AIBU for refusing to sign a letter of improvement at work? Retail customer service related

[Welshlady60]

Recently at work I was made aware by my manager that a customer had complained about me to HR for my apparent poor customer service towards him.
In a nutshell, the customer had used the self service till, but his payment of around £35 hadn't gone through.
I went outside and asked him to come back into the store, explaining why. He wasn't happy as he was just about to get into his car, and he insisted that he'd paid as he 'heard the machine beeping'.

Once again, I explained that the payment hadn't been taken, and so he came back into the store, angrily tapped his card on the pad and stormed off saying that he 'wasn't trying to steal'.
I hadn't accused him of anything, and was polite at all times.

He's now made a complaint against me, which I wouldn't normally be bothered about. However, I was asked to make a statement to give my version of events, and was told that HR may most likely decide to issue me with a letter of improvement.
I've been at the store for ten years and have never had any issues, but I'm annoyed that a customer's unjustified complaint can result in me being reprimanded for doing my job, especially as I wasn't rude, he was.
Should I refuse to sign it, given that I feel it's an unfair complaint?

As a poster upthread pointed out, in these cases it’s the balance of probabilities, because there is no concrete proof that either you or the customer are telling the truth. And in your case the balance of probabilities has to take into account your ten years of (l’m assuming) unblemished record. That’s why, if you are actually issued with the letter of improvement, you should appeal it - because it will stay on your record and will count against you in any future disciplinary procedure.

You mentioned that your manager said she wasn’t allowed to tell you what the customer said. This is correct. They wanted a completely unbiased statement of fact from you, as to what happened. If you knew what the customer had said, the statement would naturally have concentrated on refuting it, and that muddies the waters. They have that now, so if there is going to be any disciplinary action then they absolutely need to make you aware of all the facts, so that you can defend yourself.

I think reporting the customer for theft is a bit much. He did come back to pay when asked (admittedly with bad grace/rudely)

Slightly different but I was at the till at Next recently and two staff members were arguing about shoplifter 😬. The newer one had apparently watched someone walk out with an armful of clothes without paying and wanted to challenge her. The longstanding one told her not to bother, and it happened all the time. Left me wondering what their actual protocol was, particularly given the area we were in at the time. Both staff members had a point but I wonder who Next would have sided with if it had gone higher.

I think this is the crux of the matter. Perhaps at some point during the proceedings it might be an idea for you to ask your manager if the policy regarding walk outs could be made clearer and proper procedures established for advising the customers that payment has failed. It might, as several posters upthread have pointed out, be possible to set up some kind of system whereby self checkout receipts have to be scanned before leaving the store. In which case the scenario whereby staff members have to follow customers outside becomes less likely, and the customer will be immediately aware if a payment doesn’t go through. If staff are expected to watch the tills, it doesn’t make any sense if they then can’t pursue a customer who hasn’t paid without fear of disciplinary action. Your employer isn’t providing proper protection. Does the store employ security staff ?

Something can actually become a standard practice / custom without instruction. It's highly unlikely that a manager wasn't aware of the practice and it's up to management to put a stop to practices they're aware of but don't want to happen.

Bearing in mind the staff are told to try to ensure payment is made, the inference is there that they should tell people if they haven't paid.

Hopefully the store will now make sure that all workers are trained in whatever practice they want to actually adopt.

I think definitely throw it back at management. Complain about the lack of training and clear instruction on the matter. Emphasise that you feel let down by the lack of training and now the lack of support. That this is affecting you mentally and feel it needs to be taken seriously and ask them what they're going to do to protect their staff.

Get them worried that you might take it further. If you have company provided OH support/counselling ask for a referral as you've been so traumatised. !!!!

This. Inference isn’t enough. There needs to be clear policy and procedures as to what happens. The employer is leaving staff vulnerable if every time they chase up a failed payment they could potentially be accused of misconduct.

I’d be asking for the CCTV. There may be no sound but they will be able to tell from body language that he was belligerent and you were calm.

She can ask MN whatever she wants, don’t police her.

If it's 'nothing' then it shouldn't need to be taken any further. Bullshit.

Honestly feel for you OP, customers who think they are always right are the worst.

I remember one customer releasing a call on me because they were not getting the response they wanted. They phoned back and raised a complaint that I hung up on them and raging about cost and time.

Little did they realise, not only are all calls recorded but our system can also identify which side releases the call. I would love to have been a fly on the wall when they received that information.

No compensation for them and complaint removed.

We have the security of our calls being monitored so if a customer does raise a complaint we are covered. I can't imagine what it would be like in retail if a customer does this, your word against theirs. At the end of the day, he walked out without paying and you saved your company money, they should be praising you, not reprimanding you!

Your store layout sounds exactly the same as ours. We would absolutely be expected to call a customer back to pay if their payment hasnt gone through on the self service tills. In fact, l think my manager would be annoyed if we didn't. I can't believe they're taking a customer complaint this far, we all know how unreasonable they can be and you sound like an experienced and trusted memeber of staff. I'd be very upset that your manager clearly doesn't have your back in this situation. You absolutely should appeal it and ask for clarification on what you have done wrong and they expected you to do. Please let us know how it goes, good luck

OP, also a request of the CCTV which while without audio, your facial expressions and demeanor will be clear, as will his.

It is perfectly reasonable for you to tell HR that you are taking their accusations against you by the company very seriously and you will be seeking advice.

Ask them to spell out EXACTLY what accusations against you were made, the language used etc.

Make it very clear you will not be accepting this.
Ask for their Grievance policy, which they should be able to provide to you.

