 sterling) in the street you can almost be sure you will lose a tenner elsewhere, and it's always when you are on the bones of your ass.

So i feel the 16000 baht saved will be lost elsewhere,somehow. Maybe you get a big fine or lose wallet or even end up being burgled!

Of course there is the question of guilt and morals as well,and some of these big chains still screw there employees,make them pay and a big black mark.....

[Otho]

It would depend on my mood. If I was in a fuck you mood, I'd take it. Many times I've been ripped off or mistakenly overpiad, so I'd sort of feel that it evened things out a bit. Usually, though, I'd feedl obliged to point it out.

And as one of the guys said, the question of who pays is important. If it's a big chain store and the item is actually ticketed wrongly, that's much fairer game than if it's, say, a restaurant or bar where the employee would normally have to pay it themselves.

A few years ago I was in a posh restaurant in Chelsea with a lifelong mate. We were pissed, and reminiscing about times in our penniless youth when we did a runner out of restaurants. For sheer devilment (AKA stupid things you do that seem like a really good idea when you're ratarsed), I said let's do one now. I was the one who could see the waiters station, so I said to him that we had to run when I gave the word. I gave the word, started running and was 50 yards up Kings Road when I realised he wasn't behind me. I went back, peeped in the window and of course they'd caught him! He was wearing shorts, was blushing beetroot red and he looked like a big, overgrown schoolboy. He only just had enough money to pay, after he'd counted all the loose change out of his pockets. I stood outside laughing myself silly.

The following Friday, pissed again, I was sitting with four people outside a pizza place and told the story (they all knew this guy). Then one of them said, let's do one now. They all got up and legged it and I had no alternative but to follow. But it was the first thing on my mind when I woke up the next morning. So I drove over there at lunchtime, told the guy what had happened, apologised and offered to pay. It turned out he was the guy who had been serving our table. He was nearly in tears, as it would have come out of his wages. He told the manager, who poured me a glass of wine and said fair play to you. I must admit it felt good.

[trobriand]

I would have told them of their mistake. No matter how hard I try I can't do anything more dishonest when it comes to money apart from avoiding the tax man.

Being Thailand where workers have fuck all rights the cashier will probably have to pay for the difference out of his own pocket, I have seen this happen before.

I don't want the karma of it on my head. I think it all comes back to you at some stage.

Once I left a briefcase full of money, travelers cheques, and airline tickets lying in a car park in port Moresby. A nice lady took an inventory of everything that was in it, gave the bag to the police and showed them she had two copies of the invoice and also told them she was going to phone every hotel in Moresby until she found me. I got it all back.

It's nice when you are on the receiving end of honesty.

I hear often going off at cheap bastards trying to save a few baht with the girls. Think you should put your self in the same category.

[Freebird]

I mention it most of the times when I get too much change or whatever.

I don't tell them if anybody in the store, restaurant was impolite to me earlier...

wie du mir, so ich dir...

[marshal]

i tend not to complain about crap service, i just don't go back!

Had to laugh at the running out of restaurants post, it bought back memorys of being a pissed twat and walking out of a pub witha fucking great big solid hardwood bar stool for a bet!
I did take it back the following week, but i didn't get a glass of wine! Just a look that said what a fucking idiot!

[katoeylover]

I think i would mention it, but depends on the store. I think, like Perth husband thet if it was a large group then i would walk away, if it were a small store i would tell them.

I am sure it has happened to us at some point and no-one has ever come in and said , btw you undercharged me or put an extra bottle in the bag, but if itas the other way round we hear immediately.

[daveduke007]

(stogie bear @ Jul. 05 2008,06:25) It's a question of guilt and morality isn't it?

Me, I would have felt "guilt" personally about the mistake, not so much to the big store but towards the person in question who served you and I would think about the could be consequences that might arise to him/her.

There is many a time I could have kept money that has fallen out of customers pockets in my pub but I have always handed it back to them and received thanks, which means more to me than having a few extra quid in my pocket

[Torurot]

You shop there often? You want to go back? Thais seem to have a good memory for faces.

[pacman]

Bargain? That was no bargain! That was a gift!

It doesn't seem like a gift at the moment but it is, trust me it is a great gift, because that feeling of having done the right thing can't be replaced by anything.

All the sanctimonious posts in the world aren't going to make you return to the shop.

    ..... but the little voice in your head will!

You have more or less decided you are going back, else you would never have posted your question.

You have all the reasons you need        - karma
                                                       - their memory
                                                       - it's the right thing

        now you have the last one, revealing to the forum "the cut of your jib".

I would suggest however you select something else you need & after revealing the mistake to the manager, asking in the same breath what sort of a deal can he swing for you on your new purchase.

Over many years of having to deal with both types of customers, I can tell you the honest ones have been rewarded many times over with subsequent deals.

[Tomcat]

Depends who it is. I would scam a bank for 7 figures and sleep like a baby....many would scam the taxman and cheat the public coffers  and think nought of it , and so on...

Would i own up if the Electric Company undercharged me...no .

Insurance brokers... these guys deserve to be fucked!

As far as the Dept store goes it would depend on who it was...many stores bascially fleece their customers with things like 5 year warrantes which we dont need..." what do you mean, the product isnt going to last 5 years then( as i ask them)"

Its a war out there!

[sev7en]

A department store? Fuck em.. spend it on ST´s.