Legal Question

[Blondegirl]

Hi all,

It's a bit of legal advice really.

Tonight after work, I went to the hairdressers, and then I went to a gift shop. I wanted to buy some cards, wrapping paper and a gift for my boyfriend for our 1st anniversary.

I went to the till, put down all my items. The assistant then rang up my total and it was �16.75 and I paid with a twenty. I hadn't actually looked at any of the prices as i've just been paid!

I then asked her what their return policy was (as I was buying cufflinks for my boyfriend), and she said it was exchange only, which was fine.

Anyway, I get home, and look in the bag, and there's no receipt. I'd presumed she would have put it in the bag, like most places do.

I get all my items out, and began adding them up. The total coming to �32.25. There are no sale stickers or anything on them, and obviously I didn't have a receipt to go off.

I then rang directory's to get their number. They weren't there, so I left my name and number and the reason why I was calling.

Where do I legally stand on this? And what do you think is the likely outcome?

Thanks in advance...

[misstaken15]

so you got under charged?

keep quiet girl ;)

[CheekyChops]

Basically you got something for free, not sure why you need legal advice? Even if your boyfriend didn't like the cufflinks, it doesn't look like you paid for them so it wouldn't matter if you couldn't return them.

Obviously you are very honest and have now left your name and number but I don't see how they can prove anything, you could have bought some of the stuff another time.

If I was the shopkeeper, I would let you keep the extra goods just because you are so honest and owned up!

[Blondegirl]

Thanks for the reply guys.

I guess my only question now is, if they call me tomorrow, and ask me to pay what I owe them - can they make me?

Does anyone know for sure?

[fo3nix]

they can't make you, as they probably have no idea it was you that gained from it. it'll just be put down to a ditsy till person, and forgotten about (especially if it's a larger company).

don't worry about it.

[Oneeyedvic]

No they can't make you pay - you have asked how much the goods were and you have paid them what they wanted for it. End of.

[stevie21]

They can't make you pay for it although they could probably figure out what had happened.

I'm impressed by your honesty so far - it's a refreshing change from some of the "I owe money, how do I get out of it?" attitudes I encounter frequently!

Without a receipt, the company are within their rights to refuse a refund or exchange on anything purchased and if you've already made it clear that you were undercharged then you may (or may not) feel uneasy trying to exchange something that you've not really paid for.
If it was the other way round and you'd been given the wrong change, most stores have a policy that once you've walked away from the counter/out of the shop you don't have any comeback.

Maybe it's a mistake on your part and something that was on sale just didn't have a sticker on it, or there was a buy 2 get the 3rd free offer? Who knows.

[Blondegirl]

As I left my name and number, the guy from the shop phoned back today.

He said that they "do not give out receipts as he doesn't want to litter the world"! He said that their exchange policy is the same as M & S i.e. no receipt needed for an exchange, as long as the tag is still on.

He asked me to come in at my earliest convenience to pay the balance, and commended me for my honesty.

[Bravo Girl]

So, if you pay the balance, you'll get a lot of personal brownie points and your conscience will be transparent. I really believe that what comes round, goes round (though it may take a while), so your time is now, Blondegirl. My time's probably the year after next but I'm sure it'll happen....

[twiglet4frog]

morally u are doing the right thing offering to pay the balance and i wish u lots of karma.

Legally u dont have to as the moment they accept the payment from u they have legally bind themselves to a contract to sell u the goods at that price.

Because of this it also means that until they take payment they can decide to not sell u something if the choose to but if they do choose to and ask u for X amount and u hand over that X amount that is a contract between buyer and seller. The only exception is if u have tried to defraud the seller by hiding goods or swapping pricing details all of which u didnt seem to do as the labels were still on for u to work it out and also u declared everything. Therefore legally the seller is the one that has to stand the loss and hasnt a leg to stand on. But thats only legally and not morally and u seem to value good values and honesty over cost which few people including myself would ever choose.

Well done you xx

[stevie21]

Well done Blondegirl, I'm genuinely impressed and even a little proud.

I wish there were more like you - big round of applause for you!!

[wongo]

honesty is definately the best policy, from experience what you get in one hand you'll lose in the other, by that i mean 1 week 2 weeks down the line you probably would have lost some money or be charged extra, it's called sods law. But this honesty will now more than likely bring you luck. Well done girl, The world needs more people like you.