rlp primark shoplifting fine

[genie101]

hi,

i recently shoplifted from Primark and ik it’s bad and i’ll never do it again but i just recieved a letter by post from rlp saying to pay a fine if £175 within 21 days and idk what to do as im not working so im unable to pay this much. when i got caught i didnt cause any scene or anything and just admitted to it and returned everything back to them so im not exactly sure why im paying this much when they got everything back. please help as im stressing and i dont want this to come up when applying for jobs or anything as it was a one time mistake. idk if i should email them and ask to reduce the fine or close the case but idk if that’ll just make it worse and they’ll just scare me into paying the full thing.

[echat11]

Hi GENIE101

Welcome to LB

The best thing is to put aside any letters you receive, you will receive 3 / 4.
Each one threatening this and that, then more of this and that, so it goes on, etc, etc.

There is nothing to pay.

There is no loss, the goods were returned in resaleable condition.

The security / staff costs are covered in their 'business plan', so already accounted for.

What they are sending is a 'speculative invoice' with no 'breakdown' or actual loss.

If you are struggling their is help out there, as a last resort your local MP can help.

[PallasAthena]

It's not a "fine". RLP have no power or authority to fine anybody. Their invoices alleging you owe money to cover Primark's internal administration costs have no legal basis and can be ignored. They just hope that people are so embarrassed by what has happened they will just pay up to "make it go away".

RLP issue so many of these that we have a whole forum on here devoted to them. Have a read back through some of the threads and get a feel for what happens next. Essentially just a series a letters making even more threats but if you ignore them eventually, after 4 or 5 letters, they stop sending them. No-one has ever come back here and reported that court action was taken against them.

Civil Recovery - Retail Loss Prevention - LegalBeagles Forum

The only things you should not ignore are a formal "Pre Action Protocol Letter of Claim" issued by Primark themselves or their solicitors [not by RLP] under UK rules of civil procedure [known as a 'PAPLOC'] or any document from a court but that's so unlikely to happen it's not worth worrying about.

[genie101]

thank you both so much for responding. i honestly forgot about this as it happened a few weeks ago and they didnt mention anything about a fine they just said that if i was lying about my id and address they would take it up with the police and i didnt think to ask anything as i was panicking. im just a bit worried that my family will see the letter as it was a one time thing and will never happen again idk what i was thinking. do you know if the envelopes of them will bring any attention? or will they just look like the one i recieved (white envelope with return address of rlp)?

[echat11]

thank you both so much for responding. i honestly forgot about this as it happened a few weeks ago and they didnt mention anything about a fine they just said that if i was lying about my id and address they would take it up with the police and i didnt think to ask anything as i was panicking. im just a bit worried that my family will see the letter as it was a one time thing and will never happen again idk what i was thinking. do you know if the envelopes of them will bring any attention? or will they just look like the one i recieved (white envelope with return address of rlp)?

They should all be the same.

[genie101]

also have you guys heard of people receiving a letter after a long time cause idw think the letters have stopped after 4 or 5 and then a year or two later it starts coming again. do you think that would happen?

[genie101]

even the other ones like the other debt collectors would the envelopes be the same? i don’t want the envelope to make it obvious on what i’ve done or make it obvious to my family that i’ve got something like that to pay off

[PallasAthena]

Earlier in the year we had several people reporting that after RLP had sent 4 letters which had been ignored RLP passed it to a debt collector called BPO Collections who sent a couple of letters as well. We advised continuing to ignore BPO Collections. No-one ever reported that BPO did anything except send a couple of letters.

I understand your concern that envelopes don't identify the sender but I really can't give you an answer to that. There are many letters from RLP on here and many more on other sites but I've never seen anyone post up the envelope it arrived in.

Letters I see from debt collectors never have the debt collectors name on the envelope but they do have a 'Return Address'. A simple online address search will reveal who has sent it. So if anyone in your family is sufficiently curious to find out who is writing to you they will be able to find out quite easily from the Return Address.

[echat11]

Debt collectors shouldn't be sending letters (envelopes) identifying who the letter has come from, that would 100% Breach FCA Rules on debt collection.

[PallasAthena]

I see a lot of them ('returning to sender' uncollected mail addressed to ex-tenants who have moved away leaving no forwarding address) and every single envelope from a DCA has their 'Return Address' on the back but does not identify their company name.

[genie101]

have you guys ever had someone that spoke about negotiating the “fine” with rlp? like asking them to reduce it instead of paying them £175 fully? if so how did that work out for them as tbh if it was possible to reduce to something under £100 i would just pay it off so i dont have the risk of someone finding out but idk if emailing them and asking them will work or if it’ll just make it worse as i did read that some people did advise not to get into contact with them since they’ll just see you as someone they’re able to get money off so idw risk that as well

[echat11]

have you guys ever had someone that spoke about negotiating the “fine” with rlp? like asking them to reduce it instead of paying them £175 fully? if so how did that work out for them as tbh if it was possible to reduce to something under £100 i would just pay it off so i dont have the risk of someone finding out but idk if emailing them and asking them will work or if it’ll just make it worse as i did read that some people did advise not to get into contact with them since they’ll just see you as someone they’re able to get money off so idw risk that as well

It's not a 'fine', it's a speculative invoice, etc.
So 'negotiating' with them will only encourage them to send more letters.

[genie101]

just received this today which is quite different to the letters i’ve seen previously here

[des8]

They have omitted the most important option open to you viz.; ignore

[PallasAthena]

It's just the next in their series of standard letters, we've seen it before. Continue to ignore them is my advice.