# An AUS Husband accidentally spends $725 on EIGHT items at the supermarket......have you ever been majorly overcharged? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 5, 2022, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-aus-husband-accidentally-spends-725-on-eight-items-at-the-supermarket-have-you-ever-been-majorly-overcharged/962293 "2022-04-05T08:24:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SpacemanSpiff\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@SpacemanSpiff\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpacemanSpiff_II)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-aus-husband-accidentally-spends-725-on-eight-items-at-the-supermarket-have-you-ever-been-majorly-overcharged/962293/21 "2022-04-05T13:51:00Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > That’s the thing I don’t understand about this story. I have no reason to believe it didn’t happen, but I find it kind of hard to believe that neither the customer nor the cashier noticed that the total was off by so much. I’m not one of those people who goes through the store adding up totals in my head , and I might not notice that the total was $20 too high or that I had been charged for 4 containers of ice cream rather than 2 - but there’s no way I wouldn’t have looked at the total at some point. My wife was recently charged about ~$450 instead of ~$90 at a local supermarket. Similar to the OP’s case, the cashier entered 300 of an item instead of the 30 that she purchased. How didn’t she notice? She simply did not look at either the cash register or the receipt, and the error wasn’t discovered until I noticed an unusually high charge on our credit card charges. (The supermarket had no trouble refunding the excess - especially since there was a 40 item limit on that item.) Had she been paying cash it would never have happened. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-aus-husband-accidentally-spends-725-on-eight-items-at-the-supermarket-have-you-ever-been-majorly-overcharged/962293/22 "2022-04-05T14:28:33Z")
I think the best I’ve had was when a cucumber- expected cost around £0.50, instead scanned as £86 worth of cubed beef. Yes, we all noticed it immediately, I was getting about £5 worth of stuff. I seem to remember they just gave me the cucumber, because it was the actual barcode that was faulty, not a cashier error and it would have taken more than £0.50 worth of time to try and fix it, so I guess I didn’t get overcharged in the end. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-aus-husband-accidentally-spends-725-on-eight-items-at-the-supermarket-have-you-ever-been-majorly-overcharged/962293/23 "2022-04-05T14:40:50Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > I have no reason to believe it didn’t happen, but I find it kind of hard to believe that neither the customer nor the cashier noticed that the total was off by so much. I once bought a pack of cigarettes at a gas station. It was before tap cards so I selected my chequing account, entered my PIN, took my smokes and started out the door. Before I got out the cashier said, “wait, you paid for another customer’s gas!” Never underestimate the power of absent mindedness. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-aus-husband-accidentally-spends-725-on-eight-items-at-the-supermarket-have-you-ever-been-majorly-overcharged/962293/24 "2022-04-05T14:41:15Z")
One time at WalMart we were told the total was $120 for appx $20 of groceries. Inspection revealed a $100 line item with a non-valid Sku. Management came over, and no one could tell how that got there. I’m not sure who was pulling a fast one, or if it really was a accidental glitch, but the people we dealt with seemed genuinely confused. We got the charge removed, but if we weren’t paying attention, sheesh! C-note down the drain. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-aus-husband-accidentally-spends-725-on-eight-items-at-the-supermarket-have-you-ever-been-majorly-overcharged/962293/25 "2022-04-05T15:11:55Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Why did a similar limit not happen in this case? I’ve never heard of a limit on the “tap”. We have a Costco Visa and routinely use it for over $100 purchases there, and elsewhere, using the tap. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-aus-husband-accidentally-spends-725-on-eight-items-at-the-supermarket-have-you-ever-been-majorly-overcharged/962293/26 "2022-04-05T15:26:59Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > I seem to remember they just gave me the cucumber, because it was the actual barcode that was faulty, not a cashier error and it would have taken more than £0.50 worth of time to try and fix it, so I guess I didn’t get overcharged in the end. Most grocery stores around here (Midwest US) will tell you if an item’s barcode is incorrect they just won’t charge you for that item. Or at least, it used to be that way - I don’t know if it’s ever happened to me. ---
**Author:** ![Ynnad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4491bb/32.png) [@Ynnad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ynnad)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-aus-husband-accidentally-spends-725-on-eight-items-at-the-supermarket-have-you-ever-been-majorly-overcharged/962293/27 "2022-04-05T15:47:21Z")
I’m just here to say that I have never heard the phrase “check your dockets” in this context. Is that strictly an Australian thing? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-aus-husband-accidentally-spends-725-on-eight-items-at-the-supermarket-have-you-ever-been-majorly-overcharged/962293/28 "2022-04-05T15:48:05Z")
I came close, but wasn’t actually charged. I was signing up to take a course at the University of Texas, and the cost was around $2,250, but instead of entering “1” in the section for “number of courses registering for,” I put 2250 there because I thought I was reading the “cost of course to be taken” line. Had I hit the “Submit” button, I would have been charged $2,250 x 2,250 = over $5 million. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-aus-husband-accidentally-spends-725-on-eight-items-at-the-supermarket-have-you-ever-been-majorly-overcharged/962293/29 "2022-04-05T18:57:14Z")
Mr VOW doing some Christmas shopping for the grandkids at WallyWorld. He picked up three identical items and went to the register. The items had no tag, no code. Nobody knew what the items were, or where to find them. Mr VOW practically took the cashier by the hand to the shelf, anf there were the items in a box. The cashier used the hand held code reader on the box. Mr VOW paid and came home. Mrs VOW (me) looks at the receipt, and goes nuclear. I love the grands dearly, but I don’t see how three obviously small, cheap items cost THAT much. Mr VOW had to gird his loins and go back to the Dungeon (WallyWorld at Christmas) and speak to the entire chain of command. Answer: individual items did not have tags/codes. The code on the box was the price for the case lot. He came home with everything fixed, and worked very very hard to scrub the entire incident from his brain, and as a result, has no memory of it at all. I definitely recommend reading your register receipts! ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-aus-husband-accidentally-spends-725-on-eight-items-at-the-supermarket-have-you-ever-been-majorly-overcharged/962293/30 "2022-04-05T19:00:29Z")
