MONEY MORAL DILEMMA: Should Alan give the laptop back?

teddyco

Would this scenario really be 'legal'?

I would imagine that the law allows for cash registers to make mistakes from time to time and would hold anyone responsible for paying the full amount that was listed in the store. If the customer knew that the item was listed in the store at a certain price and a mistake was made at the till, there was still 'intent' to make a contract and the customer would be liable for the full amount of the purchase.

A sale is an agreement by two parties to conduct business and both parties must be in agreement on the price to be paid. A till has no knowledge that a contract is taking place and cannot be held liable for a mistake that was made.

This is not a game of see who can cheat the till and then run as fast as you can out of the store so they won't notice!

When you see an advertised price in a store and you take that merchandise to the till, you have a legal responsibility to pay that price even if the till makes a mistake.

I would say that if a store wanted to take you to court after you walked out with a lower price, they would most likely win in court and you would be forced to pay the full amount that you owe. This of course is taking into consideration the fact that tills do make mistakes from time to time.

However, a store will never do this because they don't want to lose your business.

But then again, What about God? He is watching your actions too.........you know, and the bible says that one day we will all give an account of what we did to one another on this earth.

aajjii

I am saddened at some Moneysavers response. If someone or some organization make a mistake such as this, is it morally correct to say it is o.k. I am all for taking advantage of special offers and making the most of vouchers etc but this case is different and as far as I am concerned, it is close to stealing. And what is the difference between a small company and a large one providing they trade fairly and honourably. Bad companies can be large or small; ever seen T.V. rogue Traders? Sorry but I would not even have left the counter.

LoveLifeAgain

I would have mentioned it when they asked for payment, could not have left the shop as I would have felt like a thief.

KidMoe

I would have corrected the mistake at the till, and I can't honestly believe that some people would think it's ok to try to leave with the laptop at £3.99. It's an obvious mistake that you could not fail to notice when paying for the machine, so you might as well just steal it and chuck the money through the door on the way out if you would accept the undercharge.

Even if it was a chain it's still utterly reprehensible. Big stores still have sales targets to make which jobs depend on. Somebody will have to take responsibility for it, whether it be the checkout operator or the manager.

heleen

Wow, I'm really shocked at the number of people who would keep it :eek: . I guess I'm a goody two shoes. I woudl return it no questions asked, but would jokingly ask for somethign extra to be thrown in, like software.
Both of us would feel good at eh end of that.

Heleen

BigMikeyG

I would feel bad and offer to pay 200-250 quid and if the manager is smart he would take it. However I wouldn't pay the full price as sometimes lady luck smiles on you for a reason lol :-)

At the end of the day you have the upper hand not the shop which doesn't happen all that much so I would ntry to exploit it just a little bit ;-)

HenrysCat_3

If it was a small company then i'd defo speak up. If it was a main high street store then no. They have screwed ME enough times....

Gotta think - if it was YOUR company/business, how would YOU feel?

KidMoe

HenrysCat wrote: »

If it was a small company then i'd defo speak up. If it was a main high street store then no. They have screwed ME enough times....

Gotta think - if it was YOUR company/business, how would YOU feel?

When exactly has a high street store overcharged you and refused to refund the difference? You'd never accept that, so why should it work the other way round?

luwpergwin

stogiebear wrote: »

My first instinct when anyone walks up to me in a shop wearing a tie is that I'm just about to be lied to. It's second nature to most of us who aren't sleepwalking through life.

So when I get the story about "trainee cashier..." blah blah blah I find it hard to feel the pain. If it was a Curry's then I'd not only take it, I'd spit in their faces on the way out! This crappy chain of imbeciles has the worst service reputation I know.

I'm pretty sure the shop who had just tried to sell me an 'extended warranty' on this very same laptop don't have the same gullible sense of obligation and morality that some of the posters here seem to have.

Sorry if that sounds harsh, but these sales people are not your mates trying to do you a favor and find you a great deal. They are ruthless lying sneaks who would kill their families to make employee of the month.

:T

Could you imagine a manager telling you to save your money and buy this model because you dont need 8gig of memory and the extended warranty is overpriced and rubbish?

If you brought a computer back 1 day late and out of warranty because your loved one was ill, would they honour it?

I would say "My dear manager person, things happen for a reason. This has happened as a result of Karma. This laptop is sent to me to restore the imbalance of your bad Karma. Let this be a lesson, now get the hell out of my way I have a laptop to set up!":A

anney

This is a very poor dilemma, no major retailer would make this mistake as the prices are rung into the till by a barcode reader, if the price had to be overridden (say because of a promotion or damage discount) a new till opperator wouldn't have the authority to do that- or the code to let the till do it for that matter. I have seen many new cashiers make the most astonishing mistakes but they are usually errors of ringing in things more than once or multiplying them by, say, 55 instead of 5. If there was a price file error & the cashier scanned it & that was the price that came up then they wouldn't be to blame & you could argue that the shop is selling all of that item at that price.

A very small retailer with a manual till might feasibly ring in the wrong price, but then would all you moneygrubbers who have said you wouldn't pay up really insist on paying £3.99 from this type of shop, where such a loss may well wipe out all their profit for the day? There is a difference between moneysaving & moral theft.