Detained for Not Having a Receipt

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Quoting DeputyDog

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It really seems to be Wal-Mart and Sam's club where they tend to "go the extra mile," threatening police involvement, making quasi-apprehensions (can we just go back into the store to sort this out and go through your bag?)

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With Sam's, it is in your membership agreement that you will show your receipt. They can then ask/beg you to show your receipt. Failure to comply should result in nothing more than loss of membership though.

I've never seen anyone refuse a Sam's Club receipt check but I suppose it's possible.

Well now you can say you "know" of someone who did (even if only by way of the internet!)

That was where the ill fated receipt check happened involving me, my wife, a lost receipt, and two screaming kids.

You are correct that it is part of the membership agreement. I conceded that to the store manager; he conceded that still even so, as a businessman, he wasn't interested in being annoying to or harassing customers who likely just paid for a cart worth of goods since they were just observed leaving a checkout line. I explained that I would have liked to have cooperated, but I really needed to get these kids out of the store. He said that no further explanation was necessary and gave me the $50 gift card for my trouble.

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Quoting Mr. Knowitall

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Even if the OP had an imagination as wild as yours ...

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Imagination? Have you not been paying attention to the news? Have you not seen police officers killing people and getting away with it?

For a person who is not prepared to physically fight, trying to walk away from a big security guard who is telling that person to stay, is like playing Russian Roulette.

We are quite aware of your obsessions, John. You simply don't need to puke your nonsense into every thread in the forum.

Yes, and those instances are still infrequent enough to qualify as News.

If you are seriously contending that in stores all over the US suspected shoplifters are being physically abused on a daily basis and the media is unaware of any but the few instances that have made the headlines, then I recommend either counseling or an Extension school course in writing fiction. Or both.

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Quoting DeputyDog

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Yes, you are correct I'd forgotten about the home improvement stores. Yes, Lowe's and Home Depot do also have this sort of routine receipt checking.

I could be wrong here, but I think the difference is that in those other companies the receipt checkers are instructed that if someone doesn't show a receipt, absent some other type of suggestion that they are stealing such as EAS also activating, or some type of observation, that they are to do nothing and say nothing except "Ok, Thank you."

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That's about the same with Wal-Mart. I have been told by their LP management out here that they are not permitted to place their hands on anyone. They might ask them to talk to a manager, or follow and call the police, but they will not get physical.

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It really seems to be Wal-Mart and Sam's club where they tend to "go the extra mile," threatening police involvement, making quasi-apprehensions (can we just go back into the store to sort this out and go through your bag?) I've personally seen it a few times around here, and there was some lawyer who actually filed either a class action suit, or a suit with several plaintiffs regarding this practice, specifically regarding Wal-Mart/Sam's Club.

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I've seen that when they believe someone had shoplifted, and if so, that usually means that they also have personal observations of what they thought was theft. But, different stores might have looser policies. Out here Wal-Marts all seem to be run the same way, but, we have been called for thefts when someone leaves only to find that the "theft" did not meet their corporate policy to sign a citizen's arrest (i.e. they could not identify the specific item stolen, or, there was no personal visual observation of the theft).

Sometimes they see someone remove an item from a shelf and leave then call us when they refuse to stop. We detain the guy and find that they can't sign the C/A ... it's frustrating. But, the observation on the video can be sufficient to justify OUR detention - even an arrest in many circumstances. But, if they cannot sign, we drop it.

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Quoting cbg

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Yes, and those instances are still infrequent enough to qualify as News.

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They qualify as news not because of their frequency. They qualify as news because violence in the news gets high ratings.

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If you are seriously contending that in stores all over the US suspected shoplifters are being physically abused on a daily basis and the media is unaware of any but the few instances that have made the headlines, then I recommend either counseling or an Extension school course in writing fiction. Or both.

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I never said that shoplifters are abused in every single store or in a lot of stores. But just the fact that some people have been abused by police and/or security, can make any person afraid of dealing with police and/or security in any situation. Who knows which officer or security guard you're getting in any given situation? The nice person? Or the psycho?

And once again it rolls back around to ... the OP should speak with some attorneys and see if any of them will be willing to take the case on contingency. If they will not (and I can't imagine any of them will), then the OP can decide whether they want to fork out thousands of dollars for a lawsuit.

We can go around and around as to whether it is good or bad policy to ask for receipts, or even whether or not the person may have legitimately felt intimidated or complied of their own free will. It does nothing to change the legal replies suggesting the OP speak with some attorneys and then decide if a lawsuit is the best course of action.

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Quoting John_28

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Imagination? Have you not been paying attention to the news? Have you not seen police officers killing people and getting away with it?

For a person who is not prepared to physically fight, trying to walk away from a big security guard who is telling that person to stay, is like playing Russian Roulette.

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Quit drinking the cool aid. Innocent people are not getting murdered by cops or security guards everyday.