Falsely accused of shoplifting
Comments
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I had an 'incident' in my local Tesco a couple of weeks ago.Just recently myself and my son ( is 23 with learning disabilities) have been accused of shoplifting in our local store. This store is a very big name store in the UK.
We weren't detained or searched in the store. I was in the shop buying my daughter (is 14 & is a selective mute.) something for her breakfast a drink and some water and the store manager came up to me and asked to have a word with me at the back of the store.
I was in a rush as we had to get to my daughter's bus stop so I told her this.
She said to me that I might as well put the goods down as I'm not going to be served as myself and my son had been seen on CCTV shoplifting.
I was gobsmacked to say the least.
I asked to see the CCTV footage of us stealing and she said No I can't do that.
So being very shocked and confused I just said to her but I don't steal, and she said very aggressively Yes you were!!!
At that point I put the goods back and walked out of the store to find my daughter crying :mad:
What can I do?
What are my rights and how far should I go?
This is what I have done so far.
I have emailed the company customer care staff twice and rung them. I have only had one email back from the first contact email from them.
Solicitors can't help because I wasn't arrested or have police involvement.
CAB can't help yet only if I'm not happy with the outcome.
The police lady I spoke to was very kind understanding and helpful and gave me a lot questions to ask them.
I am now getting a letter of complaint together to send to head office. (I will be keeping a copy of that letter:D)
I just hate the waiting & not knowing. It's all just so inconvenient and unfair.
I bought maybe 20 items including 2 packs of reduced meat from the fresh meat counter - i.e. not pre-packaged.
They wouldn't scan so the assistant (on the self service tills) manually input the barcode numbers. She also said that these reduced labels often wouldn't scan.
I was - like the OP - dashing for the bus so was halfway across the car park with my shopping trolley when I became aware that someone was shouting at me.
It was the security guard who told me that I'd set the alarm off as I'd left the store. I had a woolly hat on at the time and, being preoccupied, hadn't heard it.
So I went back to store and emptied my items onto the CS desk, a CS woman came up and said 'it'll be these reduced items, we often have problems with them'.
Security guy and CS woman checked my items against the receipt and we all agreed that I'd paid for everything.
The questions I posed in-store (but didn't get a satisfactory answer to) were:
"Why - when staff are clearly aware of problems with bar codes, are you not doing something about it?"
"Why do these bar codes set the alarm off when the item has clearly been paid for?"
At home, I complained to Tesco who originally misunderstood and thought I was complaining about the staff involved - which I wasn't.
Anyway after a few emails back and forth between me and a guy in Tesco CS, we understood each other and he forwarded my complaint to the manager of the store and sent me a £10 moneycard.
Have I been short-changed?
Should I have contacted a solicitor?0 -
Anyway after a few emails back and forth between me and a guy in Tesco CS, we understood each other and he forwarded my complaint to the manager of the store and sent me a £10 moneycard.
Have I been short-changed?
Should I have contacted a solicitor?
Actually I read this that Pollycat was content with the outcome and that the last two comments were intended to be ironic.0 -
Manxman_in_exile wrote: »Actually I read this that Pollycat was content with the outcome and that the last two comments were intended to be ironic.
Agreed. I have deleted my reply.0 -
You are indeed correct - should perhaps have used a smiley.Manxman_in_exile wrote: »Actually I read this that Pollycat was content with the outcome and that the last two comments were intended to be ironic.
I bought a reduced item last week which didn't scan and had to be manually input. Again, the assistant on the self-serve tills made the comment that it's a regular problem.
But at least I didn't set the alarm off this time so maybe they've sorted that issue out.
I did email Tesco CS again & told them it wasn't sorted.
If reduced items continue to not scan, I'll bring it up again.
And I now have the email address of someone in Tesco customer services who (I think he may live to regret this
) assures me he'll be happy to help if I have any more issues.
Apologies for hi-jacking the thread.
Just thought someone might be interested in how I dealt with a problem (although I wasn't accused of shoplifting).
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Manxman_in_exile wrote: »No worries.
My wife informs me that I suffer from irony blindness all the time!
Sometimes it can be difficult to spot - but not in Pollycat's post where the irony was clear if I had read it properly. I am glad you highlighted it quickly so I could delete my post.
(I have a bad habit of skimming posts and missing key points.)0
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