Apologies for being vague regarding my 'caution' comment. I simply had an informal slap on the wrist caution. I was lucky and I fully recognise this. Too add I appreciate I was fortunate because I could of been made an example of. As a result my professional staus and my DRBS remain unblemished. Therefore the dreaded call to my professional body was not required.

Hi I'm replying to your message because I have been in this position before and to be honest the 'CAG', and the regulars, many who have already answered you saved my life during this difficult time. I should also point out that their help stopped me throwing away my career (as a well respected GP) and gave me direction and full perspective at a time when I was literally all over the place. So why is my situation like yours? Well I too was a regular customer at TKMaxx, I loved their clothes and their discounted prices. The the occasion my world came crashing down I purchased an expensive coat. I paid about £250 and even at that price I had a bargain. After a month the zip broke and I took it back. They knew me, like yourself the staff recognised me as a regular shopper. However the refused to take responsibility for the broken zip, no refund, no replacement coat, nothing. This made me very angry and I left. A few weeks later I decided on a plan which was really stupid and something I regret very much for reasons that will become evident. I visited TKMaxx again and purchased an identical coat. I replaced the tag for this new coat on my damaged one and took it back to the store to claim a full refund (keeping the new identical coat). This plan was put together on the idea of sticking two fingers up at tkmaxx for their poor customer care. Despite the damaged jacket looking brand new they saw through this, and just as I was about to leave I was asked to go with a plain clothes store detective. I could of died. Seriously it was a busy day and people were watching me. I knew I was in trouble despite never doing anything like this before and I honestly mean this 100%. I was quizzed, then the police called. The police woman was lovely and despite having to arrest me to enable them to quiz me more at the station said I could remain handcuff free to avoid further embarrassment as I was walked through the store. At the station I was fingerprinted, swabbed, shoes removed and put in a cell with a blanket for 3 hours. I just wept. As a 40 year old, male professional I lost all perspective during that long 3 hours and thought the worst, career in tatters, name in the local/national paper, wife leaving me, children embarrassed by me... I put myself on par with Jack the Ripper. When I finally spoke to the duty officer I said I didn't want anybody to support me and told the truth about my stupid plan. They were great to me and kept saying 'people make mistakes' etc etc. They gave me a caution and sent me on my way. The relief was beyond belief, I got a taxi back to the store to collect my car and wept again. Everything seemed fine, I didn't tell anybody about my mistake (even my wife) and it appeared to go off the radar until my first letter from RLP dropped on the mat. They were asking for £460 and suggested court action and further embarrassment should I not pay the fine. I'm in a fortunate position financially and wrote out a cheque but paused for a minute and googled RLP. My search sent me to this site and a read about others who had made regrettable, one off mistakes and were being hounded by this company. The advice from the CAG team was so consistent, DO NOT PAY was the ultimate message. So I put my story on here,(then took it off as I got paranoid) but again the team fed back the same message about RLP and their motives. I had 6 letters in total over 4 months. The first 4 escalating threats, the final 2 offered reduced amounts to pay but all threatened court action. The CAG were superb at my worst hour and I can never thank them enough, and although this was years ago I still visit this site and see the same diligent team offering their direct, consistent advice. So my opinion mirrors theirs, DONT PAY! Stay strong, have belief in the people who invest their time on this forum and don't be bullied into handing over your money. But like me learn from your mistake. My one off moment of madness could of ruined everything for me but it didn't. Thank you all at CAG, you guys are still life savers even if you don't know it!

Would really like to know if londonlass is ok, hope she gets in touch,

note to ITsryanzc Thank you very much for sending all the info through on your situation, esp with you 'seeing it through to the end' this has been really helpful. please continue to update.

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