Hi everyone, I'm new here, but never did I think I would be in the situation where I would need help.

I was shopping in Sainsburys on the 16th Nov and myself and my partner brought about £60 worth of items with the hand hold self scanner, anyway, after walking through the exit, two of the guards grabbed us and said ''I know what you did''. Took me to the back room, and accused us of stealing a tin of roses as my partner put it in the trolley without my knowledge simple mistake,, in the shock of it all i must of dropped the receipt outside the store,, as the guards wanted it and i could not find,, they said well it was in your hand i said well its not now is it we were escorted through the store one in front and one guard behind,, I was shocked, in hindsight, I know I was on autopilot mode as my partner had paid for all the items and had pushed the trolley out of the store

I explained that to the guard, but he wasn't having it i said theres been some mistake and offered to pay for the item, and looking directly over me in an intimidating manner whilst we were seated and he said ''you purposely placed items in the trolley without scanning them and we have already called the police,,, he then started the previous wk shopping where myself and my partner had been "randomly tested" at the scan and go tills but through a fault of the scanner everything had to be redone through a normal check point and it came to £227 as we had brought alot more than normal as we were getting ready for xmas & it was my mothers birthday but he said there was only £97 on the scanner before it went through which i replied thats incorrect the guard then said well this is you nector card isnt it? I said well i used mine to activate the scanner but after the confusion at the till point we used my partners and she paid,, but on his paper work only my details were present,, he said i was lying and that i could explain it to the police he and the manager then said all your visit to sainsburys comes to 60-80 per wk thats pretty consistent and by this point i had enough of there manners, i replied with well its called sticking to a budget which he then said well he cant manage that consistence..i said thats not my fault

The police turned up whilst we waited in there holding room with the door open and staff continued to walk past very embarrassing for the both of us,,,, after the store discussed the matter with the police came into say they would service me a a penalty notice of £100 and i said to both of us? the officer said no its been treated as u were working together and i said well put it in my name then which the officer did,,,, Anyway, they gave us a form, banning us and let us go. To be honest, I was glad to get out and didn't care if I was banned for life.

we were also refunded the amount we had paid but even then i still offered to pay bcus i really didnt wanna have to go shopping again that day , (which i did to tesco and spent £80) then when they refunded the money they gave us £4 to much as we had used a coupon so this proves there tils can not be accurate

but on the 21st (the letter was dated the 19th 3 days after the incident) we both get a letter from DWF stating:

Dear Sirs (seriously? as my partner is a women)

Our Client: Sainsburys Supermarkets

Balance Due: £150

This sum is broken down as follows:

Value of goods stolen £0.00

Value of goods damaged £0.00

Value of cash stolen £0.00

Security costs £150.00

my first question is why have me and my partner got a letter each when the guards and police dealt with it as a joint offence

and secondly is this scare tactics? will there be more letters with threats of civil actions?

Please Advise guys! Many Thanks

my first question is why have me and my partner got a letter each when the guards and police dealt with it as a joint offence

Because DWF's activities have nothing whatever to do with the criminal justice system. The matter was dealt with by the police, and is ended. DWF's only reason for writing is to try to get money from you.

and secondly is this scare tactics? will there be more letters with threats of civil actions?

Yes, it's scare tactics, because just about the only thing DWF can do is send letters. Now, its important to be aware that there is, in any case like this, a very, very small chance of a court case, but looking at your story and DWF's letter this is extremely unlikely.

If you do some research around the forums you will see that all civil recovery cases purport to be claims for damages, or losses, suffered by the retailer. However, as the Judge in A Retailer vs Ms B & Ms K made very clear, a retailer cannot claim for costs that would have been incurred anyway - such as the costs of security personnel doing their jobs. DWF's letter shows that their claim is not a claim at all, simply a speculative invoice that seeks to mislead you into thinking that you owe their client money.

There are two schools of thought on what to do next.

One is to ignore them completely, and they will eventually go away.

The other, which I favour, is to send a simple letter denying liability:

Dear Sirs

 

I refer to your letter dated xxxxxx. Any liability to your client is denied. No further correspondence will be entered into.

 

Yours etc.

What this does is tell them that you do not think that their claim has any merit. In the very unlikely event that a court case ensues, you can demonstrate that you made your position clear at the outset.

Whichever route you choose to go down, they will almost certainly send more letters, but our experience is that they ultimately realise that you aren't going to pay money you do not owe, and they stop.

sorry for the late reply, i originally replied on my phone obviously it didn't go through

thank you for your advice i will send them your template letter, I will make sure i send 2, 1 for me and 1 for my partner and let you know the out come. i am assuming it will be more letters with more threats

is there any point trying to argue the banning order from there stores?

Thanks again

is there any point trying to argue the banning order from there stores?

You can try, by writing to their Head Office.

If their Head Office confirm you are prohibited from entering their property there is little you can do, as it is their property and they can ("rightly or wrongly") admit or exclude who they choose.

("Rightly or wrongly" in so far as even IF they made a decision I felt was unfair, the law says it is their decision to make).

thats what i thought,, thanks for the info

Not much point arguing the ban - as Bazza says they can ban anyone they like. More to the point, why would you want to give your custom to a retailer that has treated you this way?

Cant offer much but I have personally gone against DWF in court (twice), both times they made mistakes and I won! They were also in my university doing a talk about 'being a solicitor', all they had to say was "money...money...money". Don't be intimidated by these fools into paying, one of their solicitors actually said to us "I would sell my grandmother if it brought in the firm some money..." speaks for itself!!!

Not much point arguing the ban - as Bazza says they can ban anyone they like. More to the point, why would you want to give your custom to a retailer that has treated you this way?

I know i wouldnt really its just going back in there to prove a point to the guards i guess, but i do miss the convenience of getting petrol lol

Cant offer much but I have personally gone against DWF in court (twice), both times they made mistakes and I won! They were also in my university doing a talk about 'being a solicitor', all they had to say was "money...money...money". Don't be intimidated by these fools into paying, one of their solicitors actually said to us "I would sell my grandmother if it brought in the firm some money..." speaks for itself!!!

thx for your reply

was that a civil recovery court procedure?

thx for your reply

was that a civil recovery court procedure?

Nah, employment tribunal!

Despite their claims, they won't take you to court for civil recovery. Sainsburys wouldn't want to see a court case booted out of court like the last retailer to try it.

Hi All,

just to give you an update i replied to DWF with the letter template given above, but i have since received a letter dated the 19th of November stating they had not received anything, and again today (5th) this letter was dated the 3rd it also stated they had not received any correspondences from myself,

so do i resend the letter but this time track it?

each letter they send they give me another 7days to pay.......

Any advice?> thanks

Send it recorded, then use further letters as emergency bog roll!!

I'd ignore it. Theyre playing silly beggars now.

thx for the advice people