Gol Maal Hai!

Mumbai is a city of its kind and there is no gainsaying to the fact that one would learn some smartness (not just in terms of fashion but in terms of common sense too) just by living in this city. Or better put, just by the sheer shrewdness of some people.

Here are two incidents which have further reinforced my belief not to trust people and be really cautious when it comes to money matters (no matter how small or large the sum is)!

Incident No. 1: I purchased an article (say 'X' - you may start making wild guesses what it was) and the cashier gave me an invoice (written in ink) to make the payment. The price tag of the article read Rs.1455/- and the invoice mentioned the same. Further, VAT (Value Added Tax) @ 4% was added and the total amount payable was mentioned as Rs. 1542/-. Fortunately (you may call it so) or otherwise (my knack with numbers-not bragging), it seemed odd to me (total amount should've been Rs.1513/-) and I decided to verify the calculation. It turned out that the cashier had computed VAT at 6% (no such VAT slab exists) though the percentage mentioned was 4%.

After a brief altercation, the guy admitted his mistake and reduced the bill amount by Rs. 29/-. It's not too large an amount, but the practice vexed me. The shopkeeper might be habitually marking-up the VAT amount since most people do not really check the tax amount, and in return be duping the tax authorities as well his customers.

The calculation in case of Service Tax with Education Cess (including secondary and higher education cess) is a bit more complicated because of the decimals in the percentage. So, the scope of such duping might be greater.

Moral: Check the computation of any taxes in your invoice properly.

Incident No. 2: I had ordered some pizzas (3 non-veg of Rs. and 3 veg) for an office treat and the offer was that I would get a 50% off on every second pizza I order (50% off on the value of the pizza with an equal or lower price). The guy who received the order over phone told me that he would compute the total and call up in a while. Again, the amount which he told me seemed a bit unobvious (call it fortune, instinct, or the 'knack') and I asked for a detailed break-up. Since it was a detailed calculation, I took out a calculator and found that the bill amount was marked-up by Rs.25 - again not too large an amount but still why should I pay even a penny more?

I asked the guy on phone to take out a calculator and started instructing ...a + b + c + d +.... and he admitted to his mistake.

Of course, he apologised and assured me that he would reduce the bill amount by Rs.25/-. I thought of ignoring this as a one off incident but my colleagues apprised me that usually they have some problem with the billing amount when they come out with offers.

Moral: No matter how reputed a brand name might be, there is always a possibility for such goof-ups. Please ensure that you do some calculation when ordering things over phone.

There might be many other such instances which keep happening everyday in our lives and they go unnoticed...err...we get duped!