Would you take too much change? 20 September 2011 at 10:29AM in MoneySaving polls 19 replies 7.2K views

Former_MSE_Penelope

Would you take too much change?

Poll started 20 Sept 2011, click here to vote


You buy something in a shop for £17 and pay with a twenty quid note, but the shopkeeper gives you £13 change instead of £3.

What would you do?

I'd always tell them and give the extra change back
I'd tell them if it was a small store, keep it if it was a chain
I'd always keep schtum


Click reply to discuss

ACynic

I hope all the people who would take the money and keep quiet weren't upset by the MP expense scandal - after all, dishonesty comes in all shapes and sizes....

mickey54

MSE_Penelope wrote: »

Would you take too much change?

Poll started 20 Sept 2011, click here to vote


You buy something in a shop for £17 and pay with a twenty quid note, but the shopkeeper gives you £13 change instead of £3.

What would you do?

I'd always tell them and give the extra change back
I'd tell them if it was a small store, keep it if it was a chain
I'd always keep schtum


Click reply to discuss

Notice in one of my local shops..."Please check change before leaving counter - as mistakes cannot be rectified after moving away"..

I walked away from counter - putting change in my purse when I realised they had given me too much. I returned to cash desk - and said - you made a mistake - and before I could finish the sentence...the sales assistant pointed to the sign - and said mistakes cannot be rectified if you have moved. I said ok - I will keep the extra £10 given, and walked out of the store.

karatemum3

:A
This happened to me only the other day. I gave a £5 note for a £2.50 sale and the girl gave me back change for £10. I pointed out her mistake (as I work in retail, I would hope it would'nt happen to me) but she looked at me rather shocked and did'nt even thank me!

minerva_windsong

Having worked in a hotel bar where if the till was under at the end of the night it came out of our wages, I'd always give it back - you don't know what trouble it could cause for the person behind the till.

Harry_Flashman

ACynic wrote: »

I hope all the people who would take the money and keep quiet weren't upset by the MP expense scandal - after all, dishonesty comes in all shapes and sizes....

That analagy only stands up if we were trying to tell people how to live (like the MPs do).

shzl400

What about when the boot's on the other foot and it's you that's been shortchanged? It's like getting blood out of a stone!

Win some, lose some - that's life!

tagq2

I'll certainly point out an underpayment or overpayment of coins/notes, and I laugh at signs like "please check change at counter" or "we are not responsible for injuries"(!) - you'll do what's reasonable and legal and be responsible for your own mistakes, thanks! I remember once when young handing over a final 10p and the shopkeeper taking it, doing something else, saying I hadn't given her the 10p and asking for it again. At the time I assumed she was distracted and insisted that I'd already handed it over, but a couple of "no you didn't"/"yes I did" later I gave in. Today I'm more assertive and would have happily asked for all my money back and gone somewhere else.

I'm also the type to check every item in every receipt, even a huge long supermarket receipt (I get out of the way first so as not to hold up the queue). It's surprising how often the in-store display price doesn't correspond to what I've actually been charged, though sometimes I'm expecting it as the online store will show special offers which aren't yet reflected on the price tags. But in this case I guess I am biased: I'd point out a large error regardless, but a discrepancy of a few pence in price I would disregard if (i) large chain; (ii) in my favour. This is reasonable because we can assume the store's price database is up-to-date and the only mistake will have been an incorrect price tag - I implicitly accept the lower offer made at checkout.

Squire_Fulwood

I once took a fairly keen interest in change giving at tills. I discovered that not only were many shops etc giving wrong change but most of them erred on their own side. I saw many good swindles like counting 10p coins into your hand starting at 20 and ending at 90, putting the loose change into the outstretched hand but not the notes, putting anything (on one occasion just the till receipt) into the outstretched hand because most of us men would just pocket whatever we were given without looking at it. I didn't always complain but noted who did it etc to see if they did it habitually.

Ever since those days I have had a fairly philosophical attitude to change giving. If they err in my favour then I take it as swings and roundabouts. I shudder to think how much I have given away at tills in the past.

Here are a couple more I witnessed. In the days before bedeep at the supermarket tills, if the assistant knew the customer she would punch up one tenth of each price. She looked busy so no-one noticed. Pick your own soft fruit ...woman assistant on the till weighed womens baskets light and mens baskets heavy. Maybe she had trouble at home.

One of the sadder ones was a shop where the owner overcharged me by a penny. I took no notice and when he asked me to sign a petition to save his shop I did so. The next time I was in the shop he overpaid me one penny. Nice one, but sad.

There is no end to them if you pay attention.

LandyAndy

Squire_Fulwood wrote: »

I once took a fairly keen interest in change giving at tills. I discovered that not only were many shops etc giving wrong change but most of them erred on their own side. I saw many good swindles like counting 10p coins into your hand starting at 20 and ending at 90, putting the loose change into the outstretched hand but not the notes, putting anything (on one occasion just the till receipt) into the outstretched hand because most of us men would just pocket whatever we were given without looking at it. I didn't always complain but noted who did it etc to see if they did it habitually.

.

I used to stop regularly at the same motorway service station. Twice in succession the same member of staff in the shop short changed me by 50p. Both times I complained and he paid the extra without argument. I resolved to report him if it happened again but I never saw him after that. Coincidence, maybe, but a nice little earner if you can keep pocketing 50ps on an 8 hour shift.

Squire_Fulwood

Here's a good one I noticed at a well known supermarket.

A friend came shopping with me and asked if I would get him some cigarettes and ten scratch cards. I use neither myself but it was not my money so I agreed. There was a very young man behind the counter who was doing everything in a deliberate manner because he was probably new. When he pulled out the row of scratch cards he peered closely at them and tore them off so although I got ten he kept one from the middle of the run. Another but older young man came out of a door to look over his shoulder and the younger one asked, "Which drawer do I put these in again?". The embarrassed looking older one pointed at a drawer and the scratch card went in it.

As I said it wasn't my money so when I caught up with my friend I just said, "Here's your cards and you are not going to win".

This thread suggests I should take pity on the retailer/assistant and return excess money. In my view it would be throwing good money after the money I already paid.