Civil Recovery Fine from Sainsbury's solicitors - Advice needed urgently

malchish

Countless times I have been overcharged at a supermarket by a cashier. £7.99 charged instead of £2.99, five items charged when in fact I only bought four... I wish I could have £150 from them each time this happened!

malchish

In my own cheeky opinion, A supermarket will be justified to charge £150 for unpaid or underpaid item while they have been returned, only after they agree to pay £150 to every customer who leaves the till overcharged.

tinkerbell28

spacey2012 wrote: »

Blackmail is illegal, "pay our illegal fine or we will call the police"
Would love to see that before the Mags.

They haven't blackmailed them though. Signs in stores say they will pursue civil recovery or prosecution or words to that effect. I wouldn't be surprised if he ignores it, they go for the other. They are within their rights to do so.

spacey2012

They can put any words to any effect, if they dont like the law as it is written, they will have to lobby parliament.
They have no more right to penalty charge him £150 than I do for charging you £500 penalty to read this.

frugal_mike

tinkerbell28 wrote: »

They haven't blackmailed them though. Signs in stores say they will pursue civil recovery or prosecution or words to that effect. I wouldn't be surprised if he ignores it, they go for the other. They are within their rights to do so.

But if the goods were not removed from the store, what is there to actually recover? Have they really had £150 worth of costs? I imagine the only thing that has actually cost them extra money is paying a solicitor to write the letter.

Hintza

No but they have the right to pursue any costs associated with the theft and if they do that the charge will be significantly more than £150.

tinkerbell28

frugal_mike wrote: »

But if the goods were not removed from the store, what is there to actually recover? Have they really had £150 worth of costs? I imagine the only thing that has actually cost them extra money is paying a solicitor to write the letter.

If he didn't leave, no theft has occurred. They don't say that though. He forgot to pay for some items he had in his basket, does suggest he paid, then left with said items.

He was questioned in store, then yes they may well have either cornered him after he left and brought him back in or before.

antrobus

somelondonchick wrote: »

....My friend's son was recently accused of shoplifting in a Sainsbury's supermarket after forgetting to pay for some items in his basket. ....He is also a Sainsbury's employee so wouldn't be stupid enough to try to steal from one of his own stores.....

One can only assume that (a) the friend's son wasn't shopping in the actual Sainsbury's that employs him and (b) that whilst the friend's son gave his name and address to the security staff, it hasn't occured to anyone to check those details against Sainsbury's payroll.

Irrespective of the legality of the £150 charge, in the circumstance I'd be inclined to pay it pronto, rather than take the risk that someone decides to take it further and Sainsbury's work out that they have 'caught' one of their own.

OlliesDad

spacey2012 wrote: »

Blackmail is illegal, "pay our illegal fine or we will call the police"
Would love to see that before the Mags.

That does sound like blackmail, however worded as "we have been unable to resolve this matter civilly, we will have to proceed on criminal grounds" seems a lot fairer. Anything can be reworded into a way to sound unreasonable.

hawk30

tinkerbell28 wrote: »

If he didn't leave, no theft has occurred. They don't say that though. He forgot to pay for some items he had in his basket, does suggest he paid, then left with said items.

He was questioned in store, then yes they may well have either cornered him after he left and brought him back in or before.

Technically, you don't have to leave the store to commit theft.