MONEY MORAL DILEMMA: Should Alan give the laptop back?

Fragments_Of_Sanity

lemming64 wrote: »

I work in a shop that uses tills and I am pretty sure that trading standards states that if your till correctly scans an item at an incorrect price then you must sell the item to that customer at the cheapest price, or withdraw it from sale.

As stated earlier it is the person who programmed the tills mistake, not the cashiers.

I also work on tills in my weekend job and, actually, the till I use will physically not allow you to price items UP, only down. This is probably to correctly adhere to legislation, but I thought all tills worked like that, unless they are manual and not scanner operated.

The whole thing would become very messy because to change the price they would have to actually reset the barcode itself so that the customer's receipt and proof of purchase were accurate, and I don't think that would be a particularly easy or speedy process. Where I work floor managers would be unlikely to have the slightest clue how to do that, it's done by workers who don't work in trading hours!

andy_hunk

Ask him how much he will pay for it if you sell it back to him as in the eyes of the law the POS was completed which means you are now the owner.

Happy days

Gekite

Dungbeetel wrote: »

what a morally bankrupt approach the majority of respondents appear to have - and would you encourage your children in such moral dishonesty ?

To continue the idea that there are indeed different moral positions that could be taken then is it wise to insult everyone else that doesn't share what you consider to be right! Hardly a good way to try and influence people in this day and age.

As for my children, I bring them up to understand that others exist and to realise that what they think isn't necessarily to be considered right beyond question. So in effect more morally honest, more accepting of other human beings and more open to life in general.

Dungbeetel wrote: »

if you 'do the right thing' might there be a chance that the store manager will treat the trainee less harshly ?

That's up to the store manager and his conscience. He already seems like quite an understanding chap as he's just informed Alan of the position on the purchase of the laptop. I'm sure he'll just put it down to one of those things that happen in business. This day the customer won tomorrow and the next no doubt the store manager and his business will once more be king.

MikeyBarnes

Alright the cashier made a genuine mistake but, seriously, how could they let a laptop sell for £4? Where I work we rarely have to input the prices of the items by hand as its all done by the till... get with the times guys!

On the rare occasions the price comes up lower then what is on the ticket and the customer points it out, I just let them have it at the lower price, safe in the knowledge that it can't come back to me because I haven't overridden anything!

The laptop is legally mine and I've saved nearly £400. I don't see the issue.

lemming64

Fragments_Of_Sanity wrote: »

I also work on tills in my weekend job and, actually, the till I use will physically not allow you to price items UP, only down. This is probably to correctly adhere to legislation, but I thought all tills worked like that, unless they are manual and not scanner operated.

Our tills do let you price items up, but they are quite old. You shouldn't though as the customer in theory has been displayed that price for that item on the tills customer read out, and to change the price would be like ignoring a price promotion sticker at that point. The only way you could change it legally is if the wrong barcode was on the item and therefore the wrong thing scanned through the till, eg if a laptop had scanned as a mars bar, you would be in your rights to delete the mars bar and get the right code for the laptop.

KindredSpirit

No I would give it back. I couldn't use the laptop and feel good about myself. My integrity is worth more than £395.01 and I cannot teach my children honesty if I knowing took a item that had been wrongly rung up especially by that amount!!

Dungbeetel

Gekite wrote: »

Is it morally right to shoot at a person? Surely that will depend on whether they were shooting at you, are you at war; are they the enemy trying to kill you, or umpteen other considerations. Of course one could take the extreme position that it is never right to shoot at another human regardless. Either position would be classified as moral and hence different moral positions could be taken.

That's arguing about something else - a choice depending on different circs. In this case we have a single dilemma, no other contextual variables given. What is the right thing to do ? Many people are saying 'keep the laptop' based on variables they introduce - poor previous service, an assumption that it's a large store so they assume it can be afforded, whatever. Perhaps some are finding excuses to justify something they know to be morally wrong ?

A.Jones

If it is morally wrong or, as some say, theft to keep the laptop, then why is it that when threads appear on the grab-it-now board with obvious pricing errors, people say good spot rather than if you (try to) buy this at this obviously incorrect price it is morally wrong / theft.

KidMoe

Gekite wrote: »

As for my children, I bring them up to understand that others exist and to realise that what they think isn't necessarily to be considered right beyond question. So in effect more morally honest, more accepting of other human beings and more open to life in general.

The only lesson you would teach a kid by keeping the laptop at 3.99 is that it's ok to screw other people for your own personal gain. Regardless of whether it was bought at a chain or an indie, someone is going to have to take responsibility for the mistake.

There's no way you can claim that you thought the laptop was on sale for 3.99. It's completely dishonest, and just as bad as shoplifting in my opinon.

andy_hunk

Attlee wrote: »

Perhaps surprisingly, this is theft. The fact that the cashier made a mistake is no defence. (If prosecuted and convicted, this would affect Alan's sentence though, as it makes it an opportunistic, rather than a planned, crime.)

What makes it theft is, amongst other things, that Alan was aware of the error.

Most undergraduate criminal law exam papers have a question along these lines.

All good moneysavers will know that shop managers aren't reliable authorities on the law. In theory, Alan risks (i) a criminal record, (ii) a court order to return the laptop to the shop, or to compensate the shop for its loss, and (iii) any other sentence the court decides to impose. So it's not entirely true that the laptop is legally his.

Of course, asking what's moral isn't the same as asking what's legal. It sounds as though Alan might be able to get away with it.

Personally, I'd do the decent thing. I like to think of myself as having more integrity than most businesses, and to beat them at their game legally.

But this IS legal as the sale went through before the store realised the error, do you think that they would have the same argument if Alan was charged £3,999? then they would soon agree that the computer is his and that he can't return it because there is no fault.