Being Honest Didn’t Pay Off!

I was honest but it didn’t pay off!

I don’t know about you but when I am overpaid for something, I always try to be honest and return the extra cash. This week though, it didn’t pay off for me. And it makes me feel almost angry, but most definitely annoyed.

 

As it was half term break, and schools would be closed for a week, we went to Billing Aquadrome to spend the week. Weather wise, it was rubbish! What did we expect anyway? This is England, as we often say. It was cold and wet, causing us to stay in our caravan and amuse ourselves with tv, card games, jokes, etc. (Oh we did write a few blog posts too). So to compensate for the miserable weather, we decided on the last morning that we would treat ourselves by purchasing breakfast at The Venue (their restaurant) rather than get a lie in and make our own.

 

The counter wasn’t very busy but I could sense that the few staff on hand didn’t seem to be managing quite well! They seemed short staffed and flustered and when baked beans ran out and one person went to the kitchen to the back to retrieve some more, you’d think that they went somewhere to source the beans in its natural state to plant them!

 

When it was finally my turn to place my order, I did and was told that it came to £10.45. The man on the other side of the counter stretched his hand across to me to retrieve my card which he promptly placed on the card reader and returned it to me in about two seconds or less. I was waiting for him to print off the stub for me to choose my breakfast items when I noticed that along with the receipt, he gave me £10.45! Not wanting to pull too much attention to his error, I whispered: “I’m not supposed to get any change!” Grasping my hand, he was both apologetic and grateful, saying “I don’t know what’s the matter with me today!” He got red faced and I really felt for him. What if he was fired because his till came up short by £10.45? Not worth it, I thought, and it’s the right thing to do anyway, to return the cash. I walked over to my sister and told her what happened.

 Robbed! Honest or not?

I thought nothing of the matter until we got home later that evening and I was checking my bank account online. Imagine my frustration, disappointment, anguish even, when I realised that my card had been charged £17.80 instead of £10.45! All sorts of thoughts crossed my mind! Was it a genuine mistake or was it some sort of scam? I thought of calling them so I began rifling through my handbag to find my receipt! It was then I remembered that I had left it on table 77 where we had sat down to eat the most expensive breakfast I’d ever had! I don’t think I’ll ever know whether that guy had made a genuine mistake! But I certainly feel that on this occasion when I was honest, it didn’t pay off.

 

What would you do? Would you drive back about an hour to get it sorted? Would you ring them up? What if like me you had left your proof of how much you paid, right there? The lesson I’ve learnt from this is that even though it’s so quick and easy now to just press my card against the reader for payment, I must always ask to see the amount on the reader so I know just how much I am being charged. After all, it could have been much worse and I could have been overcharged by £100. In that case, I’d have to FACE MY FEAR and drive all the way back to Billing Aquadrome to see if they would be honest and return my hard earned cash.

 

Let’s share this! I’m hoping that it would get back to http://www.billingaquadrome.com/ and they return to me the amount I was overcharged! I’m not holding my breath though.

ps. if you sign up for our newsletter, you can read about our amazing summer holiday (all inclusive) that we’re planning! And we can’t be scammed at all! Until then, take it easy.

xxx