I must be a shoplifter.

The BBQ Pit
1

I’ve been shopping at Burlington Coat Factory for years. I have never been a fan of their no cash refund policy, but they have a good selection and good pricing, so I usually go there a few times a year. Never again.

I bought my son four pair of pants from Burlington Coat Factory two weeks or so ago, but since then, he’s told me he’s gone up a size in the pants department. “No biggie,” thought I. “I’ll just take them in and exchange them for the right size. Not a problem.”

Wrong!

Today, I went in to exchange them, but realized I didn’t have the receipt. I was a bit worried about that, but then I saw the return policy sign, which read **No Cash Refunds or Charge Card Credits. In Store Credit on Returns Only. A Driver’s License is Required for Returns Without Receipt. **

Breathing a sigh of relief, I handed the items I wished to exchange to the sales clerk and merrily went searching for the same items in a larger size. Once those were located, I made my way back to the register, with a few more items I’d picked up to purchase, and presented them to the clerk. She took my license as per their stated policy and cheerfully began ringing the wrong sized pants up when the store manager came up and asked her if I had a receipt for the items. She replied that I didn’t, but they all had their original tags on, I was exchanging them for identical items in a larger size, and that she had taken my drivers license information down. He then told her (loudly enough that I and the other shoppers in line behind me couldn’t help but overhear) that no, I wasn’t going to be allowed to exchange them because I’d probably shop-lifted them. He then informed me that he would be retaining ALL of the items until I produced a receipt. When I told him I had no idea where the receipt might be (I’m in the midst of moving and things are a bit unorganized and in all likelihood I threw it out.) and was not leaving without the items I came in with, at the very least, he told me to leave the store or he’d call the police. I again told him I wasn’t leaving without the items I came in with, and then he kind of sneered at me and said "Alright, now I’m going to get Manager 2 to come out and we’ll just see what she thinks of this situation. "

So, I stand there for 10 minutes or so, not sure quite what’s going on. The cashier, who’s remained polite through the whole ordeal, and I exchange sympathetic glances, and the other customers who had been behind me move to other lines and glare at me as if I’ve just killed Santa, Mrs. Claus, AND all the reindeer. Eventually, Managers 1 & 2 both come up to me. Manager 2 asks if I have the receipt, I start to reply that I don’t, but am interrupted by Manager 1 answering for me. Manager 2 asks me when and where I purchased the items. I inform her that I purchased them there, at that exact register 2 weeks previously. She asks me if I’m aware that I can be prosecuted for shoplifting if they find out that I stole the pants. At this point, I’m seething so much that I can barely speak. In my head, I’ve all of these questions, “Why post your policy about returns without receipts requiring a driver’s license if you’re not going to allow them? What on earth gives you the right to hold my items that I brought into your store? Why are you treating my like a criminal when all I wanted to do was simply exchange a few pair of pants for the correct size?” but I can’t force the words out. I simply nod numbly in response to her question. She then smiles at me, pats me condescendingly on the arm, and tells the cashier to go ahead and exchange the pants.

Needless to say, I left the extra items I’d attended to purchase there, and will never again go into one of their stores, but I’m so furious. I don’t think that I look disreputable, though of course there is no stereotypical shoplifter look. I’ve never in all my life been made to feel so very dirty, and I didn’t do anything wrong. Anyway, just had to vent a bit.

2

Oh. My. Gosh. That is awful. I’ve never bestirred myself to shop there, and you can sure betcha, I’ll be hesitant to do so now. (Do you think perhaps it was just one rogue manager that was behaving like an asshole? It’s hard to believe that this is store policy everywhere.)

Either way, I fully understand you never wanting to step in that store again. No matter whether it’s one lone manager who is off the beam, or the entire chain of stores, who needs that?

3

Whoa, I tell you what, you’d have read about my non-violent, but full-scale reaction on the news if that had happened to me. I can completely understand a reasonable no-receipt return policy, but to flatout accuse you of shoplifting? Man, they’d have drug me out of that store. (Seriously, my blood pressure was going up just reading your post!)

4

You need to write this up in business format, including the time, date, names of th managers and then try to find your receipt if you can. Then, if you can find your receipt, take a copy and send it to their headquarters with the letter of complaint.

That sort of treatment is absoLUTELY ridiculous. Even if a manager DID suspect a person might be up to no good, the appropriate way to handle it is NOT to smugly accost them in public showing off all your little mini empire of power, but to quietly pull them aside, allowing them to retain their dignity and save face.

IANAL, but their treatment sounds as if it seriously borders on libel and defamation of character to me.

Why would they single you out do you think? Were you in single mom mode (sweats, hair back in a ponytail etc?). Grrrrr.

Do at LEATS send a letter of complaint to their headquarters, they can probably be found online. Best of luck

5

I got burned by Burlington Coat Factory’s moronic return policy five years ago. They turn “customer-hostile” from a bizarre notion into actual practice.

I will never step foot in their stores again.

6

Good point, you might want to consider either actually contacting local media, or threatening (formal businesslike) to do so in your letter. Man, that is just …

Good grief.

