unpleasant incident with security guard

[rasputinsghost]

I would just like your opinions with respect to whether or not I was reasonable to e-mail a complaint regarding the incident below.

I was shopping with my adult son at our local large supermarket, in the late afternoon in the middle of the week. We chose items worth just under five pounds, and I paid for these at the self-service checkout, using the contactless app. on my debit card. I declined a receipt and I do not have a banking app. on my phone.

After purchasing the goods, I handed them to my son and went to the loo. When I came out of the loo, I found my son in conversation with the security guard. The guard asked me if the shopping was mine. I said it was. He asked me if I had the receipt. I said I had declined the receipt. He asked my if I had any proof of purchase. I said that I did not have a banking app, but I waited until I heard 'payment confirmed' before I left the checkout. The guard replied that he has reason to believe we were attempting to leave the store without purchasing the goods.

I assured him that I had purchased the goods, and perhaps we could check the till roll at the checkout.

The guard then told us to come to his desk. We followed him. He looked at the CCTV footage and told us that not only did it confirm that we had not paid, but there was footage of me 'doing this hundreds of times'. He said he would call the police unless we paid for the goods, left the store and never returned because we were 'banned'.

I was getting a little upset, so my son suggested we paid for the goods again (even though we knew we had already paid). We did this, then showed the guard the receipt and I asked why he had said he had footage of me stealing 'hundreds of times'. He denied saying this. I asked if we were banned. He said no. I asked for his name and said I would lodge a complaint because he had handled this situation very unprofessionally.

When I got home, I checked my bank account. I had paid twice, so there is no way there would be any footage of me not paying. I have lodged a complaint online with the store.

I am just wondering if perhaps I have overreacted.

I usually decline a receipt, to reduce waste, in places where I’m a regular customer. But I may now start accepting them in other shops, for safety.

Paying twice has actually worked in your favour, you now have clear proof that 2 payments have come out.
Go back and demand an apology and investigation on how it was handled.

Thanks, that’s good advice.

This is why I always get a receipt

Not sure why you would pay again if you knew you had paid. All you had to do was have them check the till you used and it would show the transaction. A receipt isn’t the only proof.

100% this. Please complain.
And attach your evidence of payment with all other information blacked out.

I can’t believe the grief OP is getting here. Surely, if the security guard had suspicions, the first thing he should have done was check the transactions on the till.

I can totally understand why OP paid again, she was being bullied and maybe even started to doubt herself (a bit like when you think you’ve locked the door but start questioning yourself.)

As someone else said, these security guards are waving through all the scum with hundreds of pounds worth of meat and picking on innocent members of the public who won’t challenge them .

Please go back with evidence of the double payments and insist on a refund. The security guard can and should have gone through the till’s history to see if the first payment had gone through, or got a checkout supervisor to do so anyway.

This happened to me recently in Tesco. Extremely unpleasant security guard refusing to let me leave the store as I “hadn’t paid.”

if you have to have a receipt there shouldn’t be a facility to decline one.

I stood my ground and insisted they checked the til as I had used my Clubcard. Took 30 mins and whilst he and the supervisor were faffing about I told every single customer coming through the self checkout to get a receipt so they too weren’t accused of stealing when they hadn’t.

Now I shop elsewhere despite being opposite a Tesco superstore.

Many many times contactless doesn't actually work, and the customer walks off in the belief it did work.

Many supermarkets will call you back / try and catch up with you to say that it didn't go through.

Lesson - always get a receipt.

unless you can prove on your phone that the transaction has gone through.

I never ask them if they want a receipt, I just hand it to them automatically 😀

What a horrible situation to find yourself in. I suspect it was in the middle of the store too with lots of other shoppers around. I'd have been mortified. I'm glad you at least had your son with you. I hope it gets sorted out satisfactorily.

Exactly this, you probably now have better evidence than if you'd challenged him and refused to pay again.

I'm not sure why so many unhelpful comments telling OP she should have got a receipt (I'm pretty sure she wishes she had) or implying that she's meek or lacking resilience! An encounter like that, when you've done nothing wrong, knocks you off guard. It's very easy to decide how someone should react when you're posting from home with time to think it through, less so when you're being accused of theft in public. I can totally see why you paid again, it wasn't much money and it meant the encounter was over and you could leave and complain another time.

See what response you get to complaint and consider speaking to manager, if only for a refund.

I would be pissed off in your shoes too, but I don't think you did anything silly and I'd pursue the complaint til I got my £5 and hopefully an apology!

I always get a receipt no matter what i get.

All self service tills have footage. That one would have shown you use the till and would have an internal record of the payment. He should have checked this. I'd go public o. FB and consumer sites to shame the shop. The owe you money and a BIG apology.

I think I might have reacted in the same way if confronted by a security guard like that. To avoid the stress, I would probably have paid again but I’d be taking my bank statement to show the manager and get a refund - and an apology!

I am the same as you and do not have the banking app on my phone, I prefer to use my iPad for financial transactions when at home, I worry about losing my phone and giving access my bank details to a criminal - unlikely I know!

I will now always get a receipt when I tap my card at a self serve till to avoid a similar issue.

You were'nt stupid to pay £5 to get away from this man, particularly since he was accusing and upsetting your son. He's a liar, potential scammer and you should definitely report him. You absolutely did the right thing to get away from him and now you have evidence on your bank account that you paid twice. Report him ASAP before they ditch the recording. (tescos only keep it for 28 days, but that may have changed as well) Kick up a blooming stink!!

Maybe he's had a target set for catching people? But its odd that after all his accusations he let you go after paying the £5.. and then denied ever having said those things.

We are always seeing notices saying save paper if you don't need a receipt, so I'm not surprised that you did that for a £5 purchase.

Because of this, I've stopped asking for them, but having read your post I will start asking for them again.

Maybe for your own peace of mind, set up something on your son's and your own phones that will demonstrate when you've paid for something.

That security guard was a shit.

Go back to the store,ask to speak to the manager and ask to see the proof as you now have a screenshot of payment so the guard was clearly lying. He can't have checked the cctv as he suggested he did.

I've used my card contactless hundreds of times and never had this happen. I tend to wait until I hear the beep though before leaving the till but I think in future I’ll be extra careful to check the payment has gone through to avoid being challenged for shop lifting.

I would also go with the ds to show what it looks like when you correct a wrong assertively

So I get that you don't have a banking app on your phone but do you not use online banking at all? Couldn't you have gone to the bank's website through your browser and shown him the last transaction?

If the security guard lied he was obviously in the wrong, but I would have asked for a manager before paying twice.

ps. whilst you can go back into the store.. I would put your complaint in writing not just to manager of the store but to customer services at HQ. The manager of the store is probably the one who gave this man a target of "catches" to meet.
The accusations against your son were awful and would have been quite frightening, because it suggests he might have had your son arrested. Of course he wouldn't have called the police because that would have exposed the nonsense he was going through.
Ps I;ve just remembered that I am always asked at the checkout ( I tend to use those rather than the self service) if I want my receipt. so its kind of ingrained that we don't need one, IYSWIM. But i'm making sure I do on self service from now on.

The security guard should have called over a staff member to verify the purchase. The terminal would show recent transactions. What a bizarre turn of events.

Yanbu. You’ve paid twice having been told there was evidence you didn’t pay.

you are at least owed a refund if one payment.

I completely agree. I think it was a sensible action from OP. It allowed her to get out of an escalating situation where she was feeling stressed and uncomfortable, and walk away with clear proof that she can use to support her complaint. Well done @rasputinsghost