I made a very stupid and quick idea to take a few things from Tk Maxx with my friend last saturday,

walking out a security guard and he walked us back in and told us to follow his collegue.

We were then told because we were 16 and 17 that the police wouldn't be called but we would get a 'fine'.

Our details were taken for this and we signed a banning letter, and were told to expect a letter for the fine. The letter has come through today and I know it's utter karma and I won't do it again,

I've seen other threads saying to ignore it and not pay,

but retail loss prevention is written on the envelope,

and my parents will be bound to see it at one point which I'm dying at the thought of.

Does anyone know what happens if I ignore the letters, such as going to court or police or ANYONE visiting my house?

How long do the letters take to go and what can i expect

Do not under any circumstances pay ANYTHING WHATSOEVER. Do not call them and do not write to them

This is not a fine, it is a speculative invoice requesting that you pay an amount of money in respect of costs incurred by the retailer in dealing with your actions.

I am assuming that any goods taken will have been recovered in a saleable condition? The security staff would have to be paid even had you not visited the store, so no costs have been incurred at all.

RLP will tell you that hell and damnation will rain down on you if you do not pay but the reality is that it won't. But there will be more letters - several in fact, and they may refer to the extremely bad advice that you will receive here as they read these pages religiously, but they also know that there is almost nothing that they can do about it.

Their grubby little enterprise relies on the fear of people that they write to simply paying up. They cannot take you to court, only TK Maxx could do that and they won't - not least because of your age - but also because it is not in their commercial interest to do so, and another major retailer was badly defeated when they tried to do so . Nor will they involve the police - they could have done at the time but chose not to. RLP may well say that the matter will sit on file until you are 18 so that you can then be sued, but this is nonsense.

The letters may well cause a problem if you are worried about parents seeing the RLP details on the envelope. Impossible to say how many will arrive, but there is usually a series of threats increasing in intensity and then a couple from whichever bottom-feeding debt collection agency they are using this month.

It normally stops at that point. If you are brave enough then we would normally suggest that you bite the bullet and tell your parents what happened. RLP have in the past even written to 'The Parent/Guardian of XXXX' in a further attempt to obtain payment, so it is often useful for parents to read the forum here rather than pay up to make RLP go away.

You can certainly stop the letters to your parents with a simply worded letter removing any implied permission for your details to be used to contact your parents and insisting that all correspondence is addressed to yourself - which of course you then ignore completely.

Nobody will visit your house so rest easy on that score

Others will add their advice but the above is the standard - and correct - approach

Now the shouty bit - DO NOT EVER DO THIS AGAIN. We do not approve of RLP or their methods and would always say that the correct source of justice is via the police, and if you were to shoplift again then you might well be in a far worse position. We do not approve of shoplifting either, but appreciate that mistakes and moments of madness occur

Post back whenever you need more advice

you ignore them totally no IF's or BUT's

dx

Words to use in these circumstances ==== Ignore

Hi and welcome to CAG

I echo Sidewinders post in its entirety.

The problem you will have is the continued letter writing from RLP and then their tame debt collector of the day (if there is any debt collector willing to waste their time with RLP)

RLP use the envelope as coercion to pay to stop the letters.

As mentioned, you are under 18 and therfore TKMaxx cannot take you to court, not that they will anyway. The case mentioned by Sidewinder was in 2012 where a retailer backed up by RLP took action against two teenage girls and tried to justify the costs they were demanding. They failed. Since that time, no other store (to my knowledge) has taken any action via the courts.

IF any retailer did take action, it would not be a criminal court, just a civil court.

Now the hard bit. I encourage you to tell your parents UNLESS you are in a broken type home. Parents will be understandably upset and angry with you but you can then show them the RLP forum and show them what lengths RLP will go to to part you from any money you have. One day, your parents may see an envelope addressed and would demand to know what it was all about.

In one case on these boards, RLP wrote to the parents of the juvenile which caused no end of issues. I would not normally recommend that you write to them but if you cannot tell your parents, do you have an alternative address they could write to? If so, I would then write ONE letter only headed with the following:

"I acknowledge no sum claimed by you nor any company you claim to represent."

Then go on to tell them that any permission to write to other members of your family are removed and to write to you at the following address.....

Obviously it goes without saying, don't do this again as it would make you and us look silly and the next time the police could get involved which is not what you want.

Were your parents or the police not called at the time of arrest ?

The tk maxx rules for the loss prevention staff are very plain - if you arrest someone under 18, you must only release them to parents or police. Never release them by themselves.

If you wouldn't mind, a quick email to their head office to let them know which store and date etc would be lovely.

And was there a female present in the holding room at all times ?

