Falsely accused of shoplifting in Debenhams

[privatetrey]

Re: Need advice please help!!

Thank you all for ur advice it's making me feel little positive and am gonna do everything u advised and talk to my lawyer too. Thank you all.
will keep u posted on what goes on the 7th but for now am gonna work with the advice you all given me.
thank you

[Mineral1]

Re: Need advice please help!!

As for your friend.... If you both had a history of theft then the police could point to common enterprise.... However, if you have no history of such and no convictions, then unless the police can prove you knew your friend was a shoplifter the only crime you have committed is having a poor judgement as to the friends you choose, and to be honest if that was a crime, having seen my best friend they would lock me up and throw away the key! :tongue2:

[privatetrey]

Re: Need advice please help!!

As for your friend.... If you both had a history of theft then the police could point to common enterprise.... However, if you have no history of such and no convictions, then unless the police can prove you knew your friend was a shoplifter the only crime you have committed is having a poor judgement as to the friends you choose, and to be honest if that was a crime, having seen my best friend they would lock me up and throw away the key! :tongue2:

I have never committed any crime at all; I found on the day my friend had previous convictions for shoplifting among other things. She said she was tempted. I will write to the store and put it on first class Monday.

[Mineral1]

Re: Need advice please help!!

GOOD... If you need any help along the way or want to put up your draft letter do so and either I or one of the other guys will be around...:tongue2:

[Mineral1]

Re: Need advice please help!!

Oh put the letter to the store signed for just in case they 'don't receive it' don't want that do we now?

[privatetrey]

Re: Need advice please help!!

Oh put the letter to the store signed for just in case they 'don't receive it' don't want that do we now?

Yeah I know what you mean. first class signed for��
thank you so much. Will draft the letter and see if you can help me to get it perfect today.
i really appreciate your help.

[seduraed]

Re: Need advice please help!!

Did the friend who gave you the perfumes pay by card ?there will be evidence of that purchase . Your friend also needs tomake a sworn statemetnthat she bought the goods on such and such date and gave them to you as a present on such and such date .

[privatetrey]

Re: Need advice please help!!

GOOD... If you need any help along the way or want to put up your draft letter do so and either I or one of the other guys will be around...:tongue2:

i have tried to draft the letter but am not sure if am doing a great job.. cld you please look at the following draft and correct me or add anything you feel is relevant or good. thank you in advance.

Dear Sir/Madam
I am writing to request thereturn of the following items that you removed from my possession as they arelawfully mine. On the 3^rd of January 2015 you took the followingfragrances from the Debenhams carrier bag which was in my possession; Lady Million;Paco Rabanne, Allien; Thiery muggler and Guerlain La Petite Robe Noire.As you aware these fragrances aremine and you took them off me accusing me of shoplifting them from yourpremises which is false. As far as am aware you have not produced any proof tostate that that I was not telling the truth as the fragrances are my property Iwould appreciate your co-operation in returning them to me as the lawful owner.As I am pretty sure you are awarethat I have court case proceedings in proving that these fragrances are mineuntil the court decision I do believe that the fragrances should be returned tome as the rightful owner.I would look forward to your responsein the next 14 days.

[nemesis45]

Re: Need advice please help!!

This need to be framed as a Formal Complaint not to the store manager but to the MD of the company, you will get more attention this way.
nem

[seduraed]

Re: Need advice please help!!

Follow nems advice but also make sure that all the spaces are in the right place and the spelling has been checked. A well written clear letter is more likely to get attention than long rambling one.
Outline what the complaint is, what happened and what action you want the CEO to take.

[privatetrey]

Re: Need advice please help!!

Follow nems advice but also make sure that all the spaces are in the right place and the spelling has been checked. A well written clear letter is more likely to get attention than long rambling one.
Outline what the complaint is, what happened and what action you want the CEO to take.

thank you as i wasnt so sure what type of a letter i was writing so really its a complaint about the way i was treated that resulted in my goods being taken off me and requesting that they return the goods to me.

[Mineral1]

Re: Need advice please help!!

