Supermarket accuses shopper of theft. Doubles down

[FiF]

http://archive.today/UAu8O

Not particularly short version.

Guy does shopping using scan and shop.
Pays £72 using Apple Pay.
Gets stopped accused of not paying.
Thinks it's a mistake, easily solved, goes back in.
Supervisor makes unwarranted comment about people doing two identical shops and using the payment for the first to get away with not paying for the second.
The phone, I suspect rightly, refuses to pay the same bill a second time.
Shop makes him leave without groceries.
Turns out it's a problem with the supermarket own system.
Guy asks for his money to be returned.
Supermarket insists he travels to the original store to reclaim which is apparently quite some distance.
Also store says there will be no apology as the fault was by the employee and not the store.
(My thought here, what Kool Aid are they drinking with that last one.)
Final resolution he can go to any store to recover the £72 and they've made a donation to charity.

No name and shame, though as it's often said "Every little helps"

At least he didn't get into a fight in the car park.

Edited by FiF on Thursday 24th April 09:24

[Southerner]

Why would he need to travel anywhere to reclaim a £72 payment via Apple Pay? They’d just refund it, surely?

Very odd for any customer-facing business, especially one in such a competitive field as supermarkets, not to issue an immediate grovelling apology these days. I’m going with “there’s more to it”!

[TGCOTF-dewey]

I'm rarely supportive of compo culture, but would absolutely support it in this case.

People make mistakes, but it's how you deal with it that matters.

[vaud]

"He claimed that, in its latest communication, Tesco’s customer service department told him there would be no written apology as the incident had been “all the fault of the employee and not the company”."

Nice to know that the retailer doesn't take responsibility for their employees actions.

[FiF]

Southerner said:

Why would he need to travel anywhere to reclaim a £72 payment via Apple Pay? They’d just refund it, surely?

Very odd for any customer-facing business, especially one in such a competitive field as supermarkets, not to issue an immediate grovelling apology these days. I’m going with “there’s more to it”!

Maybe there is more to it though I have seen two instances where refunds to phone payments weren't straightforward.

First one was Apple Pay, customer in front of me in the chip shop, paid £5 something for his order. Yes price of fish and chips these days says it was some years back. He then noticed a keying error decimal in wrong place and had been charged £55+ pounds. Shop and he tried to correct it but could not, ended up giving him £50 cash out of the till.

Second one daughter, refund for something returned faulty may have been M&S. Extreme confusion as the phone uses a different card number to that of the original source account. Sorted in the end. That was Samsung pay.

I don't use phone pay so that side of things is a bit of a mystery. Old fart mode.

[Nigel_O]

edit - read the article properly this time….

Edited by Nigel_O on Thursday 24th April 10:11

[Vanden Saab]

Now resolved it seems. Somebody with a brain at Tescos admitted their error and suitably grovelled and made a donation to his favoured charity.
Moral of the story don't falsely accuse a political campaigning consultant of theft.

[ThingsBehindTheSun]

A few years ago I went to scan my club card at the same store to get a scanner and I got an error code and "see supervisor" type message. I spoke to a member of staff who sent over a manager and said this error is because a shop was started and not completed (implying I had just walked off without paying). I opened my online banking for the day it happened and showed them that I had paid.

They then unlocked the scanner and let me go on our shop. I thought all was fine until I noticed someone was following us and watching us from the end of each aisle. They had sent the security guard to watch us for the entire shop.

So clearly there are bugs in their system and it would appear they always assume the customer has stolen from them.

I ALWAYS ask for a receipt now when I pay on the self serve till after reading the thread on here about someone getting into a fight with a security guard. Whenever I guy Alcohol or Steak there is a good chance it will set off the scanners and it would be very awkward without a receipt.

[Crudeoink]

Was the shopper called Milkround and was he trying to leave with a £72 frying pan ? (it was a frying pan, wasnt it?)

[tangerine_sedge]

ThingsBehindTheSun said:

A few years ago I went to scan my club card at the same store to get a scanner and I got an error code and "see supervisor" type message. I spoke to a member of staff who sent over a manager and said this error is because a shop was started and not completed (implying I had just walked off without paying). I opened my online banking for the day it happened and showed them that I had paid.

They then unlocked the scanner and let me go on our shop. I thought all was fine until I noticed someone was following us and watching us from the end of each aisle. They had sent the security guard to watch us for the entire shop.

So clearly there are bugs in their system and it would appear they always assume the customer has stolen from them.

