K-Mart ripoff Treats Customers Like Criminals! Detained again AFTER employee checked my reciept and searched my bag! Salinas California
A few days ago I made the mistake of purchasing a few items at my local K-mart store. I went into the store with the sole intention of purchasing air freshner, hair serum and tube of ointment. I walked in wearing a t-shirt and jeans with cash in my pocket, no purse, no backpack, nowhere to conceal anything on my person. I grabbed what I needed and walked to up to the first available cashier. I watched her ring up all of my items. I paid $27 for the above mentioned items and started to walk away. I stop and check my receipt and look at the items in my bag because I thought $27 was alot of money for those few items and it turns out, I was not overcharged, I just under estimated what the cost of my purchase would be. I get to the exit and before I can step outside the store, I am stopped by a male employee who tells me he needs my reciept. I have not shopped at K-Mart in years and had no idea that they had adopted the same policy as Wal-Mart! I admit I was annoyed but heck, the guy is only doing his job. He checks my receipt, searches my bag, writes something on my receipt and sends me on my way. No sooner do I get my body half way through the door, does the alarm go off. It is a soft female voice and I could swear I heard the name "Veronica".
I pause for a moment wondering if I have set off the security alarm, but I'm pretty I didn't because to my knowledge, nothing I bought had an alarm and it sounded like the voice said "Veronica" and not "STOP! you have activated K-Mart's inventory control system" or whatever message they place. I get completely outside and the same man who had just detained me and searched my bag yells "hey what did you think that was?". I tell him that I didn't know "what that was" and then he rather rudely tells me he needs to see my receipt. I tell him that he just saw my reciept and searched my bag and he informs me that he needs to see it again! At this point I am beyond livid. I should of just continued walking to my car but for all I knew this guy, or Kmart loss prevention would of grabbed me and tackled me to the ground if I had not stopped and listened to their commands and I am almost 4 months pregnant.
I don't appreciate being detained BEFORE I have left a store, especially since #1 the only reason they do it in this city because of all the illegals who don't abide by the law and #2 if I didn't pay for something it wouldn't be in my bag. I am very much aware of the fact that it is a common trend for cashiers to pretend to ring up items for their friends, but I don't think that gives stores the right to treat their paying customers like criminals. So now I am detained for the second time so that the employee can determine what I had that set off the alarm. He is so good at his job that I have to look inside my bag and point out that there is a sensor on the back of the $5 tube of ointment. His response? "Oh that must be it", and I am finally allowed to leave the store. I am a nice easy going person and mistakes happen and nobody is perfect, but this is something I am unwilling to let go of.
If K-Mart policy is to detain a paying customer and search their bag before allowing them to leave then fine, I will follow their policy if I wish to patronize their stores. However, if an item has a sensor on it, such as a CD, DVD or in my case, a $5 tube of ointment, then is it not the cashier's responsibility to a)check all items for sensors before placing them in the bag and b)to desensitize the sensor at the time of my purchase? And then, once I am at the exit and being detained so that another employee can make sure I paid for everything in my bag, shouldn't that employee make note of any items in my bag that have a sensor on them, that way if the alarm goes off, I can be allowed to leave without being detained a second time? If I had set the alarm off because I purposely stole an item and hid it on my person, loss prevention would of been waiting for me the second I stepped out the door so I really don't think it was necessary for them to detainee me TWICE. And, why is that they only detain those who have stood in line to purchase something?
I could of easily walked in there and stolen a lipstick or something extremely small without a sensor and loss prevention camera's probably wouldn't of caught the act (I was with my cousin when she stole a lipstick back when we were in H.S so I know how easy it is) and I would then be allowed to walk outside the store after committing a theft! But if I pay for every item in my possession, I am not allowed to leave the store without being detained. K-Mart and Wal-Mart are the only stores here who have adopted this policy and they have lost my business permanantly!
Jennifer
Salinas, California
U.S.A.
7 Updates & Rebuttals
Salvador
Reno,Nevada,
U.S.A.
Totally agree with you.. but how on earth is this a "ripoff"???!!
#8Consumer Suggestion
Thu, November 27, 2008
I totally agree with you that K-Mart does treat customers as if they were criminals. Around the year of 2002 or 2003 in the K-Mart of Colorado Springs Colorado we had just paid for some photos at their photo department.
When we were about to leave some lady claiming to be high end security pulled out her little badge and demanded that we not walk any more and follow her to her "office".
Well.. since we obviously didn't steal anything and were confident in ourselves we followed her to get whatever it was we needed to get cleared out. This crack head look alike (more than a real security) was accusing us the whole way to her office that we had snuck into their pictures cabinets and taken our photos without paying.
So we obviously interrupted her several times letting her know that we had the receipt to prove that we had paid for the pictures! She would just ignore us and kept walking and saying, "come on! Follow me ... we're almost there!" She even had a sort of military walk to her persona!:
Well.. we eventually showed her the receipt and she felt like a real idiot! She didn't even apologize! In another occasion here in the K-Mart in Reno (just last night), we went in to get some stuff to put on lay away for the kids' Christmas.
