From: "Tim" 
Newsgroups: uk.finance uk.legal
Subject: Re: I just have to share this
Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:26:04 +0100
Bytes: 3493

"Nick Fisher" wrote
> I went to the January sales at Austin Reed a couple of years
> ago and bought a shirt and a belt, respective sale prices £55
> and £25, a total of £80.  They also had a deal on at the time
> which stated that when spending over £75, you got an extra
> 5% off.  I was duly charged £76 and left the store happy.
>
> When I got home, my wife took one look at the shirt and
> said she'd never be seen out with me wearing it (sadly,
> this seems to happen quite a lot...).  I was busy at the
> time, so didn't get around to taking it back for a refund
> until a couple of weeks later.  And then the fun started.
>
> Me: "Hi, sorry about this, I was in during the sales
> and bought this shirt and now I need to return it".
> Assistant: "Sure, no problem.  Do you have your receipt ?"
> Me: "Yep, here you go" (the receipt clearly
> shows the individual prices + 5% discount)
> Assistant: "OK, I'll refund the £55 back onto the card you paid with"
> Me: "Surely you mean £52.25 ?"
> Assistant (slightly confused): "No, it's £55, it says so on the receipt"
> Me: "Yes, but I got a 5% discount because I spent more than £75..."
> Assistant (smiling as if at a simpleton): "But I'm only refunding £55"
> Me: "OK, but I actually paid only £52.25
> for the shirt because of the discount"
> Assistant (creasing her brow for a short while, then getting it):
> "Oh right, I see, so you want me to take the discount off ?"
> Me: "Yes, seems only fair"
> Assistant: "I'll refund £51 then, OK ?"
> Me: "Er, no.  £52.25 actually"

Actually, no - the assistant was actually right at this point...

If you had not bought the shirt, but only bought the belt (for £25)
then you would have got *no* discount at all (because you
would have been spending under £75).  So the refund should
be : what you actually paid before, less what you *should*
have paid before (without the shirt) = £76 - £25 = £51.  See?