I am embarrassed to say I got caught eating a product at tescos I did not pay for today, which I completely forgot about,

long story short,

the police didn't get involved

they took the RLP route

said a letter will come through soon.

I know most members advise against paying these [problem]mers

but I feel far too embarrassed and would rather just get it over with.

My question is,

how will the record they keep affect my future employment with Tesco themselves?

Since I am a pharmacist and Tesco is a very big chain,

would paying the RLP effectively prove that I'm guilty?

Thanks in advance to anyone that can help

forget about it totally.

yes it might well make them raise their eyebrows IF its ever recorded on their systems

only p'haps sidewinder might have an insight.

however YOU DO NOT PAY RLP ANYTHING IT WILL NOT EXPULGE YOUR DETAILS FROM TESCO.

interesting you say RLP

Tesco now use DWF...

Is there anyway to obtain this information and if so, how long they will keep these information?

I will alert your thread to whom might give you an insight.

I will alert your thread to whom might give you an insight.

Thank you so much

Hi and welcome to CAG

As far as I am aware, the security team within Tesco keep the names and addresses of shoplifters for future reference just in case the same person does it again so you may have to explain yourself to Tesco. As I see it, this was an oversight rather than a deliberate attempt to steal and as such, if Tesco ask you about it, be up front and see what happens. No point trying to lie your way out of this.

Once the details are passed on to either RLP or DWF ( it may be that there is a transitional period where DWF take on the cases fully from RLP) Tesco have no further involvement and as such, they won't know whether you paid or not. The charges made by either firm can be up to £150 and with RLP, even more. These charges do not represent any cost to the store.

Did you pay for what you ate? If not, go back and pay for it. If you did pay, there is absolutely no loss to Tesco. You have to remember that security staff don't get all the training they need to ascertain the difference between deliberate theft and an oversight. They see all losses as theft and deal with them the same way. No grey areas!

Nobody can say for sure what will happen with Tesco and your pharmacy role as that would be an internal matter to which we are not privy to. All we can say for sure is that the charge levied has no basis in law and as such should be ignored.

In general, I suggest not paying RLP.

I don't know if RLP feed back to Tesco if someone refuses to pay the speculative invoice from RLP.

If (and only if!) you work for Tesco or plan to do so in the near future then only you can decide how worried you are that not paying RLP might have an effect.

It may be that Tesco keep a record of these events anyway, and paying RLP makes no difference.

It may be that not paying RLP doesn't give Tesco any new information.

So it is only if not paying RLP changes the information a Tesco hold on you that you should even consider paying!

If you did decide to pay RLP: I'd make it clear that you are doing so only to conclude the civil matter, and make it clear there is no admission of wrongdoing.

I recently walked out of a supermarket not having paid for an item... I'd used self-scan, and missed a small aerosol (silver body, tucked in the corner of the trolley!). The rest of my shopping I'd paid for and loaded into carrier bags.

There is a "travellator" down to the car park. With the trolley inclining, the aerosol fell forward : so I noticed it wasn't packed in a carrier / paid for : Oops!.

I must have been an odd sight (holding it in the air with one hand as I went down the travellator and back up again to go to pay for it - to make sure it was obvious I wasn't trying to conceal it).

The security guy sat by the exit was complete nonplussed : mistakes happen!. For it to be shoplifting / theft, there has to be dishonest intent.

I suspect this (& the low value of the item!) is why the police weren't called for the circumstances you describe.

Hi and welcome to CAG

 

As far as I am aware, the security team within Tesco keep the names and addresses of shoplifters for future reference just in case the same person does it again so you may have to explain yourself to Tesco. As I see it, this was an oversight rather than a deliberate attempt to steal and as such, if Tesco ask you about it, be up front and see what happens. No point trying to lie your way out of this.

 

Once the details are passed on to either RLP or DWF ( it may be that there is a transitional period where DWF take on the cases fully from RLP) Tesco have no further involvement and as such, they won't know whether you paid or not. The charges made by either firm can be up to £150 and with RLP, even more. These charges do not represent any cost to the store.