This need to be framed as a Formal Complaint not to the store manager but to the MD of the company, you will get more attention this way.
nem

No... The higher you go in these management structures the more it is like using a pea shooter against a battleships hull.
Stick to the store manager... If you make enough fuss then it's the managers turf and last thing they need is an irate customer having been dragged around and deprived of her goodies, could end up in local press by the disgruntled shopper writing in and it's a cutthroat business retail, don't want your customers being put off by the prospect of being turned upside down by an over zealous security guard playing his own Judge Dredd now... As soon as there's any fuss the whole thing will get under the nose of area manager who will have targets for the whole area, doesn't need a storm in a teacup disturbing his bonus now....
Need to think about this, basically Sale of Goods Act... Also Store has an open policy of exchange without receipt.... Store says customer deprived them of their goods, customer says store deprived her of her goods.. Stores done nothing to my knowledge to prove she took the goods, so as far as I can see its her word v guard....
Need to have a look for relevant bits of legislation in morning then we can knock something together....

[MissFM]

Re: Need advice please help!!

Whatever you send and whoever you send it to (either the local store manager or the CEO), I would first run it past your solicitor. In fact, if it were me, I would ask the solicitor to write (same message just "my client" rather than "I", and in solicitorese). You don't want to do anything that would jeopardise your position should this proceed to court.

If it's any help, this is the kind of letter I might perhaps write were I to find myself in your shoes:

(Name and address of recipient) (Your name and address)



Date


Dear Mr (name)


Formal complaint


Please treat this as a formal complaint and a formal request for the immediate return of my property.


On (date) I was detained leaving your shop (address of store), by two men claiming to be employed by you, and wrongfully accused of shoplifting goods which I had taken with me to the store in order to exercise my rights as a consumer to exchange them for alternative products. Apparently, according to the cashier, perfume is exempt from exchanges, though, so I left the store without having successfully exchanged my perfumes.

The men, who said they were "store detectives", took my possessions (including my 'phone) from me and forced me to accompany them to a back room.



No evidence supporting your employee's allegations was produced either at that time or subsequently, despite many requests on my part to see, for example, CCTV footage, which would clearly have substantiated that the goods in my possession were my own and the allegations made against me unfounded. I was bullied, harassed, reduced to tears and ultimately arrested as a result of your employee's false allegations and put under extreme pressure to admit to an offence that I hadn't committed. I prefer to tell the truth and this matter is consequently subject to court action, hence my solicitor will be in contact with you in due course.



As the products that I wished to exchange were gifts to me, I had no receipts nor were there any security tags on the products themselves. Your employee erroneously alleged that he had seen me remove security tags but was, of course, unable to produce any tags as that didn't happen. Neither (understandably) was he able to produce any corroborating evidence at all for any of his unfounded accusations.



My property was nevertheless unlawfully taken from me by this your representative and has yet to be returned.



Please would you locate the following personal property taken from me by your employee(s) that day and ensure that it is all returned to me without delay:


(List)


Yours sincerely,


Private Trey

[privatetrey]

Re: Need advice please help!!

No... The higher you go in these management structures the more it is like using a pea shooter against a battleships hull.
Stick to the store manager... If you make enough fuss then it's the managers turf and last thing they need is an irate customer having been dragged around and deprived of her goodies, could end up in local press by the disgruntled shopper writing in and it's a cutthroat business retail, don't want your customers being put off by the prospect of being turned upside down by an over zealous security guard playing his own Judge Dredd now... As soon as there's any fuss the whole thing will get under the nose of area manager who will have targets for the whole area, doesn't need a storm in a teacup disturbing his bonus now....
Need to think about this, basically Sale of Goods Act... Also Store has an open policy of exchange without receipt.... Store says customer deprived them of their goods, customer says store deprived her of her goods.. Stores done nothing to my knowledge to prove she took the goods, so as far as I can see its her word v guard....
Need to have a look for relevant bits of legislation in morning then we can knock something together....

Thank you
i will keep an eye on my email and use all the info I get from here. Will also inform my solicitor and discuss with her a couple of helpful points I received here as I find that they seem not bothered to investigate fully rather than listen to the guard and crucify me for false accusations but should she refuse to write the letter and it doesn't harm my case I will be sending in on my own behalf. I will wait for the legislation so I can quote it too into my letter.
Thank you very much

[Mineral1]

Re: Need advice please help!!

Good... My sis used to be a store manager for a big comet store, so I got to see first hand how these large companies operated, quite informative! :tongue2: