ALWAYS count your change...and KNOW your prices

[Fern]

Feeling that familiar rumble of hunger in my stomach at around noon, I started to think of what i could make for lunch today. Not much sitting in the fridge, so i decided to treat myself to lunch out. The local pizza place faxes us their menu, so, browsing that, i decided upon the Cranberry Walnut Chicken Salad Wrap for $5.95

When I went to pick it up, I waited for the man behind the cash register to announce the total due. I knew the price was $5.95, but with tax, i wanted to unload myself of some of the 8 lbs. of loose change I perennially haul around in my purse.

He announced, "$6.98." What? I said. $1 worth of tax on a $6 sandwich? He corrected himself. $6.49." I forked it over, glaring at him. (Actually, now that i think of it, he STILL overcharged me. With CT's 6% sales tax, it should have totalled $6.30.)

I SWEAR that many small time business owners gouge their customers in this fashion routinely, and most people aren't even aware they're being ripped off. A little here, a little there, the overcharge is too little for most people to even notice.

I used to date someone who religiously and actually COUNTED HIS CHANGE. I would estimate that on the weekends we spent together, he found mistakes made in the store's favor 6 times out of 10.

So seriously. Count your change. And make sure you know what you SHOULD be paying.

[davlat]

totally unexpected... (Fern)

Thank...Fern .. I never heard about it before.. Actually even worse, I hardly use my change.. I pay to nearest dollar and they give me change.. .. I am always sick of getting pennies and nickels which are useless for me . Last year within 2 months I have more than $1 worth of pennies only.... So I guess.. I guess if they did that way, I might be loosing $3-4 every month....

Now I use only cards ... and check where CC are not accepted...

[Pupart]

Good advice.
I'd like to add read your phone bill every month too.
Last month I had over $6.00 tacked on and called them to ask about this charge. The rep didn't even know what this charge was for and said she would remove it.
Gee, I wonder how many others got this fee but didn't
bother to call.

[Ima saver]

I save all my change except pennies, so I check it when I get it back. I guess that is why I like u scan. It is usually accurate in giving back the correct change.

[Exile]

A great way to save money is to pay only with currency. At the end of the day, put your coin change in a jar, and do this daily whenever possible. And when making a purchase, of course always count your change.

Speaking of counting change, here's an interesting experience. My wife and are living in the Philippines, and I get my income in local currency from my Social Security which is directly deposited into my account in a U.S. bank. On Saturday I withdrew 15,000 Philippine pesos at a local ATM, and received an EXTRA P1,000 (the equivalent of about $21 USD). This additional amount was not registered on my receipt. I immediately called the ATM bank headquarters on the hotline next to the machine and reported the overage to the service rep who said the bank would follow up and call me back this mornng (Monday local time). It's now almost noon time, and I'm still waiting for the call.

[Harrison]

Oh should we call this dishonest? Sound like they are trying to cheat our money!

[Dave Rowtree]

It's worth checking the receipts too, I was over at Asda last month and after a weeks shopping was wondering why it seemed more than usual; I check the receipt and it turns out I've been charged £8.00 for a loaf of bread! I got my money back but from the way the staff laughed about it it seems this kind of thing happens all the time!

[mekish]

Now I use only cards ... and check where CC are not accepted...

thats much more convinient considering even if you collect those coins, you wouldn't want to carry them around.
btw, shops don't like it when you charge small bills on your credit card, it costs them more!

[n_vizion]

I used to work at a small business where we manually calculated the tax so now I know exactly how much tax I should be paying on every purchase.
I had the same situation happen at a Pizza Hut/KFC and the guy reimbursed me for the difference that he attempted to overcharge me.
Never take the word of cashier, you should alway do a mini calculation of the estimated tax when making a purchase.

[Vapors]

It's worth checking the receipts too, I was over at Asda last month and after a weeks shopping was wondering why it seemed more than usual; I check the receipt and it turns out I've been charged £8.00 for a loaf of bread! I got my money back but from the way the staff laughed about it it seems this kind of thing happens all the time!

Grocery stores do this all the time. I would estimate about once or twice a month I find an item on the receipt where I was charged full price when it was supposed to be on sale. I always take my receipt back and they refund me the full price of what I paid, not just the difference in sale price.

[gackle]

I agree, Vapors. Whenever I go grocery shopping I always write the price down next to the item on my list so I can compare it to the receipt. It also makes it easy at checkout to catch errors as they're being scanned if you have the time to pay attention. Inevitably once or twice a month there is an overcharge. But I have also seen errors in my favor as well.

My wife and I go to the grocery store together. In the checkout line I unload the groceries while she keeps a close eye on the prices as they come up. She always points out 2 or 3 things that are incorrect.

[davlat]

Grocery stores do this all the time. I would estimate about once or twice a month I find an item on the receipt where I was charged full price when it was supposed to be on sale. I always take my receipt back and they refund me the full price of what I paid, not just the difference in sale price.

u educate them.. btw (stupid question.. sorry) how could you get refund full.. Is there any law that store have to give free if they made big mistake on sale price? sorry.. I do not know about it...
According to devils_advocate and gackle, the stores' machine (system) can still make errors. That is real killer for me 'cuz I never check when I pay with CC.

There's no law that I know of, but some stores have policies that if the price is incorrect, you get the item free.

Also I've found most stores will give you the lower price if an item is marked incorrectly. For example, I found 9-volt batteries marked at a really good price at Walmart. They scanned for much higher, but I pointed out the place on the shelf where I got them. Turns out a shelver accidentally switched the labels with something else. I still got the lower price though after a manager checked out the situation.

[ginene]

Oh my goodness! I count my change all day long. I can't go to the market without adding up the groceries in my head. I am normally only off about 20 cents no matter how high it racks up to.