Somebody Help - Accused of Theft

[Justine]

They can't stop you until you leave the store, they also can't search you unless there is police present (and I don't mean when the alarm goes off, they check your bags to ensure that something wasn't missed, often times in grocery stores the cashier may forget to de-sensitive the meat or something and it goes off when you leave the store).

[Nice Sass]

Our local Costco has the WORST LPO when it comes to blending in. My DH and I always pick him out right away. One day, about two months ago, I was there with one of my DDs and he followed me through the whole store. I knew that he was watching me at every aisle...sometimes one aisle behind me, sometimes across from me...but just SO obvious. And I was extremely offended at that. A total waste of time for him because I am the last person in the world who would steal. But because I was dressed poorly that day (Mom of two kids under two; what do you expect), I suspect that my appearance was all it took for him to target me that day.

I can't imagine how it would have felt to be falsely accused, when I was mad enough that he thought he should follow me. I was tempted several times to turn around and tell him: a) that he sucks at blending in; and b) that there were other people far more deserving of his efforts. But I do know that had he falsely accused me when I left, I would have insisted that the police or store manager be called to clear it up.

[tommygunn]

Sorry to hear of your experience..

[britneymark]

Really very sorry to read...It is not excusable. Don't leave this as a small issue. If you have any friends in your circle that who goes to the Ebay shopping mall, say to them to call to the mall manager and say them to say that they are also banning to shop in the mall. That is enough for a shopping mall manager. Hope this would help you.

Thanks.

[tidytaurus]

Being falsley accused and banished from the store and the mall must have been a horrible experience. I know as you do stores need to have security but they have to also admit that they were wrong. I would make sure I received a letter of apology and keep it on me when I shopped in the mall because if you get stopped by someone who was involved in this you can prove you were falsley accused.

[fleetingleaf]

That's horrible...I can't believe they did that to you without any evidence or proof that you "stole" anything. That woman should have checked the security tapes right there instead falsely accusing you or go and find the staff member who cleaned out the change room to confirm. There was so many things she could have done and I'm sure you wouldn't have minded waiting while she confirmed, since your innocence was on the line.

I agree with the others you should get a written apology and also bring this up to as high a level as you can so that they are aware and can make a change. Being extra cautious and etc. is no excuse.

[Saving Moola]

I'm sorry you had to go through this. It's awful!

I was pretty surprised at Wal-Mart the other day. You know how the alarms at the doors are ALWAYS going off, and they rarely seem to stop anyone to check? Well, I was right behind a woman as we were leaving the store, and the alarm went off. Both of us had bags, but the greeter stopped the woman ahead of me and moved her off toward customer service. The customer was aboriginal, and I wonder what role that may have played in the greeter's decision to swoop in and pull her aside. Based on the fact that both of us were at the exit at the same time, I would think that both of us should have been stopped.

I'm sorry you had to go through such a horrifying & degrading ordeal. I was accused of stealing from the BC Liquor store, not by the staff, which I knew about 4 of them that were working that day, but by a customer who's about 50 yrs old. I didn't know any of this until I was outside the door & the guy was standing there waiting for me. He mentioned that I shouldn't steal & I just though, huh? He said he saw me put something in my purse like a small bottle. I was kind of shocked. I said, "okay, let's go back inside & then you can see my purse". I couldn't possibly cram anything more in it as it's a very small Coach purse only about 8" x 4" x 6" which couldn't a change purse, credit card holders, cellphone and 2 sets of keys, gum & the usual women stuff. At that point, of course he didn't want to look at it. I was pretty livid, but I just let it go. However, I did go back into the store & told the staff I knew of what just happened.

How pathetic that racism still occurs today. I agree, both people should've had to walk through again. On another note, those sensors on those doors aren't that great. I bought a few bags of items (candles and low end stuff) & the alarm went off at Zellers at the door next to the cash register I was just at. I walked through it again & then it didn't, so they do malfunction. Quite often the cashiers don't demagnetize the secuirty tags on the purchases. I couldn't figure out why my purse would sometimes go off & then other times it doesn't. Inside my Coach change purse was a very, very small tag that was stuck in the bottom which I didn't even know was there, eventhough I had my change purse for 5 yrs before noticing it.

[Sally888]

oh man! My COACH purse did the exact same thing! There was a small tag inside a pocket that they must of not scanned or sets off walmarts alarms. One day it went off when I was entering and I asked the greeting to descan my purse since its my own item making it go off. He obliged. Meanwhile a girl I knew from public school saw what was happening and being the mean little twit she is told 5 other people not what really happened on my facebook and they all deleted me because apparently she told them that I stole and had to get my bag gone through. LMAo!

IVE never stolen from a store in my life, but if this demented twit wants to embellish the truth to cause gossip then so be it.

Rant over haha.

[daisybear]

One day it went off when I was entering and I asked the greeting to descan my purse since its my own item making it go off. He obliged. Meanwhile a girl I knew from public school saw what was happening and being the mean little twit she is told 5 other people not what really happened on my facebook and they all deleted me because apparently she told them that I stole and had to get my bag gone through. LMAo!

Sally you should add this under the "what's the meanest thing anyone ever did to you" thread

[couponcrazy]

Hmmn, I do know that Walmart has to be POSITIVE that the person stole before accusing them, I would assume HBC should be doing that as well.

I think its horrible they accused you of this and you def need a written apology.

