End of week ethics test

[king_pellinor]

You buy some plates from a shop, subject to a combination of special offers. It occurs to you that the price you have been charged seems a little low, and on checking the receipt you are somewhat baffled by the method of calculation: you can see how the total price was arrived at, but cannot see how anyone would think the methodology appropriate.

You have paid in cash and have left the shop. You are heading to work, for which you will already be slightly late due to an unscheduled bit of shopping on the way in.

You strongly suspect that any discussion with shop staff will be time-consuming and leave everyone confused.

How should you proceed?

Comments

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Ignore it. If you're bothered, put the difference in a collecting box.

If it was ten times as much, I might go back to the shop. But for the few pounds we are talking about (judging by the previous post!), it's not worth doing this.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

The extra hassle you would cause the shop and its staff by going back and quibbling more than outweighs the small amount you are in fact diddling them out of. The right thing to do in this case is not worry about it.

[king-pellinor.livejournal.com]

Is it in fact diddling, if I've paid the amount I was asked for?

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

My feeling is, no it isn't, especially if you didn't spot the mistake at the time.

[king-pellinor.livejournal.com]

I did think it was an odd price, but as I didn't actually know the list price of the plates when I took them to the counter (the display was very reticent on the subject) I had no frame of reference.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Legally, no. Ethically, arguably yes.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

My understanding is that if the transaction takes place in a real bricks and mortar shop and you walked out with the goods having paid the amount requested, you are good.

However, if you had bought the goods online, they would be within their rights not to send them to you, if they caught the mistake between payment and dispatch, though the sensible online shop also includes provision for this eventuality in its terms and conditions. (Because on the whole, it's unlikely that even the most idiotic shopassistant will sell a £3300 item for £33, let alone several of them, but this is something that can easily result from slip of the finger online).

[kargicq.livejournal.com]

That would be my argument. If you've accidentally saved several hundred quid, then sure, go back and tell them later (this is the ethical thing to do; I don't think you have to legally). If it's a tenner or even a few tens, then you will actually be costing the shop money by taking up so much staff time to sort it out, so just leave it. I guess the cut-off point between the two courses of action has to be calibrated by an ad-hoc estimate of turnover -- for a big shop, 20 quid is neither here nor there; for a little one-man show, it might matter. - Neuromancer.

[kargicq.livejournal.com]

(Sorry, I was trying to agree with Philmophlegm). I should also maybe add that my view is coloured by a recent experience where I bought a sandwich in a London shop. The staff were all foreign, and had problems understanding me. When my sandwich turned up (after I'd paid) it was the wrong one. I said "Oh, I ordered the Alsace not the Parisien", he said "Oh sorry, I'll get you an Alsace. I charged you for the Parisien which is less, but don't worry about it." I felt sufficiently embarrassed about having inadvertently underpaid that when I then went back to the counter for a cake, I attempted to explain the previous transaction and pay the difference. This caused a huge hassle with the entire staff of the shop gathering round trying to understand what I was on about. I was holding up other customers and generally being a complete nuisance all for the sake of about 50p. On reflection, clearly an appalling mistake and I should just have left it! - Neuromancer

[rustica.livejournal.com]

Leave it. Sometimes it's impossible, when there are compound offers, to have a clue what the final total should be. You took the goods to the till in good faith, they rang them up, you paid in good faith. End of story.

If I'm in a shop and I notice that they are undercharging me, then I do say so and make sure I pay the right amount. But if I don't notice until later - well, that's just one of those things. Unless it's a large amount we're talking about, in which case that's different and I would go back. But for small amounts... I figure that if a shop overcharged me and I didn't notice till afterwards I wouldn't go back and kick up, so if it's an undercharge of a similar value then I wouldn't go back either.

[rustica.livejournal.com]

(has now read earlier post).

Ok. That was my answer when I thought it was some sort of minor calculation error. They would be peeved with you, but they would probably be patient.

Now I see that it would involve telling them that the whole basis of calculation of their discounts is flawed. No. Don't do it. They don't deserve it. Poor little shop assistants.... And you wouldn't get anywhere, anyhow. People can be strangely phobic about percentages at the best of times!!

[chainmailmaiden]

Are the discounts not programmed into the till and deducted automatically? They always were in my shop, that way any calculation errors are the fault of Head Office. In which case the shop staff probably wouldn't be able to do anything about it anyway.

[king-pellinor.livejournal.com]

That as my thinking. Trying to get them to reprogram their EPOS system for the sake of £1.20 just seemed a bit silly.

However, I am wondering whether I should pass this on to our IT consultants to see if we can reprogram their EPOS system for perhaps £120,000 :-)