Broke an item while shopping

maveli

Just wondering what are the rules regarding. Say I broke a china while shopping and the owner of the shop noticed it after I left the shop. There is no CCTV evidence. The shop owner knows my credit card details from an item I purchased from there. Is it leagal to charge my CC for the item after I left the shop without my permission. If it is not, how can the owner claim the money for the damage ?

Thanks
Maveli

jamespir

youll have the police turn up youll get 6-7 years in prison become somones b itch

WSPlumber

I dont think they can legally. They can`t use your CC details to pay for something without your knowledge or consent, isn`t that fraud? I don`t know but I suggest it`s one of the hazards of running a shop.

Mark_Hewitt

I very much doubt they can legally charge your card. If they want to recover the cost of the goods from you they'd need to take you to small claims court and prove on the balance of probabilities that you did it.

In any case they should be insured against such losses.

sarahg1969

Mark_Hewitt wrote: »

I very much doubt they can legally charge your card. If they want to recover the cost of the goods from you they'd need to take you to small claims court and prove on the balance of probabilities that you did it.

In any case they should be insured against such losses.

And not only that you did it, but that you were negligent (ie that the item had been properly stacked and was not teetering on the edge of a shelf, etc).

Firefox1975

maveli wrote: »

Just wondering what are the rules regarding. Say I broke a china while shopping and the owner of the shop noticed it after I left the shop. There is no CCTV evidence. The shop owner knows my credit card details from an item I purchased from there. Is it leagal to charge my CC for the item after I left the shop without my permission. If it is not, how can the owner claim the money for the damage ?

Thanks
Maveli

This has already happened hasn't it?

Was it your fault? if it was then i would feel morally obliged to pay for any damaged caused, after all, if a stranger/friend came into your home and broke something expensive would you just look the other way?

No, you would expect a contribution or a refund. (Depending on the circumstances which is why I asked was it your fault!)

But no, they cannot just charge your credit card, that would be theft.

They CAN however discredit you around town though if they wanted. As long as they phrased their statements within the truth of what happened you wouldn't be able to deny that you were in the shop, and something broke, and then you left, and made no offer to pay for it.

That is what happened right?

maveli

Firefox1975 wrote: »

This has already happened hasn't it?

Was it your fault? if it was then i would feel morally obliged to pay for any damaged caused, after all, if a stranger/friend came into your home and broke something expensive would you just look the other way?

No, you would expect a contribution or a refund. (Depending on the circumstances which is why I asked was it your fault!)

But no, they cannot just charge your credit card, that would be theft.

They CAN however discredit you around town though if they wanted. As long as they phrased their statements within the truth of what happened you wouldn't be able to deny that you were in the shop, and something broke, and then you left, and made no offer to pay for it.

That is what happened right?

To answer your question. Here is the story. I went to a crystal shop and saw an item and tried to take it from the shelf. The item was of two parts but from outside looked like single piece. When I took it, it made a click sound, one piece against the other. I didn't see any damage at that time, spent another 15-20 minutes in the shop and finally bought another item and left. Two days later I saw a transaction of £95.00 on my CC and I called the shop and was told it was for the damage I caused. Later I contacted CAB and per their advise sent couple of email and letters by recorded delivery and then contacted the CC provider and got a refund by CC provider. Never heard anything from the shop.
Just wondering what the shop will do now.

Firefox1975

hmm, always easier when we get the full story isn't it? :-)

Right, you confirmed there was no cctv yes? in that case they definately cannot pursue you for this debt. They tried it on and it's backfired on them in that respect.

They cannot prove it was you - and we cannot prove the item wasn't defective or already broken - so it;s your word against theres really which would be a trivial civil law case for the sake of £95. (Although itwouldn;t have cost them that - cos £95 is the retail price - i'm guessing wholesale it's about £50)

Now, on the other hand, this is where your morals come in.

Do you feel guilty about breaking it? if you do, you should perhaps make a gesture of goodwill to the shop, this will ease your conscience.

If you don't then fair enough - but they can, and probably will, bar you from their shop. <shrug> that's their choice.

What they should have done is contacted you first with the question of the broken item and the fact you had been seen touching it - if they had gone about it this way then perhaps you would have been more receptive to a mutually agreed figure.

Rather than them stealing £95 from you which I reiterate - is theft.

barvid

Firefox1975 wrote: »

Rather than them stealing £95 from you which I reiterate - is theft.

While I agree that the shop should not have done this, and would certainly advocate that the OP pursues the refund aggressively, I don't consider it theft. For this to be the case, the shop would have to have acted dishonestly (those familiar with the Theft Act(s) will know where I'm coming from), and if they genuinely believe the OP to have caused damage, and genuinely believe that they are entitled to recover their losses, then I suspect that the test for dishonesty wouldn't be satisfied were it brought to court.

However, just to reiterate - totally unacceptable on the part of the shop, and I would be in there with all guns blazing. Metaphorically speaking.

Laz123

The shop has learned its lesson. It costs them to have the cc company refund you.

Altarf

One thing that hasn't been mentioned, is that even if it was found that the OP had damaged the goods and was liable to pay the shop compensation, the shop would only be entitled to the cost price not the retail price. i.e. they cannot profit out of the damage.