Recently I took my dog to the vet to be boarded. When I picked him up and was checking out, the total came to more than I was originally quoted. I asked the woman at the front desk to review the charges which she did, twice, and declared everything to be in order. When I was handed the receipt I checked again; sure enough, there was a charge of $16 for a vaccine they had not initially mentioned to me.
I let her know that I would not have agreed to the vaccine since the dog was not due for it for another month, and that it was administered without my prior approval. There was a little back and forth-ing, during which I could have said, "never mind, don’t worry about it" but, being a woman of financial principle, I was resolute to the end. And to that end, the charge was removed and the receipt reconciled to the original amount. I realize $16 is not a lot to some people, but to me $16 charged falsely is $16 more out of my pocket.
I cannot stress enough how many times I have checked my receipts–from merchants, food and grocery stores, retail stores, vendors and contractors–only to find that I was overcharged for one reason or another. Grocery stores are the biggest culprits for this, often due to the register not computing sale prices. You believe you are getting the item on sale, but unless you check your receipt to make sure, you may often be paying regular prices unwillingly and unknowingly, and this can add up to hundreds, even thousands, of dollars over the course of a year.
Everyone, even a computer, makes mistakes (computers would counter "user-error" so we’ll give them that–a computer is only as effective as the person programming and operating it). Time after time, week after week, programmers and operators do make mistakes. It takes the sharp eye of the consumer–you–to find those mistakes and rectify them. Otherwise, the consumer–you–will lose hard-earned money more times than can be believed, simply by refusing to double-check a receipt. I find errors not only in sale computation, but items rung more than once or not credited properly.
Grocery stores aren’t the only merchants who reap financial rewards from consumers who are too trusting. Just about every merchant has, at one time or another, purposely or inadvertently made errors in totaling receipts. When I told my brother the dog boarding story, he got very animated and told me one of his own. "Just last week, I brought my car in with a $49.99 coupon special", he said. "I got the bill back: $89 and change! I was like, whoa, I had a coupon for $49.99, and the coupon was even clipped to the invoice!". The worker’s response? "We didn’t know if you wanted to use that coupon now or at a later date". Hello. My brother said, with as little sarcasm as he could sequester, "Um, yeah, I want to use it now". I’m sure he wanted to add "Duh". The company still charged him an extra $10, and by then he was ready to get out so he paid it (I would have stayed and fought to the end). Still, he paid $30 less by bringing the error to the merchant’s attention. Believe me, if you don’t let them know, you’re out cash–sometimes quite a bit of it.
Why don’t more consumers do this? Because some don’t want to make a stir, cause a scene, cause trouble, take the time. Assuredly, requesting money that is rightly yours due to merchant error is not causing trouble, it’s absolutely necessary to keep your finances in check. More than that, by not checking receipts and correcting receipt errors that are wrong, the consumer is agreeing to hand extra money to retailers and merchants just for the heck of it. Taking the time just to check your receipt can save you a lot of money. And you’ll feel good knowing you didn’t let someone else pocket your hard-earned cash unnecessarily.
One more point: only when I am wronged and there is a genuine error do I make an issue. In fact, if an error is found in my favor, I also bring this up to the store or merchant. A few months ago, at the same vet office, I noticed they made an error by charging me $25 more than the agreed bill. The error was a simple computer one and easily reconciled. When I got home, I rechecked my receipt and noticed they had double credited me. Of course, I could have smiled, put the extra cash in my pocket and been $25 the winner. But integrity is essential both in finances and life. So, I got in my car, drove back to the vet, and gave her the $25 which was rightly theirs. Needless to say, they were very surprised. As I was driving home my son said, "Mom, if you hadn’t said anything, they never would have known". I replied, "I would have known, and God would have known. Always do the right thing". If you live a life of honesty and integrity, it will all come back to you, and you can sleep with a very soft pillow at night. A pillow made even softer with the knowledge that you are protecting your money as well.
