Retail Loss Prevention - Help!7

[anon95]

Hi all.
I recieved a letter in March 2012 from RLP stating that I was due to pay an outstanding balance of £137.50. Me and a few friends were messing around in a store putting items (under the value of £10) in eachothers hoods etc, and never stole anything. We were grappled at the store exit and taken into the back area where we were questioned and details were taken. The police were called and they took a few more details and seemed happy for us to agree to a 'community resolution' if I can remember rightly. We were not arrested and were simply taken home. I have no previous criminal record and since the event my record is unmarked.
The balance of £137.50 to be paid was to be split evenly between me and a friend. We complied with the letter and I provided my friend with £68.75 (half) in cash to pay the debt. He later informed me that his parent would pay by monthly installments.
After this I washed my hands of the issue and thought it was all sorted out.
HOWEVER, I later received a following letter a year later dated 15 April 2013, saying I still owe £137.50. I rung RLP and the woman on the phone informed me that only £90.50 remained to be paid and that my friends parent stopped paying monthly installments in October 2012. Understandably I do not want to pay any more money as I have already contributed half of the debt in cash.
I would be happy to pay my half of the fee again to clear my name and conscience however I was then told that if the other half from my friend wasn't paid, I was legally bound to the case.
My friend assures me the full amount was paid and that we should ignore the letters. Could this be a scam? Are the company legitimate? Should I cough up?
If I do not pay the outstanding amount within 14 the letter claims further will be taken and the price may increase further.
It also mentions that details will be passed on to the police if the matter isn't dealt with.

Just for the record we are both aged 17 and live in Leeds, UK.

If anyone understands the situation and can offer any advise as to what I should do it would be muchly appreciated, thank you.
:tinysmile_hmm_t2:

[busytrev]

Re: Retail Loss Prevention - Help!7

Slightly confused here with your post! You say that you were messing around and that you never stole anything yet you or/and your parents agreed to a community resolution with I assume a condition to pay the store £137.50. If you never stole anything then why was a community resolution agreed? I think you will need to clarify a few things first before anyone will be able to assist you.

[anon95]

Re: Retail Loss Prevention - Help!7

When the police came to the store we were told we could go and the easiest thing to do would be to agree to a community resolution. We had no idea what this was so we thought it was a good offer and that we were 'getting away lightly' and out of trouble. A week or so later I received a letter from RLP saying between us we owed £137.50

[busytrev]

Re: Retail Loss Prevention - Help!7

When the police came to the store we were told we could go and the easiest thing to do would be to agree to a community resolution. We had no idea what this was so we thought it was a good offer and that we were 'getting away lightly' and out of trouble. A week or so later I received a letter from RLP saying between us we owed £137.50

So when you signed your community resolution what were the conditions that you agreed to?

[anon95]

Re: Retail Loss Prevention - Help!7

To make an apology from what I can remember that's all we had to do. I got a letter from the police on the incident and it says offenders quote: "I'm sorry" on a yellow police form

[busytrev]

Re: Retail Loss Prevention - Help!7

To make an apology from what I can remember that's all we had to do. I got a letter from the police on the incident and it says offenders quote: "I'm sorry" on a yellow police form

On the community resolution front sheet there will be a box with a course of action you need to fulfill before the incident is finalised and you will be given a time period to complete the action. Normally for a minor shoplifting offence it is usually a letter of apology to the store concerned on the understanding that you are barred from the store. If you have complied with the Community resolution then the matter with RLP is something I cannot really advise you on. I'm sure someone else on here will be along soon to help you.

[CleverClogs]

Re: Retail Loss Prevention - Help!7

Me and a few friends were messing around in a store putting items (under the value of £10) in each others hoods etc, and never stole anything. We were grappled at the store exit

Who "grappled" you and precisely how were you "grappled"?

This may be important in terms of any counter-claim for assault and unlawful detention you may wish to make.

and taken into the back area where we were questioned and details were taken.

You were only 16 at the time, yet neither one of your parents nor an "appropriate adult" attended that interrogation?

The police were called and they took a few more details and seemed happy for us to agree to a 'community resolution' if I can remember rightly.

That may be because no crime had actually been committed by you or your friend, whilst the woodentops were content to overlook what the security troll and the store manager had done.

