I just went grocery sopping to pick up a few odds and ends. Here’s what the list looked like:
2 packages of hot dogs
2 boxes of frozen meatballs
3 muffins
1 bag of cat food
3 hard rolls
1 loaf of Italian bread
The total came to $56.
Wow! Those were some expensive hot dogs and meatballs, I thought. Then I thought about it again. The hot dogs and meatballs were buy 1, get 1 free. The cat food was less than $6.
When I examined the receipt more closely, I saw that I was charged $9.46 for each hard roll!
Obviously this was an error. In fact, the cashier entered the register code (946) for the price instead of the lookup code when ringing the groceries up.
It was a simple error, but it would have been costly if I just swiped my credit card and went along my way – the cashier never noticed it!
The moral here is clear: never assume what your being asked to pay is what you really owe. Also, don’t assume the other party is looking out for you. The other party may be a corrupt financial advisor, or just a over worked check out girl with other things on her mind.
This same thing happened to me this weekend. I had bought a bunch of stuff at CVS and thought in my head that the bill seemed high. when I got home I analyzed the bill. They had charged me twice for a pair of tweezers, a $5 over charge. Since I didn’t look at the receipt in the store I had to make an extra trip back. I did it while running errands over there, but I should have looked at the receipt before I left. Lesson learned.
Good for you!
I think a lot of people don’t bother, unless it’s a high enough amount (like $28!). I think most wouldn’t bother to go back out again for $5… but that $5 can add up!