Well.. when we had gotten our stuff ready to put on lay away they asked me for an ID. So when I went into my wallet I noticed that all I had was my college student ID on me.
I showed her that one and the stupid lady there right away says.. "Well! I will not take such ID.. I must run it to check that you are not wanted! That you are not an illegal! And finally.. that you have a good paying record!"
OUTRAGEOUS!! Because first of all.. wether I'm wanted or not.. it's none of K-Mart's business. If I'm an illegal or not it's none of K-Mart's business and if I have a good paying record is none of their business either because I wasn't trying to get some sort of credit card with them!
I just simply didn't have my driver's license on me because eralier that day I was filling out some DMV paperwork at home and left my driver's license laying by the paperwork.
So I found it very discriminating and hipocrital because it wasn't like I was taking the stuff with me and was going to pay them later! I was leaving the stuff there (in their lay away department), leaving a payment, and was going to finish paying it off. And they would have done some business.
But no.. they've get get all smart a*s on people! So believe me.. I will never EVER shop at another K-Mart again.. it's no wonder they're running all out of business.
But you can also believe I understand your anger and feelings about what happened to you.. but how on earth is what you posted a ripoff?! You really chose the wrong place to file a report about what happened to you! Belive me you did.
Because surely you purchased the products.. but you don't seem to be complaining about the paid products. Only about your experience with the door man. So next time.. instead of posting things on this site, such as what happened to you at K-Mart, get an attorney and sue the hell out of them!
Don't waste your time here.. you'll never get anything done here. And I only shared my experience with you to let you know that I understand, because similar things have happened to me too. But I'm also leaving my suggestion to leave the drama out of "online" posting and actually do somthing about it.
And especially don't post these things in the wrong site!
Ryan
New York,New York,
U.S.A.
Sorry to hear about your troubles
#8UPDATE Employee
Tue, November 25, 2008
I'm sorry to hear that you were one of the unlucky few that had to be checked numerous times before being allowed to leave. I work at K-Mart, and especially when I'm doing carts, I'm the one that has to check bags that trigger the alarm. Everytime it happens, I'm extremely apologetic, and I try my best to find whatever wasn't scanned as quickly as possible so that the customer can be on their way. To this date (I've worked there over two years), I have not dealt with any customers that became irritated through this process, so I assume I'm doing something right. It does tend to be an item that the cashier forgot to demagnitize, such as your hair serum.
One of the problems that causes this is the fact that Loss Control has developed a new system where they tag pretty much everything in the store, and if it's a package that they can hide the sensor inside of, they place it in there. Cashiers know that items such as razor blades, CDs/DVDs, etc have to be scanned, but there are many items that catch them off guard. It's a pain too, because several items are too big and heavy to try and find the sensor on, especially when there's still a chance that there may not be a sensor on it. Can you imagine trying to demagnitize something the size of a Cozy Coupe?
I do sympathize with your anger and frustration, especially considering how that particular associate called out, "Hey, what do you think that was?" Obviously, there are many more polite ways of getting your attention, and he should've chosen one. Please do not take this incident completely to heart though, I promise there are several hardworking, caring associates such as myself that work at K-Mart. 100% honestly, one of the "problems" that was listed on my review this year was the fact that I tend to help customers "too much". That's not to mean that the managers don't want the associates to help the customers to the best of their ability, but if a customer wants to have an hour long conversation with me, I'll have that conversation. My main goal is to make the customer happy, foregoing the fact that there are tasks that need to be completed by the end of the night.
Please do keep us hardworking associates in your mind though. Between the people that really are stealing (we've had a huge string of stolen $700 TVs recently) and the people that refuse to shop at K-Mart, the company seems to already be going under. I have been working at K-Mart for two years, have always gotten perfect reviews from my managers and an overwhelming amount of compliments from customers that I've helped, and to this day, I'm only making about 17 cents more than I was making on my first day. Supposedly, this is due to the fact that higher raises just aren't in the budget. This can also been seen when you go into any K-Mart during the regular year (or even during the holiday season at my location) and cannot find a single associate to help you. We are always extremely understaffed due to "budget problems", and there are quite a few of us that struggle to get hours. If it wasn't for how well I do my job, I wouldn't get three days per week regularly throughout the year (when I really need four to five). There are several associates at all of the K-Marts in my area that don't get a single hour throughout the months of January and Feburary. Bottom line: The corporation is broke and can't afford to pay us. It's really hard too because I'm trying to pay my way through college. It's especially hard for those that weren't able to go to college and now hold a part-time job while trying to raise a kid. I have personally bought baby food on several occasions before for another associate so that her daughter had something to eat.
I apologize for the drawn out posting, I just felt that my information may ease your pain slightly. But again, please, before encouraging a boycott, think of us hardworking, loyal associates. I agree that the unfit employees need to get what they deserve, but the rest of us need all of the help that we can get.
-Ryan
Andromeda
Near Roswell,New Mexico,
U.S.A.
Low class response.
#8Consumer Comment
Mon, August 11, 2008
'd**n lady, you lost it after getting the receipt checked 2 times???'
