It hasn't happened to me unknowingly either. But I regularly see opened products where someone has helped themselves for free...

Now to understand your problem: how can a claim for compensation be proven in such a case?

@Kurumi

I wrote this here primarily because I wanted to vent my shock.

The problem actually starts when the children are in the store, because parents can't get their children out of this bad habit and they can't wait until the end of the shopping trip to consume.

And hand on heart - these small child-friendly shopping carts also have a disadvantage when 5-year-olds can put "their needs" in these carts and sometimes open something unnoticed and start to consume it because they are so used to it... but daddy and mommy didn't want them to make this purchase. Drinking bottles in particular have to be available everywhere and immediately these days - otherwise a lack of fluids could lead to health problems....

Hopefully the culprit was just a child and not some grumpy adult who never brushes their teeth.

Migros is very accommodating. I am convinced that if you show such a bottle to the information desk you will be refunded without any discussion.

@Bodenseeknusperli"What makes you think it could have been a child? " Quite simply because I can only trust (and would forgive) a child to do this, because a smaller child can't tell the difference yet - so the accompanying adults are all the more responsible.

In the case of an adult, I would find putting back an opened bottle very brazen...or I would have to say "Gohts no - want to poison us?"... I'm sure that in our part of the country there would be other, much harsher words ...

@WarmRedJa, Migros is very accommodating.... unfortunately sometimes also with "wayward customers" ... Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised last fall when someone overfilled his own 1kg container with plums from other containers, he was intercepted at the checkout and had to pay for the extra weight...

Well then, hope you've been helped :-)

I just thought of something - after all, you won't have been the first or last person to experience this. In DE and FR, most checkouts have an integrated scale that weighs fruit and vegetables correctly (WITHOUT a label!!!!), but also recognizes discrepancies in products...

Dear @AlMiDeCoLi, thank you for letting us know! It is very important for us to be informed by you about such things. Of course, it would be best to inform one of the employees directly in the store. But if, as in your case, it goes unnoticed until after the checkout, then you can always return to the store with the receipt and they should be accommodating and replace or refund the product.


Best regards, Nina

Thank you very much for this feedback, @Nina_Migros. I might give it a try.

@marcoti
I am just appalled by your statement about "it could only have been children".

I am the father of two children who would never do this, we have taught them to ask and that these products are not ours. If one of them is hungry or thirsty they can have something to drink, we usually have our bottle with us. If this is forgotten, it can also be a bottle from the shelf, but this is then put in the trolley and not back on the shelf.

It's nice that many people say it's always the children! Look around in a store, many young people (18-30) or older (60+) are exactly the ones who do this.

I recently observed an older lady (approx. 80+) comfortably eating a "weggli" in front of the bread roll shelf and then moving on to the dairy to treat herself to a yogurt drink. The empty cup was then carefully disposed of over the rollator under a shelf in the pasta aisle.

I also noticed that a group of young people in the drinks department tried various bottles and then put them back.

It's not always children who are to blame.

Greetings BL

@brun-leubinAndI am just appalled that you have apparently observed several thefts and have done nothing about them or reported them.