 

Did you pay for what you ate? If not, go back and pay for it. If you did pay, there is absolutely no loss to Tesco. You have to remember that security staff don't get all the training they need to ascertain the difference between deliberate theft and an oversight. They see all losses as theft and deal with them the same way. No grey areas!

 

Nobody can say for sure what will happen with Tesco and your pharmacy role as that would be an internal matter to which we are not privy to. All we can say for sure is that the charge levied has no basis in law and as such should be ignored.

I tried asking to pay for it, however the security man refused and said that it was too late. He said the invoice for the food will be included in the DWF. I was just wondering if I can find out any useful information (such as what they hold on me and how long they plan on holding this information), for example through the freedom of information act? I feel that in my case I didn't have the chance to adequately defend myself as I felt far too embarrassed and shocked at the time.

I just feel that it's unfair to have my career hindered over a silly matter whereby I couldn't explain or defend myself properly and to be labeled as a 'shoplifter'. As you can imagine in my line of work something like that paints a very bad image of me and show me to be untrustworthy.

In general, I suggest not paying RLP.

 

I don't know if RLP feed back to Tesco if someone refuses to pay the speculative invoice from RLP.

If (and only if!) you work for Tesco or plan to do so in the near future then only you can decide how worried you are that not paying RLP might have an effect.

 

It may be that Tesco keep a record of these events anyway, and paying RLP makes no difference.

It may be that not paying RLP doesn't give Tesco any new information.

So it is only if not paying RLP changes the information a Tesco hold on you that you should even consider paying!

 

If you did decide to pay RLP: I'd make it clear that you are doing so only to conclude the civil matter, and make it clear there is no admission of wrongdoing.

 

I recently walked out of a supermarket not having paid for an item... I'd used self-scan, and missed a small aerosol (silver body, tucked in the corner of the trolley!). The rest of my shopping I'd paid for and loaded into carrier bags.

There is a "travellator" down to the car park. With the trolley inclining, the aerosol fell forward : so I noticed it wasn't packed in a carrier / paid for : Oops!.

I must have been an odd sight (holding it in the air with one hand as I went down the travellator and back up again to go to pay for it - to make sure it was obvious I wasn't trying to conceal it).

 

The security guy sat by the exit was complete nonplussed : mistakes happen!. For it to be shoplifting / theft, there has to be dishonest intent.

I suspect this (& the low value of the item!) is why the police weren't called for the circumstances you describe.

Thank you for your advice, I was just wondering if I do choose to ignore them, how long can I expect for them to be sending me letter to request the funds? Because I don't want to be spammed by them for years and years.

about 3 letters over 6mts

If it was RLP chasing, they tend to send quite a few template letters and then pass it on to a debt collector to chase and debt collectors have even less power that RLP.

With DWF, yes they don't spend that much time on chasing. They let things die as they know they would be on a loser continuing to chase.

With RLP, I have seen cases where they begin chasing again after a couple of years in the vain hope they will get payment this time.

Only just seen this. It isn't clear from your OP whether you actually work for Tesco at present or whether you hope to work for them in the future? If you currently work for them did this happen in your own store or elsewhere - and did the guard know that you work for Tesco?

If you currently work for them, then this could be difficult especially if the store is where you work, or close to your own store

If you don't work for them at present then this will have little consequence - and the longer until you do apply for work with them the better. As a current employee this would be a clear breach of trust (even if there was no criminal intent), but if you were applying for work in future, there would almost certainly be no record that would be checked that would uncover this incident - although you 'might' be unlucky and come across either the same guard or any attending manager at any store in the area who 'might' possibly recognise you and start to ask questions!

I did pm you...

dx

I did pm you...

 

 

dx

Sorry I don't have anything in my inbox?

no you sw

I did pm you...

 

 

dx

You did indeed - and that is why I came here!