How much Compensation should I get for being Wrongly Accused of stealing a week before in Sainsbury

goater78 · 13 March 2023 at 12:21AM

I don’t bother with receipts except for self service as I always find I have to prove to someone I’ve bought something in the shop which is security protected e.g steak or batteries. It’s a pain without the receipt.

Sounds like an honest mistake from the OP but not sure it justifies compensation. If they hadn’t come and found you then you would have got your shopping for free.

p00hsticks · 13 March 2023 at 12:44AM

goater78 said:

Sounds like an honest mistake from the OP but not sure it justifies compensation. If they hadn’t come and found you then you would have got your shopping for free.

I think the majority view here, although the OP's not returned to confirm or deny it, is that they actually DID get their shopping for free.

From their own description, they walked out with all their shopping after their card was declined at a self-service checkout and they didn't notice. The staff ran after them but couldn't locate them and it was only the following week when the OP returned to the shop and was recognised that they were challenged. But as the staff couldn't then find the receipt for the previous weeks shopping it wasn't taken any further, with the OP being let off from paying for the goods or from any further action.

Nowhere does the OP say that they've subsequently paid for the goods in question after all the further investigations showed that their initial payment wasn't accepted. Instead they are insisting that they've been 'wrongly accused of stealing' and are seeking compensation.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head · 13 March 2023 at 7:47AM

The manager has offered OP compensation, either that means free shopping plus £x or it means OP has already paid for the shopping.

If the store wanted payment for the shopping and OP was refusing do posters believe the store manager would be making an offer of compensation?

Don’t understand the whole discussion about whether or not OP paid?

If it was felt a free round of shopping was sufficient compensation I could understand that but I don’t think those discussing whether or not the OP paid in the end have suggested this (I might have missed). If not what’s the point?

born_again · 13 March 2023 at 9:44AM

SiliconChip said:

I think @molerat is right, it's been my experience that when contactless is declined at a self checkout terminal it doesn't ask for the PIN to be entered, as would happen a manned terminal, it always requests that the card is either entered so that C&P can be used, or swiped (I've never had to do a swipe so I'm not sure how it's processed these days).

In many ways Yes.
In some way's it's a bit of a play on words.
As far as bank end's go. A transaction that does not go through is declined, & these show as 2 separate transaction @ our end.

Either way a message is shown on screen that you need to do something more as payment has not gone through 👍

sheramber · 13 March 2023 at 11:49AM

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

The manager has offered OP compensation, either that means free shopping plus £x or it means OP has already paid for the shopping.

If the store wanted payment for the shopping and OP was refusing do posters believe the store manager would be making an offer of compensation?

Don’t understand the whole discussion about whether or not OP paid?

If it was felt a free round of shopping was sufficient compensation I could understand that but I don’t think those discussing whether or not the OP paid in the end have suggested this (I might have missed). If not what’s the point?

ahem

sheramberForumite

If the payment didn’t go through then you have not paid. Have you now paid for the shopping. If not, then you can hardly expect ‘compensation’ as well as free shopping.

Bradden · 13 March 2023 at 1:07PM

I think this thread should should be renamed.. "How much compensation should I pay Sainsbury for leaving the store without paying?" 😁

p00hsticks · 13 March 2023 at 4:41PM

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Don’t understand the whole discussion about whether or not OP paid?

Surely whether or not the OP actually paid is the whole crux of the matter?

If they did in fact pay at the time then they are correct in claiming, as they are, that they are 'innocent', that they have been 'wrongfully accused of stealing' etc and a claim for some form of compensation (or at least a goodwill gesture) for any embarrassment, humiliation they suffered etc might be considered reasonable,

If however they walked out of the store without paying, even if it was in the mistaken belief that they had, then their claims have little merit, and they should perhaps consider themselves fortunate to not be facing any further action, especially if they did not later volunteer to pay for the goods when they could see from their bank statement that no payment has been taken....

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head · 13 March 2023 at 8:19PM

p00hsticks said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Don’t understand the whole discussion about whether or not OP paid?

Surely whether or not the OP actually paid is the whole crux of the matter?

If they did in fact pay at the time then they are correct in claiming, as they are, that they are 'innocent', that they have been 'wrongfully accused of stealing' etc and a claim for some form of compensation (or at least a goodwill gesture) for any embarrassment, humiliation they suffered etc might be considered reasonable,

If however they walked out of the store without paying, even if it was in the mistaken belief that they had, then their claims have little merit, and they should perhaps consider themselves fortunate to not be facing any further action, especially if they did not later volunteer to pay for the goods when they could see from their bank statement that no payment has been taken....

The store have deemed the claim has merit by offering compensation, the OP simply asked how much they should ask for.

There is no further action, it would be incredibly difficult to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that the OP didn't intend to pay for the shopping.

Theft requires intent, the OP didn't have it.

If they went back (i.e the time they were confronted) and then refused to pay because the of circumstances they felt they should have free shopping the store obviously accept this otherwise the manager wouldn't be offering compensation.

If OP was at this point refusing to pay despite the store saying they must do the store manager wouldn't be offering the OP compensation.

Therefore it is academic whether OP has paid or not, all OP wants to know is opinions of what they should ask for, that maybe nothing, it may be the "free" shopping they walked out with in the first visit, it may be millions of pounds, but other than a number nothing else in this thread answers the OP's question.

sheramber said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

The manager has offered OP compensation, either that means free shopping plus £x or it means OP has already paid for the shopping.

If the store wanted payment for the shopping and OP was refusing do posters believe the store manager would be making an offer of compensation?

Don’t understand the whole discussion about whether or not OP paid?

If it was felt a free round of shopping was sufficient compensation I could understand that but I don’t think those discussing whether or not the OP paid in the end have suggested this (I might have missed). If not what’s the point?

ahem

sheramberForumite

If the payment didn’t go through then you have not paid. Have you now paid for the shopping. If not, then you can hardly expect ‘compensation’ as well as free shopping.