If you wouldn't mind, a quick email to their head office to let them know which store and date etc would be lovely.

That doesn't sound like a good idea. How would that help the OP?

That doesn't sound like a good idea. How would that help the OP?

Whilst I agree that emailing is not the best idea, under 18's must be represented by a responsible adult, someone who is impartial before any search or questioning take place. If that didn't happen then TKMaxx are breaking the law.

That doesn't sound like a good idea. How would that help the OP?

Because their permanent ban, photos taken for the local shop watch scheme, and details may end up being erased as a goodwill gesture because the lp team didn't folllow procedure. It's very clear in the rules that kids must not be released except to parents or police. It's simply the lp team being lazy.

Oh and the rlp action stopped.

They already have the kids details, how possibly could it make it worse ....

Whilst I agree that emailing is not the best idea, under 18's must be represented by a responsible adult, someone who is impartial before any search or questioning take place. If that didn't happen then TKMaxx are breaking the law.

Ok, I will bite. Which law is this then please.

Ok, I will bite. Which law is this then please.

You may have a point. I read something early this year but I can't find what I was looking for so I am now concerned that what I said may be wrong (unless I can find it)

Perhaps you can help given your knowledge of detaining juveniles.

There is no law. Whilst it may be unwise to be in a room alone with a minor (and bear in mind that all tk stores have permanently recording cameras and microphones in their holding rooms), there's nothing illegal about it.

The minor is technically under arrest by the security staff, so they have a right to hold them there until an adult takes custody of them, be it police or parents.

I beg to differ. A juvenile (while being lawfully detained under S24a of PACE) they cannot question nor search the juvenile without an appropriate adult present as an under 18 is unable to give that consent. The police can take over the detention but then they are not allowed to question anyone without that protection in place (on the assumption they actually bother to turn up).

What is an appropriate adult? Parent or guardian. Trusted friend who is over 18. Certainly NOT store staff nor the Police. Security staff tend to omit this to deal with the theft quickly. Physical searches are also out of bounds.

Are you reading the pace codes of practice again.

Which don't apply to non police arrests ......

The lp staff in tk's are enhanced dbs checked for the sole reason they could have unsupervised contact with minors, which is a lot above what sia guards get (only a standard dbs). Although as we've both pointed out, it shouldn't happen.

Nobody should be asking them for anything but their name and a contact number so parents or police are called. Searching them certainly is out of bounds and I don't know anyone that would!.

hi

i'm wondering if there's any possible way i can get rlp to stop writing to my address,

has anyone tried writing to them and saying you've changed address and to send letters elsewhere?

my step mum is a police officer and she's bound to know what retail loss prevention means as it says on the outside of the envelope. no criticism please as i've since learnt my lesson

they will not & do not give them the excuse to - ignore ognore ignore it is all wind from them ==

My step mum is a police officer and she's bound to know what retail loss prevention means as it says on the outside of the envelope. no criticism please as i've since learnt my lesson

As your step Mum is a police officer she'll have met all sorts of youths who have done stupid things.

Have you considered telling your parents?.

At the moment (since RLP are 'toothless' and the police weren't involved), their only power over you is your fear your parents will find out.

Chances are your parents have noticed 'there is something wrong', and are waiting to find out what it is, and help you deal with it.

Which is going to be better, you telling your parents in a controlled manner, on your terms, or them finding out outside of your control?.

I don't think it will be an easy ride for you, but consider confessing to your parents!.

so no ones written back on how they've moved house?

when they get no response anyway

they'll resume to the old one.

could i not write and say i've moved house? has anyone somehow got them to not write to them?

get a grip tell your mother, face up to it, it happened you cannot run away way, then get on with your life, end of! you could join the forces?

It is difficult to get RLP to write to other addresses however it can be done.

What I would do is send something like this.

"I acknowledge no sum claimed by you nor any company you claim to represent"

"Take notice that this is the only address to which correspondence will be accepted." [Add the alternative address] " Also take notice that any post addressed to the previous address will be returned as Not at This Address."

"I reserve my absolute right to ignore your petulant missives and should you revert to sending letters to the previous address, I may consider further action." [Never tell them What Action]

" You could leave this bit out if you want as it will get up their noses

get a grip tell your mother, face up to it, it happened you cannot run away way, then get on with your life, end of! you could join the forces?

hi Old Cogger, but i did ask for no rude messages as i've learnt my lesson, and there's no help with your message to what i was asking whatsoever.

no rude messages - over reacting does not help, guilt may be , but face it and learn from the experiance, then move on and make the best of your life without the worry. put this behind you.

Now move on learn and ignore RLP.