Q&A: Mistake in a Purchase
Mistake in a Purchase
Question
Hello Rabbi,
When buying several items at Zara,
it turned out a few hours later, by chance, that the cashier had not charged me for one item and I didn’t pay for it.
My question is whether I am obligated to go back and pay:
1. from a halakhic standpoint
2. from a moral standpoint
Thank you
Answer
- Yes
- Yes
What’s the question? You received something and didn’t pay for it. The fact that the seller made a mistake does not exempt you, even if it was the seller himself. And certainly if it was his employee.
Discussion on Answer
The question is simple.
If someone made a mistake and charged you too much without you noticing, then if he became aware of it he would return your money. So you should act the same way.
But the situation here is more complicated. We are talking about a company, and a company is a legal entity. That means it can declare bankruptcy and the shareholders will not be obligated to repay the debts. In addition to that, the prohibition of theft applies to stealing from human beings. And just as it is permitted to take something that a cat is holding and sees as its own, so too there should not be a problem taking from another legal entity.
That is, in principle there is no problem here if you do not pay. But when you live in a country, it is reasonable to assume that you accept its laws and rules. So check what the law says about such a case.
First, that is only if you are sure that there is no Jew among the owners. Second, regarding non-Jews nowadays, the Meiri wrote that there is no difference between them and Jews in these matters, and that is simple reasoning. See my article on “Enlightened” idolatry.
Zara is a chain owned by a non-Jew, and a non-Jew’s mistake is permitted to benefit from (and also that of an apostate Jew, meaning a secular Jew). What halakhic reason would he have to return it?