I ALWAYS ask for a receipt now when I pay on the self serve till after reading the thread on here about someone getting into a fight with a security guard. Whenever I guy Alcohol or Steak there is a good chance it will set off the scanners and it would be very awkward without a receipt.

it's rather galling that the supermarkets have pretty much forced their customers into self-service, then have the audacity to accuse them of theft when their own IT goes wrong.

This particular story has only got legs because the accused has the ability to escalate into the media. It makes me wonder how often innocent shoppers are being accused, how many just pay twice because the value is low, or they think that they have made a mistake, or consider it not worth the effort to complain.

The moral of the story is to always get a receipt and shop in other supermarkets.

[silentbrown]

FiF said:

He then noticed a keying error decimal in wrong place and had been charged £55+ pounds. Shop and he tried to correct it but could not, ended up giving him £50 cash out of the till.

At some of the chippies round here I'd be checking those notes VERY carefully.

[Chris Peacock]

The Article said:

a political consultant who was field director for Liz Truss’s Conservative leadership campaign, said he was left “humiliated”

I'm not surprised.

[Vanden Saab]

Chris Peacock said:

The Article said:

a political consultant who was field director for Liz Truss’s Conservative leadership campaign, said he was left “humiliated”

I'm not surprised.

Why, surely being able to get Liz elected puts him at the very top of his profession.

[FiF]

Chris Peacock said:

The Article said:

a political consultant who was field director for Liz Truss’s Conservative leadership campaign, said he was left “humiliated”

I'm not surprised.

Like there's always a tweet, there's always one in any thread.


Back on topic there are two issues here.

Firstly the store and multiple members of staff at the store and at head office customer service failed in a number of ways and at various levels. The customer clearly had the means, is sufficiently articulate and has the social capital to challenge this and get the correct resolution.

Secondly if you have a look at the setup of Tesco stores checkouts right at the end of the line typically next to the small section for the scan as you go customers there is a sectioned off area, with a couple of chairs, a desk and a workstation / till. This is where customers are taken when a bag check throws up an unexpected item and their shopping is subject to a 100% rescan. This area is deliberately set aside for the direct purpose of embarrassing and humiliating any customers involved.

Yet in our local store I noticed a set of the usual suspects with a trolley overflowing with goods walk out blatantly without paying and load the trolley and contents directly into their 'tree surgeon' Ford Transit. Also seen by the security guard, we looked at each other, he just shrugged and did nothing. Frankly considering who it was in his shoes probably have done the same. Yet they're the people who really need humiliating.

[vaud]

silentbrown said:

FiF said:

He then noticed a keying error decimal in wrong place and had been charged £55+ pounds. Shop and he tried to correct it but could not, ended up giving him £50 cash out of the till.

At some of the chippies round here I'd be checking those notes VERY carefully.

It's also a breach of merchant terms.

[Tommo87]

Crudeoink said:

Was the shopper called Milkround and was he trying to leave with a £72 frying pan ? (it was a frying pan, wasnt it?)

I wondered the same, but it doesn’t read like the shopper ran off and locked the bag of goods in his car to stop people from inspecting them.

This guy just handed it over.

[ukwill]

vaud said:

"He claimed that, in its latest communication, Tesco’s customer service department told him there would be no written apology as the incident had been “all the fault of the employee and not the company”."

Nice to know that the retailer doesn't take responsibility for their employees actions.

WTF

[Ham_and_Jam]

vaud said:

silentbrown said:

FiF said:

He then noticed a keying error decimal in wrong place and had been charged £55+ pounds. Shop and he tried to correct it but could not, ended up giving him £50 cash out of the till.

At some of the chippies round here I'd be checking those notes VERY carefully.

It's also a breach of merchant terms.

That’s pretty much how cashback works.

[FiF]

Ham_and_Jam said:

vaud said:

silentbrown said:

FiF said:

He then noticed a keying error decimal in wrong place and had been charged £55+ pounds. Shop and he tried to correct it but could not, ended up giving him £50 cash out of the till.

At some of the chippies round here I'd be checking those notes VERY carefully.

It's also a breach of merchant terms.

That’s pretty much how cashback works.

I know the rules on cashback changed in 2021, thought it was still OK that the store can provide cashback in connection with a debit card but not a credit card.

Not sure how Apple Pay stacks up there.

[21TonyK]

FiF said:

At least he didn't get into a fight in the car park.