I agree. When I worked in retail we were not allowed to stop someone unless we knew 100% that they had actually stolen something. There were many times that we suspected someone was stealing but we could not stop them unless we saw the item being placed in their purse, jacket etc and they had left the store.

[kaimui22]

HBC is just plain bad when it comes to complaints...they never apologize!! Last time when they accused me of fraud, their supervisor didn't even want to get back to me until I emailed their Head Offices 3 times and called him twice. Even then, he refused to believe his staff was in the wrong and just said "Well, what do you want me to do? Fire her?" And I didn't even ask them to fire the staff, I just asked them to talk to her and let her know that she CANNOT accuse customers of a crime they did not commit.

BUT, you MUST MUST MUST write to Head Office if the local staff at the store doesn't do anything. Head Office will bug them until they give you a call back and get them to write you a written apology saying that you are NOT banned from the store and to have them remove your info from their records.

Also, they should not have searched you or accused you of anything unless they have proof and have collected enough evidence. I'm not sure why they jumped to conclusions without even consulting the dressing room staff or the security videos. If I were you, I would have asked them to call the police and review the security tapes before lifting my up blouse for them to see that I'm not hiding anything underneath.

[bdidol]

sorry to hear that...with those higs mark-up retail prices..they should not bother if there is any missing items from the shelf...

[Woofy]

oh man! My COACH purse did the exact same thing! There was a small tag inside a pocket that they must of not scanned or sets off walmarts alarms. One day it went off when I was entering and I asked the greeting to descan my purse since its my own item making it go off. He obliged. Meanwhile a girl I knew from public school saw what was happening and being the mean little twit she is told 5 other people not what really happened on my facebook and they all deleted me because apparently she told them that I stole and had to get my bag gone through. LMAo!

IVE never stolen from a store in my life, but if this demented twit wants to embellish the truth to cause gossip then so be it.

Rant over haha.

And guess what... those 5 other people are twits too for listening to that mean little twit! It's their loss!

[Woofy]

HBC is just plain bad when it comes to complaints...they never apologize!! Last time when they accused me of fraud, their supervisor didn't even want to get back to me until I emailed their Head Offices 3 times and called him twice. Even then, he refused to believe his staff was in the wrong and just said "Well, what do you want me to do? Fire her?" And I didn't even ask them to fire the staff, I just asked them to talk to her and let her know that she CANNOT accuse customers of a crime they did not commit.

BUT, you MUST MUST MUST write to Head Office if the local staff at the store doesn't do anything. Head Office will bug them until they give you a call back and get them to write you a written apology saying that you are NOT banned from the store and to have them remove your info from their records.

Also, they should not have searched you or accused you of anything unless they have proof and have collected enough evidence. I'm not sure why they jumped to conclusions without even consulting the dressing room staff or the security videos. If I were you, I would have asked them to call the police and review the security tapes before lifting my up blouse for them to see that I'm not hiding anything underneath.

I wouldn't waste time writing to customer service or supervisors... I always go to the top... Write to the CEO! That always gets results.

I wrote to the Bell CEO beginning of this year, complaining about how they are "extorting" from my retired father in law, coz they took their own sweet time to switch long distance service provider over the Christmas season... And my father in law was slapped with a $660 long distance charges bill.

CEO passed the letter I sent to his next-in-command, who contacted my hubby, and over $630 in charges were reversed in 2 days.

I sent a thank you note to him, and told them that they have just converted me to a lifetime Bell customer. I know many people have horrible experiences with Bell... So, I am lucky to have had a good one.

Note though that when you write to a CEO, you need to be very specific, clear, and concise, and propose a solution. I always try to be part of a solution, instead of part of a problem

In my letter to Bell, I gave them a detailed analysis of the situation, presented supporting evidence, and finally proposed a solution that will work for both parties. And I got what I want. The proposed solution, of course, has to be reasonable.

If you just write a rant letter with no request of any type of action, be prepared for the rant to be ignored.

My 2 cents'.

Merry Christmas to all, and I hope we all get treated as the good customers we all are!

[Woofy]

How pathetic that racism still occurs today. I agree, both people should've had to walk through again. On another note, those sensors on those doors aren't that great. I bought a few bags of items (candles and low end stuff) & the alarm went off at Zellers at the door next to the cash register I was just at. I walked through it again & then it didn't, so they do malfunction. Quite often the cashiers don't demagnetize the secuirty tags on the purchases. I couldn't figure out why my purse would sometimes go off & then other times it doesn't. Inside my Coach change purse was a very, very small tag that was stuck in the bottom which I didn't even know was there, eventhough I had my change purse for 5 yrs before noticing it.

Sorry, I had to put in my 2 cents' on this.

Unfortunately, profiling people is something that is inevitable in our society. If we take out the personal aspect out of profiling, we can see that realistically, profiling is an efficient way of processing information about people, and using it as a quick decision maker.

I usually don't get too upset when I am lumped into a certain profile or category because of my ethnicity and race. It is a fact of life, even if it is one that we refuse to admit its presence.

I find that admitting that racial profiling is there, accepting it as part of our human make-up, makes life easier for all of us.

In Minou's case, what the WM employee can do after the whole incident is to give the aboriginal customer a smile, and say "Sorry for any inconvenience caused. I hope you understand that I am just doing my job. Thanks for being a customer of WalMart, and have a wonderful rest of the day."

And then life goes on...