7

The manager behavior described could very well violate official corporate policy, as it is so stupid, fruitless and potentially hazardous (both in a physical and legal sense).
The time to stop shoplifters is when they are in the act. The only possible excuse for that manager to act as he did is if a known shoplifter was trying a return (i.e. someone recognized from a prior act or from one of the photo circulars police departments or stores pass around). Even then, he should try to do all this in private.

By all means take a complaint to corporate HQ. Especially with copies of the receipts to show, you could wind up with a very nice shopping spree on the house.

Which you would deserve.

8

Wow.

I’ve been looking for a nice winter coat, and asking random strangers where they got their coats if I like them. The response has been Burlington Coat Factory most of the time.

However, this really makes me wonder. I may very well go elsewhere for my coat, given I can’t ever keep track of receipts myself. I’d hate to be unable to return something without a receipt, but that’s life sometimes. To be accused of stealing on top of that? No.

Please keep us updated if you do take this further. I, for one, would love to know how this turns out.

9

I bet they could look at the security tapes and see you coming in with the merchandise (assuming you brought it in an identifiable bag or box.)

My husband works in retail, and they have to do this occasionally. It usually happens when they’re trying to research some possible shoplifting after the fact.

But it’s worth keeping in mind. I bet they have tapes.

10

As another poster said, my blood pressure was going up just reading your post. How dare they treat you like that? I would stronly urge you to report this incident to their headquarters, receipt or not.

11

What a load of crap! I cannot BELIEVE they treated you like that! :mad:
And to have not only one, but two of their managers behave so badly?

HELL yeah I would complain to corporate if I were you. I worked/managed retail for many years, and I would say that that whole thing was way, way out of line.

For shit sake…most stores will even take back merchandise that is clearly not theirs (Bath and Body Works took back a bottle of Oil of Olay once (!). Obviously not an item we sold…but the lady swore she bought it at B&B. We just snuck into the back room, called a drugstore, and asked how much they charged for it. Then we took it back).

A simple exchange for merchandise they obviously carry should NOT have been an issue. Sorry to hear you were treated so horribly, Amberlei. Hope you rake them over the coals for it! And please, let us know what happens if you do.

12

This is the type of stuff that a local journalist would love. Especially if you can find one who also hates the company.

13

I agree with what others have said. Contact corporate headquarters with a description of what happened, especially the part where you were accused of being a shoplifter in front of other customers. I would consider that highly insulting. I have a very simple rule. I do not do business with people who insult me. I got far too much of that when I was younger.

Good luck!
CJ

14

My condolences Amberlei. Apparently they’ve grown so far from their humble roots on route 130 that the importance of the customer was lost.

My personal take on the situation would have been to call the police on my own. Darn near every retailer has CCTV recording entries and exits, and it would therefore be easy to establish that you’d carried in the goods which Butthole 1 alleged you to have pilfered.

Armed with an incident report from the PD, I’d ensure that Butthole 1 enjoyed a promotion to junior assistant mopper of the privy, along with a corporate apology and a big fat honkin gift certificate for your public humiliation.

15

It seems to me that neither manager actually thought you were a shoplifter. They were just trying to get you to leave without exchanging the pants. One was even trying to get you to leave the pants you brought back. They tried intimidation. Then, they tried to make you angry enough that you would either leave the store and never return, or do something that would give them legitimate grounds to eject you.

Still a massively stupid thing for them to do.

16

Go HERE .

Type in the relevent information. Ask specifically for a reply. Imply (but do not state) that you are considering legal action, for false claims & public humiliation. But polite but very firm. Use the word “insist”, and the phrase “other action may be required”.

I suspect you will hear from them quickly.

17

Strong second to Bosda’s suggestion. This story absolutely begs for a hidden camera “Consumer Alert” type story by the local TV news. It’s just so much fun to watch some self-important jerk go all “deer-in-the-headlights” in front of a TV camera.

18

Sorry, I thought you said shirtlifter. Carry on.

19

The first and third sentences of your post don’t make any sense if you put them together.

I don’t see how they could have thought they were justified in getting her to leave the smaller pants if they didn’t think she’d stolen them. If she wasn’t a shoplifter, then she must have paid for them, right? Therefore they are her property. I worked in a jeans store, and let me tell you, nothing is more basic than the fact that if someone has bought something, it is theirs. My own store had a pretty tight, bitchy return policy that even I didn’t like very much. We often had to refuse returns because the items had been worn and/or washed. But we never tried to retain merchandise that a person was trying to return, without giving them something for it in exchange, like a store credit.

The manager probably insisted on her leaving the smaller pants because he believed that she had walked into the store without any merchandise, taken the pants off the rack and was trying to “exchange” them in order to get the larger pants for free. It’s a common scam that’s fairly easy to pull off, and is the reason why stores require receipts for returns and exchanges, especially if they don’t have a system that tracks their inventory in “real-time”. Actually, in this case, the fact that the pants were in pristine condition with the tags still on might have worked against Amberlei, because that’s a “red flag” that the merchandise may have just been pulled off the shelf.

20

You said you handed the pants to the cashier when you walked in, right? Why wouldn’t the cashier stick up for you - something along the lines of, “she came right to the counter, handed me the pants, and told me she needed to exchange them…”

Or did they actually think you stole the pants, then brought them back to the store to exchange them for the same pants?? What is wrong with these people? Christmas Eve crazies…

Um, yeah, I’d be writing a letter!