Primark Shoplift and Involvement With RLP

[ash_]

I am extremely ashamed of my actions but on 23rd August 2014 I was caught stealing from Primark (Goods worth around £59). I am 21 years of age. I have never stolen anything and have never been in any trouble with the law.

 

Yesterday I received a letter from RLP and they have asked for ‘A fixed contrition to all the losses is therefore sought in the sum of £130’. The £130 will apparently settle the claim and I have 21 days to pay.

 

I think it is worth explaining the details of the incident:

Once I walked out with the goods, a security guard stopped me and asked me to walk with him to the detention rooms downstairs. On arrival another man asked me if I had stolen the items and out of fear and regret; I told the truth about everything. Things got progressively worse. The man asked me about my ethnic background and I told him and he called a third security man into the room saying he was from the same country as me and said ‘Here’s one of your cousins’ to the man. Later another comment ‘Teach your wife a lesson’. This security man was then sent to calculate the cost of the goods. As I had other shopping with me (Matalan and Poundshop) the receipt of these goods were also looked at which was all fine. My Matalan shopping included baby clothes and Poundland shopping had baby wipes which were for my niece who was staying over at my house and the security man said to me ‘your child would be ashamed’. The security guard also had me empty the contents of my handbag which included a novel I was reading and another sarcastic remark was made ‘so beauty and brains, but you still want to steal’. A female security member (of European background) was also present who was taking my details from my provisional license and she made a comment ‘If this happened to me in your country, my hands would have been chopped off’ I am not even from the middle east so making such a remark was uncalled for.

 

On my arrival at the detention room, there was already a girl there who only had one security member in the room with her. My point is that at one time there were probably at least 4-5 security members in the room. My letter from RLP states that I am covering the losses of Primark’s business and their security loss. Security clearly had no reason to have that many people in a small room and all they were doing is bullying, patronising, intimidating and making racial remarks at me!

 

My questions are:

 

Should I be paying RLP the outstand settlement of £130? (I have read many threads saying to not pay RLP a penny but I am very confused as my number one priority is to get them off my back and never have to deal with this again).

 

If I do pay the £130, will RLP be seeking more money from me? (the letter is titles ‘Letter before claim’ so I am wondering if this will follow with another letter asking for more money).

 

If I don’t pay, will debt collectors harass me?

 

Will my credit history or rating be affected?

 

Could I be summoned to court or go to jail?

 

Do you think a visit to Citizens Advice would help?

 

I am extremely stressed out and feel as though this is affecting my everyday life. Please help with any advice and anything I can do moving forward. The experience has left me humiliated and distressed.

 

I would be happy to send a photo of the letter I was sent from RLP to make clearer the settlement issue. I feel like I do not fully understand it.

 

Thanks.

[silverfox1961]

Hi and welcome to CAG.

 

I will assume this is lesson learned so no need to dwell on that angle so let us get straight to the other issues.

 

IF there was any video and audio recorded in the security room then you could try and get it as this sort of behaviour (while not unusual) is unacceptable.

 

 

Please read as many threads as possible to understand why you should not pay RLP.

 

I will add more detail shortly

[silverfox1961]

Right, the only people to get involved with you were security and no other staff were involved. As such, any costs claimed are wrong as the staff get paid anyway whether or not they apprehend anyone. The are business costs, not losses and as such cannot be claimed for. Letter writing. They don't have to write to you!

 

The things you should know. This won't go away any time soon. It could be up to a year of begging letters although from next month you may see a tone of the letters as if they send you anything that can be classed as misleading or aggressive have been outlawed.

 

Yes, debt collectors will harass you but they have as much power as me to do anything to you. i.e NONE. Your credit file will not be affected by this matter. Neither will there be any summons or jail time. The police did not get involved at the time so the chance has gone for the store to do anything now.

 

If you choose to post up a picture of the letter, please make sure that all identifying data is removed. This includes names, addresses, reference numbers and any barcode or QR code.

 

If you can stick this out to the end then all will stop.

 

3 more things to remember.

1 RLP cannot take you to court

2 The debt collector cannot take you to court

3 Primark 'could' take you to court but the don't

 

I am yet to find any cases where Primark have taken legal action against anyone

[ash_]

Thank you for a speedy reply. Of course this is a lesson learned and never will I do this or put myself through this again.

 

There was definitely a CCTV camera in the room but I am not sure about audio and am unsure about how I can get hold of this.

 

As for police involvement… the goods that I walked out with were over the value of £50 and as per Primark policy, Primark did call the police. However, no police turned up. I am not sure why that is but the security man passed if off as ‘the police are not coming, I’m giving you a second chance’. No other explanation was given and after that I was escorted out of the shop. At the time, another security man did take my details (date of birth, name and address) for the police phone call so now I am worried if I am on some sort of police record if Primark gave my details over the phone?

 

I should also mention that a photo was also taken of me but the man did specify that this was for Primark’s record. Will this be passed onto the police? Primark also took a photocopy of my provisional ID.

 

As for the letters that will be coming from RLP in the future, am I to completely ignore them? Or should I be contacting them back to leave me alone?

 

I am having problems with attaching the image of the letter. How can I do this?

 

Thanks again

[silverfox1961]

As you don't have many posts, the posting of pictures is more complicated (to stop spammers) so there is a way but for now I can't find the relevant post. Bear with me.

 

As for the letters, you could ignore them or you could simply send them a one liner.

 

"Any liability to you or to any company you claim to represent is denied."

 

Just that, nothing more. Personally I don't belive in wasting a stamp on them.

 

You could write to the store asking for the CCTV evidence although they may want to charge you for this and they may refuse you out of hand.

[silverfox1961]

Phew, found it.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?431533-How-to-upload-documents-images-on-cag-immediately-you-do-not-need-10-posts&p=4600395&viewfull=1#post4600395

[ash_]

I have attached the picture of the letter. I would appreciate if you could explain to me if the £130 is the only payment they want or if they are indicating that more payments will follow as they have titled it ‘Letter BEFORE Claim’.

 

Regarding my earlier post… should I worry about the police being given my details over the phone (name, address, DOB)? If Primark can give the police my photo? Will I be on any police record?

[ericsbrother]

RLP have put a number of untruths in their letter to you as to why they are asking for money. They will write to you again and that letter will also contain things that arent true. You can ignore them or you can send the short response outlined above, the choice is yours.

[ash_]

Will the one liner stop any further letters? I cant imagine these people will stop harassing anytime too soon

[SabreSheep]

Prob not.

The only thing that stops them is ignoring them and their DCA

[silverfox1961]

I have seen that letter many times and it is a standard template letter with mailmerge to ad your details. Total cost to them. About 2p (not including postage) This is the reason they are quite happy to send them as they cost so little yet cause so much stress. Whether you send a one liner or not will not stop the letters coming but once you have realised what they actually are, you will see there is no need to be stressed when you get one.

 

I did notice at the top of the letter, "Letter Before Claim" This is both misleading and threatening. RLP cannot take you to court but by placing that at the head of the letter, it gives the reader the impression that they will take you to court. Wrong, wrong, wrong!

 

One day I hope to see someone turn the tables on RLP and sue them for misleading and aggressive practices.

[2Grumpy]

There will be no police involvement unless you go to the police to make a complaint about the security guards' conduct

 

I would be tempted by a letter to RLP something along the lines of :

 

I deny any liability to you or your clients.

 

I presume that you are taking this approach on behalf of your clients to hide the very unpleasant racist remarks that were directed towards me.

 

Should you choose to continue your involvement in this matted then I will presume that you sympathise with the racist statements and will include you in any further action that I might take.