Petcetera undercharged us, now wants us to pay difference!

[Littlemisssmiles]

My husband bought a dog backpack the other day at Petcetera. He was charged the wrong price (about $30 less) but didn't notice right away.

Today he got a call from the store (we're assuming because he used their member card) and want him to come back in to pay the difference.

This seems crazy to me - it was their error, and now we have to be inconvenienced to go back and correct it for them???

What should we do?

update: my husband said that it scanned at the correct price, but the employee entered it wrong in the debit machine.

I feel that this is still their mistake and we should not be put through the inconvenience of going in to correct it. I am tempted to return the darn thing and get our money back and tell them we will not be shopping there anymore...

[Cocottee00]

Like you said, it was their error, so in my opinion, you should'nt have to pay the difference. The transaction is done, that's it

[luckbealady]

I'm guessing the item was scanned in at the wrong price, and not manually entered.
So how were you to know that you were under charged by about $30? If it was me, I'd just figure it was on sale and they didn't post the signs.

I would tell the store that it would appear to be a scanning error on their part, and that you'll contact Petcetera HQ directly to see if it is policy for them to contact the customer to come back in and pay more.

I definitely would not just go back to the store and pay without contacting HQ first.
And if HQ says they want me to pay, I'd probably so no, it was an error on their part and I'll be taking my business somewhere else from now on.

[Darth Penguin]

I'd talk to the head office first, too. You bought the item in good faith and they should honour that. You might want to check your province's laws regarding customer protection as well.

[DianneS]

I agree with the previous posters but I also asked myself this: "If they over-charqed me and I felt they owed me the $30 would I expect them to refund it?" The answer, of course, is 'yes'. It's an interesting dilemna!

[Darth Penguin]

depends if it fell under SCOP though...

[oscarandme]

Good points from everyone... Wow I would also just call HQ because clearly you know where you stand with the store. Get it in writing, send email on weekend to make certain someone replies Monday or maybe someone is in on weekends and explain. Be firm though.



Dear sir.madam;



On this date: _______my husband ent to your Petcetera location that we have been loyal patrons for years at the following location (insert adress) ______________here in (province) _______, Member number: (insert here)________. We have been custumers for X amount (of years, months) __ and Petcetera is an integral part of our home dynamic (or something better) and my husband decided to purchase a dog backpack for our dog (name)______.

On Friday, April 19th, 2013, I receive a call at (time) __________at our residence from the above noted location from one of your associates namedname)__________ advising me that there has a been a mistake on our purchase.
(it would have been (it would be good for me to know the exact verbage to refer to)example: an error on the purschase my husband made at that location. As mentionned in the below details, the purchase was paid in (cash,debit, credit card) and my husband just paid and left with our new found purchase. Apparently when the backpack was scanned it came up at: $_____ and now they are telling me that we were under-charged by $30.00 (yes $30.00!!!! On this specific item that you tagged, you scanned, you set out to sell and now you are expecting me to pay the difference for your mistake. I cannot believe that such a mistake can be made and then you expect me to pay the difference? I have never heard of such a practice and am disapointed at how unproffesional Petcetera would choose to handle such a situation. I have advised the said location that I will be contacting Head Office to resolve this situation and know that I will not pay for a mistake that your corporation/company/Inc has made at my expense, I think not. If you look at my membership card and the purchases we have made in the past and see our loyalty to petcetera and then treat a mistake that your store clearly made or head office did not code accurately is beyond comprehension. We have been made to feel uncomfortable to return at your chain of stores because of this unprofessional conduct and can only wonder what else can happen now. Don't you not have guidelines to follow regarding these types of situations.

I expect this to be resolved between the two of you and I expect to be advised in writing that this situation has been taken care within the next 5 business days.


Sincerely,



Here are the invoice details: (inlcude) time, date, UPC code whatever is on there)item name, cost, taxes anything on there to trace it back..____________________________________________ __.
The item was paid by:_______________________________________________



Just rough but this should explain it...Always good to give details....I always follow the 5 ws when acting on something...
1. WHO- You and your husband and baby.
2. wHAT-Canine backpack.
3. WHERE-Location (details)
4. WHY-Obvious billing stupidity.

Also when writing a letter always aummarize with expectations to give it validity and a timeframe.

This is a rough letter, just edit and remove and add or just create your own but whatever you do I feel you should not pay either. Good luck and keep us posted.


Another note too I should mention is: I don't know if this chain if how do you say in english??? individually owned or bought into? franchised is the word I guess so he is just trying to claim his mistake if so..Oh boy -big mistake..bite the bullet buddy and absorb the loss. Maybe he has made mistakes likethis before and this method has worked but the "$30.00 bucks stops here". Like SC member mentionned would the accountant have called you to correct it if you had overpaid? Mention that in the email too!!!

And on the website get a name to address to...and if you call speak to someone higher than customer service if you can at all because they might just say you have to pay it and you do not, keep going higher till you get a no problem I will fix and WRITE THE DATE, TIME, TEL NUMBER, EXTENSION AND MOST IMPORTANTLY THE NAME OF THE PERSON YOU SPEAK TO.

Good luck and try to have a good weekend with your little furry angel.

[Midnightly]

i think it's pretty ballsy of them to call you up after the transaction the next day at your home to say you were under charged.. it's one thing if they catch it while at the register, before you walk out the door.. but the next day and to track you down at your home.. how do they know that you were under charged? out of all transactions that day.. it's not that the till could have been shorted $30 if the item rang up at the wrong price

[nicolthepickle]

I would tell them you have a $40 bill for driving back to the store.

[lshortt]

what happened to our privacy rights here, how were they able to access your private information to get your home phone number. seems to me that the only people who should have access to this information is their home office not the individual store. In my opinion the customer should not have to pay the difference.

[2jk19]

That sounds ridiculous! It was their error as you pointed out and I agree with some other posters that you would not have known (even if you did notice, it could have been on sale) and to call you at your home and ask you to come back and pay the difference? I would call head office for sure and see what they think about that! Please keep us posted and let us know what the outcome is! You should not have to deal with the hassle of going back and all. I am positive that head office will side with you and have a chat with the manager or whoever called you! This sure is the first time I am hearing of such a situation before!

[cbnd29]

Something like this happened to me once. I ordered food for delivery, and I paid for it with my mastercard, signed the receipt and the driver left with the signed copy. It was one of those old style credit card copying machines(not electronic). The next day I got a call, saying their driver lost the receipt and could i come in and pay it. i told them, it's not my mistake nor responsibility for what happens after they left. i never paid and i never gave them my business again.

I would take the advise about contacting head office. i would also tell them if they insist that you pay, that you want to be re-imbursed for time and gas, as it is a major inconvenience to you and it was their mistake, not yours. they should learn to get their stuff together.

[KK7]

does anyone else notice this user just joined and this is their first post ; )

[BuggaBugga]

Ridiculous they are asking for the money back well after the fact. It's their loss and they should suck it up.

[Littlemisssmiles]

does anyone else notice this user just joined and this is their first post ; )

Does this matter? I have been following threads here for awhile, but this is the first time I had an issue I felt like sharing.