Options for compensation. For missing work, being grabbed and physically held, accused of being a thief and had the police called on me, all in public at the mall.
Options for compensation. For missing work, being grabbed and physically held, accused of being a thief and had the police called on me, all in public at the mall.
It sounds to me like it was a bad stop from a policy standpoint but I don't have all the details. Most companies recognize that when their LP person screws the pooch, they need to do something for the customer. It normally takes very little squeaking to get the wheel greased.
You said the LP person grabbed you and then called mall security? LP people don't usually require/ask for the assistance of outside security unless the subject is resisting.
Did you speak to the LP manager about the trespassing form? The regular managers in many retailers don't know how to look that stuff up b/c LP is its own little world. If there is no record of the incident occurring at the store, have you contacted the police to see if the officer did any kind of report?
It is possible that the LP person decided to pretend the whole thing never happened, i.e. not documenting it. Both of those things (the bad stop and covering it up) are grounds for termination in most companies. If there was no record, and the LP person in question has since been shown the door, that may explain the lack of communication from the company. They may still be investigating and consulting with their legal dept about what to do. I would imagine if the LP person isn't still there, he isn't going to cooperate if they call asking him about it. If he is still there, he may still be playing the "LA LA LA LA....don't know what you're talking about" game. If there is no evidence to prove it happened, they are going to be reticent to compensate you.
Try finding a contact address for someone VERY high up in customer service and send them a letter, certified return-receipt. That may get you some further action. Do NOT threaten any kind of legal action in the letter. That can cause them to circle the wagons and further frustrate things. Just explain what happened, who you have spoken to about it and that you are hoping they will do the right thing. If you're lucky, they'll contact you and either a. make an offer for you to go away or b. ask you what you want to go away. If they do and you accept, expect to a. be required to sign a hold harmless letter (basically that all parties agree the matter is closed and you will take no further action) and b. NOT get cash. It is almost unheard of for them to give cash. Normally it's in the form of store credit....so they're not really losing any money on the deal.![]()
a couple days after the event I spoke with the store manager in person. He said that LP doesn't report to him, but that he will talk to the LP district manager about what happened and have that district manager call me. A few days later I got a message from the store manager, who said that he talked to the LP district manager and there is no record of the incident and that there wasn't a no trespassing form with my name on it. He of course told me that I'm welcome back to his store anytime.
I was hoping that the LP district manager was still going to call. I gave him a couple weeks. After I hadn't heard anything, I decided to write a letter.
I typed up a letter explaining what happened and explained that I felt I deserved some kind compensation for what happened. I left my contact information and requested that someone contact me about the incident. I addressed it to their corporate office and mail it as certified return-receipt mail. I got a return receipt a couple weeks later. This was back at the end of December. I gave them all of January to contact me but haven't heard anything.
So that's where I'm at
Well then except the fact that your not going to get an apology and your not going to get any money from the company unless you pony up a few hundred dollars to have a lawyer write a threatening letter that you are going to sue.
If you do decide to go the lawyer route remember that you may be out more money then what you may receive from the company and if the company calls the lawyers bluff, you will need to spend thousands of dollars to bring this situation to litigation.