I once mistyped the PLU code at the self checkout, and instead of two pounds of apples or whatever it was I was buying, I apparently ended up entering the code for morel mushrooms. Morel mushrooms are A) rather pricey in the first place, and b) much lighter than apples. So that came out to a very high price. I did catch the error before paying, and had to get a cashier to come over and remove the item. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-aus-husband-accidentally-spends-725-on-eight-items-at-the-supermarket-have-you-ever-been-majorly-overcharged/962293/31 "2022-04-05T22:01:52Z")
Seems like it’s time for this cautionary tale. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/682_q3ES02s/hqdefault.jpg "Tom Waits - Missing My Son - Orphans (bastards).") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=682_q3ES02s) ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-aus-husband-accidentally-spends-725-on-eight-items-at-the-supermarket-have-you-ever-been-majorly-overcharged/962293/32 "2022-04-05T23:30:18Z")
I usually consider myself a pretty casual - tending towards irresponsible - purchaser. I don’t watch every item as it is rung up. But I find it quite surprising that so many folk seem to routinely not be aware of the approximate total they are being charged. I’m trying to think of a transaction in which the total was not displayed. What else are you attending to such that you don’t check whether the total is off by a factor of 10? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-aus-husband-accidentally-spends-725-on-eight-items-at-the-supermarket-have-you-ever-been-majorly-overcharged/962293/33 "2022-04-05T23:51:35Z")
It’s not a standard phrase as such, it’s just a sentence. Check your dockets (receipts). I’m also surprised he managed to tap such a high amount. My tap and go cards in Australia have had a limit of around $100. > [@Icarus](#): > > Indeed, why would it matter if it were a tap card, a chip&pin, mag stripe slide, or chip in slot? When paywave (tap) cards have a limit, if they don’t work it forces you to look at the amount. In this case, if there’d been a $100 limit, the tap wouldn’t have worked, he’d have wondered why, seen the price, and got it fixed up. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2022, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-aus-husband-accidentally-spends-725-on-eight-items-at-the-supermarket-have-you-ever-been-majorly-overcharged/962293/34 "2022-04-06T00:03:43Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > It’s not a standard phrase as such, it’s just a sentence. Check your dockets (receipts). I can’t speak for @Ynnad, but I have never heard a receipt called a “docket” before. I’m assuming that’s the part that’s possibly an Australianism. As an aside, I initially interpreted “AUS” in the thread title as “Austin, Texas” rather than “Australia”. I mean that is their IATA airport code. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2022, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-aus-husband-accidentally-spends-725-on-eight-items-at-the-supermarket-have-you-ever-been-majorly-overcharged/962293/35 "2022-04-06T00:06:32Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > . But I find it quite surprising that so many folk seem to routinely not be aware of the approximate total they are being charged. You’d be surprised how often I have a customer say something like “Let me know when you get to $200” because that’s their budget, and the transaction is already at $350 and they still have half a cart to load onto the belt. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2022, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-aus-husband-accidentally-spends-725-on-eight-items-at-the-supermarket-have-you-ever-been-majorly-overcharged/962293/36 "2022-04-06T00:08:17Z")
Yeah docket can mean receipt. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2022, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-aus-husband-accidentally-spends-725-on-eight-items-at-the-supermarket-have-you-ever-been-majorly-overcharged/962293/37 "2022-04-06T01:16:30Z")
A few years ago I got a couple pounds of English (shell) peas. The woman rang them up as organic green beans. $12.99 a pound instead of $4.99 a pound. She more or less blamed me when I pointed out the error. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2022, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-aus-husband-accidentally-spends-725-on-eight-items-at-the-supermarket-have-you-ever-been-majorly-overcharged/962293/38 "2022-04-06T01:28:57Z")
This almost happened to my wife in a supermarket (they called an hypermarché and also sold small appliances). She bought 6 of some small item–imagine tomatoes and that was all. The clerk typed the wrong code and the total came out to about SFr 50. She said that could not be right and they agreed. The canceled it and did it again, correctly. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2022, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-aus-husband-accidentally-spends-725-on-eight-items-at-the-supermarket-have-you-ever-been-majorly-overcharged/962293/39 "2022-04-06T03:25:32Z")
Yeah I was getting something at CVS once that had to have the price keyed in, and the employee accidentally entered it as $3000 instead of $3. We noticed it right away when the total showed up and had a good laugh because it was so outrageously high. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2022, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-aus-husband-accidentally-spends-725-on-eight-items-at-the-supermarket-have-you-ever-been-majorly-overcharged/962293/40 "2022-04-06T03:37:41Z")
Weird timing - this literally happened to me yesterday. I was at a pet food store that gives you every 4th item for free, so as they ring them up they either quickly scan four then deduct one or they scan them all and go back at the end and deduct every 4th one. The clerk was doing the former when suddenly my bill jumped to $1370-something, which I though was just a little excessive 🙂 . Turns out she had somehow mistyped and added 700-odd cans of cat food to my bill. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-aus-husband-accidentally-spends-725-on-eight-items-at-the-supermarket-have-you-ever-been-majorly-overcharged/962293.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-aus-husband-accidentally-spends-725-on-eight-items-at-the-supermarket-have-you-ever-been-majorly-overcharged/962293.md?page=3)