When will the RLP letters end?

[twistedupfrown]

A few weeks ago I had a moment of madness and thought I could get away with shoplifting a £6 nail polish from Boots. I didn't even make it out of the store before a man in casual clothing calmly told me to follow him to the back room. From there I returned the product (in a sellable condition) and gave him my name and address. No picture, bank details, phone number etc was taken. Police were not involved either. I was told that I was banned from that particular store for a year and that I should be expecting a letter from RLP soon. I left the store and that was that.

 

I received my first letter a week ago and from reading around this particular topic, I know not to be stupid enough to give RLP any money. However, I am curious to know when RLP eventually give up and stop sending letters. As I'm currently at uni (I'm 19) the letters are being sent to my mum's house and I won't be travelling back home soon for a few months anyway.

 

Any help is appreicated!

[Sidewinder]

There is no strict limit to the number of letters that RLP will send - reading the other threads on here will give you an idea of what to expect. They will though become increasingly desperate in nature and will make many threats about taking Court action, adding costs to the amount owing as a result and then it will be passed to whichever debt collector is for hire this month to write a further two or three letters. The last of these will recommend that their client (RLP) prepares the case for court action. Don't get involved in any response to the letters though - or your mum if she happens to open any of them, and the matter will finally be passed back to Boots to instigate a court claim. Only Boots can issue a claim however and they most certainly won't do that - in fact they will have forgotten the matter altogether as soon as you left the store at the time of the incident.

 

That isn't a green light to shoplift in future though, as you may find that the Police get involved next time and things will get a whole lot more uncomfortable. Just learn from this event and move on

[twistedupfrown]

Thank you so much for your response, it has put my mind at ease. Just another quick question - because I did not have my picture taken by the security guard, will they use a still CCTV footage of my face to log that I am banned? When I was in the back room with the man, he showed me a book full of banned peoples' faces (very briefly) that looked to have been taken on a professional camera, not from CCTV.

 

I have most definitely learnt from my mistake and will not shoplift again.

[silverfox1961]

Hi and welcome to CAG. Sidewinder has started you off on the long and winding rogue that is RLP.

 

A more apt answer to your question is 'How long is a piece of string?'

 

I have seen a thread or two where RLP and their pet debt collector have gone silent for a year or more only to be contacted yet again.

 

Now that Boots have passed this matter on to RLP, their entire interest in the matter has finished. They don't actually care what RLP get up to and while two wrongs never make a right, Boots shouldn't be encouraging RLP to chase people with these dubious charges.

 

While shoplifting is wrong, we on CAG believe that the correct way to deal with this is for the Police to get involved in all cases however, the police abdicate their duty on manpower grounds but when they do get involved, this usually concludes with a warning or a fixed penalty. That is usually enough for the first timers.

 

RLP on the other hand will say that they are pursuing a civil matter and that what they are doing is legal. This is true. Civil action is a remedy used by a store to put them back in the same position had the shoplifter not stolen something so in your case all they could ever claim is the £6 plus a small admin fee, nothing like what they do which is wht no court action has taken place since 2012 when a retailer and RLP got a severe spanking.

 

Sorry for the rant.

[twistedupfrown]

Thank you for putting my mind at ease.

 

I have scrolled through a few other threads and have seen some users recommending that you should send RLP a letter stating that you deny any liability to RLP or any company they represent. Should I do this?

[Sidewinder]

No

 

Doing this will only start them off with a game of letter tennis. They tegularly read these boards anyway and match up cases and then write to tell you not to listen to our bad advice. Why encourage them further?

 

Simple thing to remember - how many people on the threads that have gone before have returned to say that they received a court claim? Not one unless you go far enough back to see a thread started by a member of RLP staff who was planting seeds of fear and pretending to be a victim of RLP who was being taken to court. Laughable and speaks volumes for the type of organisation you are dealing with!

[silverfox1961]

Thank you for putting my mind at ease.

 

I have scrolled through a few other threads and have seen some users recommending that you should send RLP a letter stating that you deny any liability to RLP or any company they represent. Should I do this?

 

This is something I advised people to do in certain circumstances such as when they lived at home and didn't want their parents to know or when they had other good reason to write. The majority of the cases were to ignore them. Neither way stopped the letters.

[ericsbrother]

when we say ignore, that is what we mean. If this advice was wrong everyone one who came for help would have been sued by now but no-one has and the reason is that Jackie doesnt have a cause for action and she knows it. telling people that she knows they are getting advice on advice forums an they are doomed if they take that advice is just another attempt at twisting the guilt trip knife a bit harder. Essentailly that is the only weapon she has, your conscience. Use that conscience properly and be a good citizen.