AIBU to think this is an unfair lost and found policy

[Midlifemusings]

I went to a lasertag play place with the kids a few days ago. I had worn a very lightweight camping jacket that I have. I have had it for a decade and I love it as it is very compact and lightweight but very warm. I hung it up on the available coatracks The place was really warm and the kids hadn't worn jackets and when we left, I walked out without it.

I have looked for it over the last couple days, thinking I must have left in the car or another room and then today it dawned on me where it was. I drove back over and found out that they do not keep a lost and found and that they thorw out (in the garbage) anything left in the lockers or coat/shoe area at the end of each day! The worker seemed a bit embarrased themselves to tell me this was the policy but it was on orders of the owner. There is a small sign up that he pointed to saying not responsible for any lost items.

First, I think it is unreasonable to not keep things for a reasonable length of time so people can come back and claim items. Secondly, at least donate them rather than sending them to the dumpster.

I am really upset I lost my favorite jacket and they don't make it anymore. Not the biggest problem in the world but it was so cozy and warm and just perfect.

That’s awful! And as you say, really wasteful. I would complain in writing and also on tripadvisor - might make them reconsider the policy?

At the end of each day? So if you forget something its in the bin by the time you get there to collect it the next day? Surely that can't be right

I suspect they have a duty of care to keep for a reasonable period of time under some sort of bailee law, so you probably have a claim. I doubt a “no responsibility for lost items” sign would permit them to actually throw it away at the end of the day! Not that you are going to sue, but I would definitely write a formal complaint. What a stupid policy!

If that's the actual policy, that's awful.

But I suspect it's been been taken accidentally or stolen and either kept or sold on. Not necessarily by staff or the owner, just a chancer perhaps.

Keep an eye on eBay or local selling sites.

WTF?! That’s stupid and unreasonable!!

YANBU!!!

Like others said.. at the end of each day?????
Literally if you were there at closing time and cam back as soon as they opened it would not have been there?!
I would kick a massive fit.
Yea, kinda my fault for forgetting, but we’re all human and forget things sometimes, especially if there’s DC involved 😅.

I would write a formal complaint and also leave negative reviews informing everyone to not leave anything as it will be thrown away.

Even if they don’t change the policy, some people will be aware of it and more careful.

Sorry for the jacket 😔

@fairylightsandwaxmelts

If that's the actual policy, that's awful.

But I suspect it's been been taken accidentally or stolen and either kept or sold on. Not necessarily by staff or the owner, just a chancer perhaps.

Keep an eye on eBay or local selling sites.

Why do you suspect something completely different has happened when the op has explained the policy as told to her and it was on a sign?

Thanks all - glad it seems as unreasonable to you all as well. The young man's face kind of feel when I said I had left a jacket and then he told me they wouldn't have it as it would have been thrown out. I was a bit incredulous and he told me that the owner goes around and picks up everything at the end of the day and throws it in a bin in the back. The bin gets emptied every couple days in the dumpster. He told me I might have gotten lucky if he hadn't emptied the bin yet...but he went and checked and the bin was empty so he said it had already all been tossed. It didn't seem like a very customer oriented system!

I felt bac for the young man as I am sure no one is very happy with the policy when they come back for their stuff. He took my name and said maybe we will find it lying around! I am not holding my breath. I also wondered if things walk...

I'm so sorry you lost your jacket but the poor staff having to deal with upset people all the time because of the stupid policy!
I would have thought 7 days is reasonable?
And how incredibly wasteful!

They throw everything away? If there had been money or a phone in the pocket, or it had been an expensive jacket would that have been 'thrown away' too? Convenient..

@carefullycourageous - just because a company has a sign up saying "x" - doesn't mean that "x" is what actually happens! Similarly, just because an employee says "we bin it at the end of the day" - doesn't mean that's what actually happens.

I think it's very naive to believe this company just throws valuable clothing and other left-behind items away each day. Why would anyone do that? It's silly.

A sign saying they're not responsible for belongings is normal and doesn't really have anything to do with the fact that they've supposedly just chucked OP's stuff in the bin.

It's far more likely that either the jacket was never there to begin with (ie. it was stolen or picked up by another customer in a rush before the end of the day) or someone internally is taking stuff and using "company policy" to get away with it.

@fairylightsandwaxmelts

I still think you post was

I think you're expecting strangers to look after you, and in an ideal world we all would look after one another.

Lost property is a minefield. So many scenarios. You leave something precious to you. Someone claims it. No way to ID this. Business still gets grief if it isn't you, threats to sue. Or, you leave something precious to you, but it's end of season so you don't realise it for a while and the business's policy is to keep things only for a specific amount of time and you have fallen outside it. You complain, business gets grief.

It's a laser tag business. Not a keeper of forgotten precious items business.

[quote carefullycourageous]@fairylightsandwaxmelts

I still think you post was [/quote]
Fair enough!