Also you can mention that the manager s insisting that you sign a letter while refusing to tell you what you are accused of feels extremely COERCIVE to you and you are deeply umhappy at this feeling of being manipulated.

You have the grounds for a Grievance.
Ask for the CCTV, body language will tell a lot.

I may be going against the grain here but (retail manager here), we would never follow a customer out of the store in this situation. I would expect my team to address it inside the store if possible, if not, let a manager know who would write an incident report and adjust the stock. Following a customer outside of the store would warrant a conversation and potentially a record of this conversation (sounds like an improvement letter is how it’s phrased in your company) but this wouldn’t be issued without getting all the facts right - so after having a conversation with you. It could be that as part of that conversation they clarify the process and their expectation of you, and if following someone out of the store isn’t something that they would want you to do, then that warrants that improvement letter. But you should receive this after an open conversation between you and the manager.

If you've not trained your staff in what the practice is, you can't discipline them for not following a non-trained policy. What would have to happen is that a policy is written and all staff are then trained in it.

If they don't want customers who haven't paid to be followed out of the store, this needs communicating and training.

We don’t know what the policy is or isn’t, only OP will be able to check this. It is entirely possible that she will have access to this on an internal system. It is entirely possible that this hasn’t been read. We have hundreds of scenarios on a sales floor that could happen and equally hundreds of articles on how to deal with them. Employees are not required to know them all inside out, but they are expected to pause and partner with a manager in something out of the ordinary. That way not only they’re prompted to look for a policy, but also they cover their backs by making the manager the final decision maker.

This is a policy which should've been trained alongside not following shoplifters out of the store. She's been trained in that policy, so she should've been trained in the policy about non-payers. It's not like it's some random, obscure, thing which could rarely happen.

I would encourage her to raise a grievance if they attempt to discipline her in any way on something she hasn't been trained in.

It seems there is a practice amongst staff to do what she did, so management should've nipped it in the bud and ensured staff were following the policy, rather than letting it continue.

This.

How likely is it that a trusted, long-served member of staff makes shit up about a customer, or that a customer got a bit antsy when being asked to come back and pay?

The employee is also entitled to be reasonably protected from abuse, so turn it around to your employer if they get shitty about it.

At the most it sounds like this is on the employer to do more staff training, it's not something an individual member of staff has got wrong.

I'd ask your employer whether they would have wished you to act differently and, if so, to detail how, with reference to store policy.
And to see the customer's complaint.
I wouldn't sign anything.

Happened to me recently. In my case I tapped and left, but it turned out my card issuer wanted me to put the PIN in. Shop person did actually chase me down the road shouting (I was in a world of my own/am a bit hard of hearing).

I don't think she thought I was trying to steal (small local shop and I'm a regular and friendly with the family who run it) and I neither took umbrage nor apologised – it wasn't deliberate and there was no fault involved – just went back in with her and put my PIN in and all was well.

Yeah it happens. Especially in the early days of the tech a few years ago. Every now and then it used to ask me to present the actual card. I had to leave a pile of shopping behind, drive home, get my card and come back one time but I was profusely apologetic, even though it was a pain, as it's hardly the store's fault or the member of staff.

But who told you to always go out if the customer hasn’t paid for some reason? That could be your sticking point because if it turns out nobody has authorised that and you’ve never actually been instructed to do it, then you could have a bit of a problem explaining it. What does procedure actually say about this scenario? Does it say to alert a manager or does it say that sales staff specifically should follow them outside? It could turn out that what you’ve always done was not properly procedure. Clearly someone should be tackling it but you need to establish who that someone is.

I think this thread while raising some really good points, has muddied the waters a bit for you OP.

From your posts of what has been said to you, it would seem that the issue is not the fact you followed him from the store, but your alleged attitude when you did, as the basis of the complaint from what the manager has said to you is your alleged attitude (you were 'rude') when you spoke to the customer, not the fact you did, or where you did it.

You said yourself that until raised on here you hadn't thought he was trying to leave without paying intentionally, or about what the policy was in those circumstances. I'd be putting both of those things aside at this stage, and concentrating on the bare bones of it for your statement.

Customer used self service, payment for the shopping was attempted by the customer but was unsuccessful, you located the customer and informed them politely that the transaction was unsuccessful and asked them to return to the store to complete the transaction. The customer insisted that their payment had been successful, and reacted negatively to you informing them it wasn't, however the customer did return to the store and complete the transaction.

That's it, that's all I'd be writing in my statement because that's what happened, as you describe it in the OP.

Then go from there with what they write that you need to improve in the letter of improvement.

FWIW this guy sounds like he is on a power trip and the type that looks for an opportunity to complain for some attention and validation and when that doesn't present itself, makes it up. He was probably all revved up to complain about you asking him to return when he believed he'd already paid, but when it became obvious that he hadn't paid, and therefore wouldn't get anywhere, he's had to use the old trump card about rudeness because it's hard to quantify or defend, and he knows that and that's precisely why he's said it.

You need proper advice really, however I don't think you should sign something you don't agree with
I was once given a written warning at work but as I could prove that events were not as described I said I would not sign it unless I could write on it that I disputed events etc. They didn't make me sign it and it didn't go on my record

Agree. The problem was not OP following him and asking him to return to pay, but the alleged rudeness. I think it presents an opportunity for OP and the rest of the staff to ask for an established procedure for this kind of eventuality. The fact that there isn’t one and there is now a potential disciplinary procedure rather nicely demonstrates that the lack of cohesive policy is leaving the staff vulnerable.