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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Polly Hudson

What would you do if a supermarket accidentally gave you £300 of groceries you hadn’t paid for?

Woman unpacking a cardboard box.
Free gift – or a headache you didn’t ask for? Photograph: Posed by model; Choreograph/Getty Images

How well do you know yourself? You might feel certain about how you’d act in a situation, but until it happens, perhaps you shouldn’t be so sure. Or, to put it another way, how honest would you be if no one was looking?

A Mumsnet message board contributor started an extremely lively discussion this week, with a post entitled Should I Tell Tesco I Basically Stole £300 From Them? The contributor had cancelled her order, and received a refund, but then it was delivered, bringing along with it a moral dilemma. Or maybe not, depending on your morals.

“I genuinely have never stolen in my life, I tend to follow rules,” she explained, adding slightly confusingly, “I wouldn’t even do a U-turn if there was a no entry sign.”

Highway Code aside, everybody who replied was adamant their opinion was correct. None of these ladies were for turning. Those who believed she should keep quiet all clarified that they would see the matter differently if it was a small business rather than giant faceless corporation. Their reasoning went that, “Tesco won’t be crying over £300,” and, “If they can’t get their accounting systems in place it’s not your fault.”

“Every little helps,” more than one quipped, although £300 is far from little, especially in a cost of living crisis.

On the other side of the coin were the people equating this unexpected bonanza to walking out of a supermarket pushing a full trolley without paying, and others asking the original poster how she could sleep at night if she didn’t fess up.

To clarify, The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 state that in circumstances such as these, the merchandise still belongs to the trader so you should attempt to give it back. This includes items not meant for you, sent to you twice, or if there are extras.

The general Mumsnet consensus, regardless of point of view, was that the contributor was unlikely to be caught if she never told Tesco. Accidentally profiting from a large company mix-up is pretty much the perfect crime, some of the posters seemed to believe. All you have to contend with is your conscience.

I once ordered a rug, which arrived and then the next morning, arrived again, Groundhog Day style. I messaged a friend I knew would tell me to keep it, who told me to keep it. But it didn’t feel good and I also worried about karma. I rang and confessed, to the astonishment of the customer services representative, who rather than congratulating me for my noble truthfulness, clearly thought I was a ridiculous idiot who should have sold the duplicate on eBay. She had to put me on hold while she checked how to process my request, which may provide some indication as to how often this occurs.

A month later, my cat, suffering from a bladder infection, urinated all over the new rug. It could not be saved, so had to be chucked out (the rug, not the cat). This would have been the perfect time to have a spare, identical floor covering to put in its place, or ill-gotten-gains-eBay money to purchase a replacement. Instead I had neither, just the useless warm glow of doing what is right – and legal.

It’s possible karma could have admonished me in an even more brutal way if I’d have kept the second rug – dealing me a fate worse than cat pee, though that seems unimaginable if you’ve ever had the misfortune to smell it.

Conceivably, I have less integrity than someone who owned up immediately, as I briefly considered taking advantage of my surprise windfall – and because I felt too guilty to keep it rather than instantly knowing it was wrong/illegal and acting solely on that. If Ms Mumsnet donated the shopping she received to a food bank, would that be OK?

I suppose it depends if you see these incidents as presents, or tests: random events without consequence or the ultimate evaluation of character. We might eventually get an answer, but only when it’s too late. This could matter not at all, or mean that when I get to the pearly gates not only will I breeze right through, I’ll have soft furnishings waiting.

  • Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

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