RLP Letter

[AAS123]

Hi All. I was summoned for shoplifting in John Lewis on the 17th of November 2023. The items worth was 270£. I feel extremely bad about it, I had taken counselling sessions too at the time. I was called for a voluntary interview as I have no other crime reports and was given a conditional caution at the time and let go. On the 15th of January 2024, I received a letter from Retail Loss Prevention saying I owe them 798£, the 525£ is for their time to go through the cctv, interview me etc. I feel the extra 525£ is way too much. I do not have 800£ to give them at all. I am a student on a visa. Please advice me on what should I do. I tried contacting RLP but they were very mean and did not listen to me at all. I tried citizens bureau but they are saying to pay it and try some websites like money helper or turn to us for the money. I tried that as well, but it did not work. Please help me out.

Thank You in advance

[des8]

So you accepted a conditional caution from the police.
Can you tell us what the conditions were, please?

Can you confirm John Lewis regained their goods in a saleable condition?

[AAS123]

Thank you for the reply.

The condition is I will receive an online course and I need to complete it. It will be in regards to why shoplifting is bad and a crime etc. I haven't received it yet. Waiting on it.

So, unfortunately there have been 2 more instances when I was on cctv for shoplifting. The day they caught me was the 3rd time. I extremely regret all of this, and have taken necessary counselling and therapy sessions.
They did not recover the earlier items worth 270£, but on the day they caught me, they did recover those items.

[des8]

Can you post up the RLP letter (first remove your name & address and any reference numbers.
It will be helpful to see exactly what RLP are saying

[AAS123]

Please find attached the letter. Thank you so much

[des8]

You do realise the CCTV footage they have might not be sufficient to prove you were shoplifting, so be careful if you contact them, not to admit to anything

OK, so John Lewis are entitled to take action against you, but might not. (note the letter states "...ignoring this letter may lead to our client starting proceedings...")

RLP can't take you to court, only John Lewis can, and it will cost them more in court fees than they can recover.

Also they can only claim for their losses, which are limited to their actual losses.
Regarding the goods you are alleged to have taken, iJL's loss is not the retail value, but the wholesale price (so what are RLP quoting?)
Regarding JL's time spent investigating ... these costs are a business costs which they would have incurred whether or not you even entered their stores. They are not entitled to try and push those costs on to you.

RLP are well aware of this.
They once persuaded a client to take two admitted shoplifters to court, and lost heavily.
You can find full details and background to this case here: https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...h-and-the-lies

The letter you have received is standard fare from RLP (you can see more examples here: https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...rs-rlp-and-dwf) and the standard advice is to ignore them.
They send out three or four over a few months and sometimes instruct toothless debt collectors.

The only papers never to ignore are genuine court papers

You now have the choice of querying RLP's letter and starting letter tennis or just ignoring it.
If you chose to write, make sure they are aware that you know about the "Oxford Case".

[echat11]

You do realise the CCTV footage they have might not be sufficient to prove you were shoplifting, so be careful if you contact them, not to admit to anything

OK, so John Lewis are entitled to take action against you, but might not. (note the letter states "...ignoring this letter may lead to our client starting proceedings...")

RLP can't take you to court, only John Lewis can, and it will cost them more in court fees than they can recover.

Also they can only claim for their losses, which are limited to their actual losses.
Regarding the goods you are alleged to have taken, iJL's loss is not the retail value, but the wholesale price (so what are RLP quoting?)
Regarding JL's time spent investigating ... these costs are a business costs which they would have incurred whether or not you even entered their stores. They are not entitled to try and push those costs on to you.

RLP are well aware of this.
They once persuaded a client to take two admitted shoplifters to court, and lost heavily.
You can find full details and background to this case here: https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...h-and-the-lies

The letter you have received is standard fare from RLP (you can see more examples here: https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...rs-rlp-and-dwf) and the standard advice is to ignore them.
They send out three or four over a few months and sometimes instruct toothless debt collectors.

The only papers never to ignore are genuine court papers

You now have the choice of querying RLP's letter and starting letter tennis or just ignoring it.
If you chose to write, make sure they are aware that you know about the "Oxford Case".

Awesome post.

If you write to them, make sure you write 'Without Prejudice' on the letter.

That way they can't use the letter against you in Court, if it ever goes to Court.

[AAS123]

Wow guys, thank you so so so much for all of this.
About the CCTV, they showed me an image of me taking those goods in my hand and moving out of the store, and the police had shown me a video of me looking at those coach bags. Not that i left with them.

So your advice would be for me to ignore the letter completely or would you advise me to write back to RLP? However, I am extremely scared because I donot want to get deported or maybe sent to court because of all of this. And if the court sends me a letter, it would also mean that they would increase the charges from 800£ to something else right?

RLP is extremely rude. They also sent the very first letter to the wrong address as I had moved 2 days after the incident. And when I told them that they said it is not our problem that you moved and they took my new address. Luckily my then landlord sent me a photo of it and I knew about it. If he wouldn't have told me I dont think I would have known. I think if i dont start paying they will send letters on the new address.

Also, do you think the regulations might have changed over the years? Because all the posts are from 2012-2015. What if now they have started taking legal action or something else?

[des8]

RLP will certainly send more letters unless you pay.
RLP are rude, but then all vigilantes are.
RLP are little more than vigilantes imposing their own brand of "justice"
In the UK we have a system of courts which RLP think they can bypass by using legalistic sounding threats.
IMO their behaviour is more reprehensible than that of those they pursue

Now whether or not you respond to them you will not be deported.

If it should proceed to court (and that is in the far distance anyway) it will be a civil county court for a small claim.(
The only costs they could claim (if they won) are very very limited. This is why companies do not bother pursuing small amounts in court because they cannot claim for their expensive solicitors costs. It is just not commercial sense

I would not respond to RLP, that would be my choice having seen many times the way they act.
However they may change their way of operating.

It is your choice to make.
You might prefer to try negotiating a much lower payment amount just to lose the undoubted stress they cause their victims.

[echat11]

You could write a 'Without Prejudice' letter stating that you are well aware of the Oxford Case and that they lost the case because they invoiced costs which are already accounted for in their 'business costs'. Do a some further reading on the site, threads etc.

They are rude, but they also got their history wrong, they quoted the wrong dates for the Magna Carta in letters they sent out to people. The Magna Carta dates back more then 800 years.

Update when you get a response.

[AAS123]

Would it make sense if I waited for the 2nd letter, took a advise from the both of you again and then decide together what to do? To be frank, I am really scared of RLP and their threats which may or may not be true

[des8]

Now you see what I mean about stress
RLP are masters of the scary letter!

If you want to wait for their next threatogram and then post here again, that is fine

[AAS123]

I mean i feel like I don’t have the energy to deal with them right now. And if at all by the talks of it, they just threaten, i want to deal with them after the second letter

also, by any chance would you have knowledge about Post Graduate Study Visa? I was a student in 2023, came to pursue masters and now have gotten a job and applied for my Post Study Visa. I applied on the 23rd of December and still waiting. Do you think this conditional caution would cause my visa to reject?

[des8]

I can't comment regarding your visa application as there is not enough information in your thread about your circumstances.
The government has issued a document you might like to read through https://assets.publishing.service.go...riminality.pdf Regret I don't have the time right now but might over the next few days if no one else comments.

[AAS123]

Thank You for all the help. I shall post back when there is a second letter from RLP. Really appreciate the way you helped me out here. Thank you once again.