But do you honestly think this company is genuinely throwing away everything left behind at the end of the day? Including any money, wallets, mobile phones, expensive coats or jumpers that get dropped or left there?

I very much doubt it!

Try eBay for a replacement.

I agree with a PP who said the policy doesn't necessarily mean it's their practice. Imagine coming across a new iPhone 13 pro max? You're just gonna chuck it in the skip and think no more of it? Of course you aren't. Reminds me of a young man who 'lost' his Moncler jacket after a night out. Most jackets were still in the cloakroom apart from that one. Curious really.

@fairylightsandwaxmelts

If that's the actual policy, that's awful.

But I suspect it's been been taken accidentally or stolen and either kept or sold on. Not necessarily by staff or the owner, just a chancer perhaps.

Keep an eye on eBay or local selling sites.

Why do so many people on here seem to think that people who provide customer service/work in charity shops/cleaners are so keen to steal their old junk? This is a decade old jacket.

I agree with pp, slag them off on TripAdvisor.

Check ebay - the manage probably sells stuff he finds. I know a woman who does soft play and makes a lot selling found items. She is an absolute menace and I can't believe no one has contacted the police yet.

That's shit.

I lost a brand new shoe once to the gap between the train and platform (the doors shut behind me to me stood there in one shoe).

They kept it for a week, and that was after fishing it off the train line for me.

@ClariceQuiff

Try eBay for a replacement.

Try eBay for the actual jacket!

I think this is an awful policy. They should keep items for 24hrs at least because otherwise you could take the kids at 3pm then go out for dinner and get home after the place has closed, only to realise the kids left their coats behind and when you go first thing in the morning when they open at 9am and it has already been binned.

I understand having a limit on how long things are kept as I work in a supermarket and we get loads of stuff handed in every day so there's no way we could keep it all indefinitely but we do have a reasonable timescale. This is also why we have a book to record any lost property that is handed in - it lets us know when things are handed to us so we can see when it is due to be disposed of but also meant we can ask people to sign to collect their items so we know what has been collected.

Any lost property is supposed to be kept for 14days at the customer service desk unless it is high value (eg jewellery, bank cards, phones etc) or has customers personal information (eg driving licences, personal letters, payslips, prescriptions etc) in which case it is kept at the desk until the end of the day and then goes to the case office to be kept in a locked safe until someone comes to claim it and if they don't then after (iirc) 30 days bank cards get destroyed and papers get shredded in our confidential waste. For things like phones and jewellery it is rare that they aren't claimed before the 30days but if they aren't then we send them once a month to head office and they have a system for disposing of them properly.

Even when stuff isn't claimed we try not to just bin things - eg clothing gets put in the clothing bank box in our car park if it is in a reasonable condition and things like glasses are given to our optician to recycle through their glasses return scheme.

Would so many people really go to the trouble of stealing and selling on ebay a 10 year old jacket? The Moncler jacket or iPhone13 examples above are one thing, but isn't it very much more likely that in this instance someone has just taken it in error, or it's been binned as the OP was told? The jacket was valuable to the OP, but I doubt it would have been to anyone else, to the point of stealing it deliberately.

Why do so many people on here seem to think that people who provide customer service/work in charity shops/cleaners are so keen to steal their old junk? This is a decade old jacket.

@slashlover I worked in customer service for well over a decade - it's certainly not a case of slagging them off.

But let's be real - OP's jacket might be a decade old, but people leave all sorts of things behind - new jackets, nice jumpers, phones, money, wallets - why on earth would any decent company throw all of that stuff in the bin at the end of the day?

Customers left all sorts of things behind when I worked in retail - we tried to get in touch with the customer or kept it (for weeks if necessary) until the customer returned. We even posted stuff back when people had returned home after holidays.

So, being frank - they're either a shitty company with awful customer service (very possible) and/or someone is taking advantage of the policy and is keeping stuff for themselves or selling it online/to their mates.

@pasturesgreen

Would so many people really go to the trouble of stealing and selling on ebay a 10 year old jacket? The Moncler jacket or iPhone13 examples above are one thing, but isn't it very much more likely that in this instance someone has just taken it in error, or it's been binned as the OP was told? The jacket was valuable to the OP, but I doubt it would have been to anyone else, to the point of stealing it deliberately.

In one word - yes.

If you're flat broke/desperate/just a cheeky bugger and the policy is to throw stuff in the bin and you know you can sell the jacket on eBay/marketplace for £10...

It might "just" be £10 but think about how much stuff people leave behind and how quickly those £10 will add up.

@pasturesgreen

Would so many people really go to the trouble of stealing and selling on ebay a 10 year old jacket? The Moncler jacket or iPhone13 examples above are one thing, but isn't it very much more likely that in this instance someone has just taken it in error, or it's been binned as the OP was told? The jacket was valuable to the OP, but I doubt it would have been to anyone else, to the point of stealing it deliberately.

Apparently so, I work in a charity shop and we get accused of thieving fairly regularly on here.