'It would have been great it you walked to your car and they did tackle you and you lost your baby! You probably don't know who the father is anyway!!!'
It must have taken you at least two hours to come up with such an outstandingly irrelevant, low class and pitiful post. Maybe you should try hard to figure out how to crawl out of the gutter. You are one crude person.
Where did you get that rare uncaring attitude? Was it something that happened to you in your younger years?
Emeraldgsl
Santa Ana,California,
U.S.A.
d**n lady, you lost it after getting the receipt checked 2 times???
#8UPDATE Employee
Mon, August 11, 2008
It would have been great it you walked to your car and they did tackle you and you lost your baby! You probably don't know who the father is anyway!!!
Megan.h.
Keansburg,New Jersey,
U.S.A.
I could not file under report same thing happened to me at Sears I******
#8Consumer Comment
Mon, July 07, 2008
I will NEVER shop at Sears or again!!! The Security guy was very intimadating and emptied my bags on the floor in front of all customers and employees!!!! my mother worked at this Sears for 30 years!!! I was accused of changing a price for $11.11!!!!! I had two bags of items and used my Sears charge I also had my Visa with a $30,000 limit!! He said at least 100 times "why did you do it I saw you" screaming in my face over and over! I am very sick with my kidneys I had a total panic attack!! He would not allow me to use the bathroom or call my husband!!! He kept me in a small dirty room for about two hours screaming over and over "why did you do it" I repetead over and over I did not change a tag why would I do that for $11.11????????
Finally I gave in I signed some type of paper that "I am not allowed in the store" after appx. 2 hours of badgering!!! I was on heavy narcotics due to kidney pain!! I had only went to Sears that day to get sheets for my 80 year old mother who worked there for 30 years!!! He than called a Police Officer who I must say was a great guy I felt protected when he arrived after and hour and a half to two hours!!!!! When I proceeded to leave the dirty room the security guy re-bagged my items and then further went on to tell the Officer I had stole a tool in the cart!!!!!! Mind you this was when I was exiting the dirty office!!! I than handed my receipt to the Officer and noted to him that that tool was the first item rang in on the tape!! I will never get over the way I felt and can not even describe it!!!! Please BEWARE of SEARS in MIDDLETOWN NJ and the "security person" Dan Driscoll!!!!!!
Miranda
Olean,New York,
U.S.A.
Why they detained you twice
#8UPDATE Employee
Mon, March 10, 2008
I'm sorry you had a bad experience at that store with being detained twice.
Clerks are terrible in regards to deactivating anti-theft tags. It's technically his/her fault that you had the initial problem to begin with.
As for being detained the second time, that is his error. If you set off any alarm initially, he should have automatically taken your bag to a deactivator and seen if laying it over set off their 'security' alarm at the register.
I'm the bad guy at that position a lot of times at my kmart store. We have to actually go through bags multiple times IF it keeps going off. It's terrible and I'm often apologizing about it to no end. they have to mark in a log book specifically what it is, along with what door you set off, how many times and if it was a theft, tag in area or just a failure to deactivate.
I hope that you haven't had issues with this type of situation in other stores.
Joe
Austin,Texas,
U.S.A.
Make a Lawyer Happy .. SUE and SUE and SUE..and don't go back to KMart!
#8Consumer Suggestion
Thu, July 26, 2007
I can understand why KMart acts the way they do.
We used to have some KMart stores here in the Austin,TX area but they were virtually shoplifted out of business and had to close...
SO I guess the remaining KMart stores learned some very hard lessons with the Austin experience and so they are being super vigiliant so they won't have to close the rest of their stores.
Nonetheless, they accused an innocent person of SHOPLIFTING!
And since that innocent person was you, I do believe that YOU have a LEGAL recourse and it is called SUE,SUE,SUE!
I hope you had plenty of witnesses as to what happened. They can always subpoena the security camera footage of what happened because with all the surveillance tapes, etc. they have in a K-Mart or any other retail establishment these days, the entire sordid incident was bound to have bene immortalized there somewhere.
And I would NEVER shop at K Mart again and I would write to the company HQ ( and the CEO whom I would sue along with the board of directors, the store manager, teh store security director,. ec. & etc. all the way up the corporate chain of command) and tell them what happened to me and why I am not shopping in their sorry store again and WHY! People MIGHT get fired but it won't change their hardcore shoplifting policy.
You can't shop at a (((competitor's name redacted))) store or a (((redacted))) store instead? They have better stuff at cheaper prices. Same for (((redacted))).
Did you know that SEARS and KMart are owned by the same people?
Don't shop at SEARS either and if you can get enough people to join you, sometimes a hit in the pocketbook is the only way a store will learn that its policies of accusing the innocent not only will hurt their image but devestate their bottom line!
I am sorry this happened to you. But being a person of a certain ethnicity, I am used to being wrongfully accused of things. It keeps my lawyer happy and working, though.
sorry, allowing you to give a competitors name would instigate others to just file against their competition, to only come back later to suggest their company your comments on this policy are welcome! CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.