HOWEVER, I later received a following letter a year later dated 15 April 2013, saying I still owe £137.50. I rung RLP and the woman on the phone informed me that only £90.50 remained to be paid and that my friends parent stopped paying monthly installments in October 2012. Understandably I do not want to pay any more money as I have already contributed half of the debt in cash.
I would be happy to pay my half of the fee again to clear my name and conscience however I was then told that if the other half from my friend wasn't paid, I was legally bound to the case.

That is utter nonsense.

You are still under 18, so cannot form enforceable contracts for anything other than beneficial contracts of employment, or for the essentials of life - food, clothing, shelter - and, possibly, for schooling. Any other contract would be void at law and hence you could not be bound by it.

Could this be a scam? Are the company legitimate?

I decline to comment, partly because my comments could be unprintable.

Should I cough up?

I would say not.

If I do not pay the outstanding amount within 14 the letter claims further will be taken and the price may increase further.

Oh, really?

An unenforceable claim may be ramped up to a larger, equally unenforceable claim?

Have they learned nothing?

Please read the attached file. The more they claim, the harder it would be to substantiate their claim when it is subjected to strict proof.

It also mentions that details will be passed on to the police if the matter isn't dealt with.

I suggest that you get help from your local law centre (link) and show that letter to the police who, if they're not too lazy or stupid, might even wonder if it might be an attempt at blackmail.

Please bear in mind that no crime was committed by you or your friend, so it is difficult to understand just what RLP might pass on to the police in their zeal to enforce their unwarranted demands.

Just for the record we are both aged 17 and live in Leeds, UK.

I sympathise. Still, I suppose some people have to live there. :grin:

If anyone understands the situation and can offer any advise as to what I should do it would be muchly appreciated, thank you.

Move to Manchester, as it has a better night-life. :rofl:

[CleverClogs]

Re: Retail Loss Prevention - Help!7

Normally for a minor shoplifting offence it is usually a letter of apology to the store concerned on the understanding that you are barred from the store.

Nothing was stolen, so there was no shoplifting offence.

[busytrev]

Re: Retail Loss Prevention - Help!7

Sorry to jump in here but did you and your friends actually take any goods from the store? You said you were messing around putting stuff in each others hoods so did you actually leave the store with the goods in your hoods?

[CleverClogs]

Re: Retail Loss Prevention - Help!7

Sorry to jump in here but did you and your friends actually take any goods from the store? You said you were messing around putting stuff in each others hoods so did you actually leave the store with the goods in your hoods?

Me and a few friends were messing around in a store putting items (under the value of £10) in each others hoods etc, and never stole anything.

Apparently not.

[CleverClogs]

Re: Retail Loss Prevention - Help!7

This is what Lord Gnome's organ had to say...

[anon95]

Re: Retail Loss Prevention - Help!7

Just to clear a few things up - we were grappled in the entrance area of the store we never got out of the store. This was by 2 casually dressed young popeye blokes. I work in retail myself and am aware that if you make physical contact with a shoplifter they have a case for assault so we are told to refrain from doing so. The company claim was that we "detagged and stole items approx to the value of £15" No agreement was made and stated on my police community resolution letter other than that I was "happy for community resolution" and "I'm sorry". After reading all of your replies it seems they have a weak case. What should I do from here? Write to them explaining what you guys have told me in my own words? Telephone them? Refuse to pay?

[wales01man]

Re: Retail Loss Prevention - Help!7

Excuse my thickness again but if they never left the store no offence occured so what is going on ?

[CleverClogs]

Re: Retail Loss Prevention - Help!7

It would seem that the security trolls are now so utterly stupid that they are unable to tell the difference between shoplifters and honest shoppers who merely wish to view the goods in daylight..

[TopBoy]

Re: Retail Loss Prevention - Help!7

Excuse my thickness again but if they never left the store no offence occured so what is going on ?

A very common mis-conception - a person does nit have to keave the store to commit a theft. Most retailers policy will instruct staff to allow offenders to leave the storeprior to then being detained as this helps to prove the "intent to permanently deprive" the retailer. Nobody can really ascertain weather a theft took place in this instance as the original post is very vague as to the actual details. When detained were the op if his friends in possession Of any stock? Who was in possession? Where was the stock? Who out it there?