Complaint Review: Kohl's

I don’t really ever write on social media, but I am trying to reach out to as many as people as I can to get some Insight and advice for my current situation.  If you have ever worked with Kohl’s, Loss Preventions, Criminal Justice, Lawyers, or any Retail type of work your feedback would be greatly appreciated.

I first got a letter from Kohl’s about 2 months ago basically saying I owe $375 and if I don’t pay I will be sent to collections, apparently this was actually the second letter I got but I never got the first one.  Of course I called right when I got this even though I thought it maybe a scam. It was in fact real though, I called their corporate office I told them I never stolen anything from Kohl’s they told me I needed to go to  any Kohl’s and they could find out what was going on “they would have a profile with this case ID”.  

I go to my closest store Elk Grove, I talk with a Loss preventions associate, I show him the notice he tells me that he will give it to his Supervisor Steven and have him reach out to me. Steven called me that day and the only thing he told me was he was going to look into it and get back to me.  Needless to say I never did hear from Steven again.  I went back to the store many, many times. 

The first store manager I talked with was Alice, she was nice and seemed actually concerned and told me that she will make sure he reaches out to me. Each time I went to the store they made a copy of the letter I received and left my number.  After about the sixth time going to the store I talked with a different store manager Liz, I’m now 2 days till supposedly they are going to send collections after me. Liz tells me that they don’t know the Loss Preventions Supervisor (Steven) schedule and they are not suppose to know it or they are just not allowed to say when he is in or out. 

Again Liz seemed like a nice person I told her I would come back in an hour the same day which I did and she tells me he is not in.  This whole time I have also been calling the store as well as corporate to find out what is going on.  Finally Liz tells me that Steven told her to tell me to just do what is on the paper and he is not allowed to talk to me about the case.

Needless to say at this point I’m extremely frustrated, he really could have told me that the first day he reached out to me instead of me making tons of store visits and phone calls over two months, or stop telling me that he will reach out to me and you will make sure that will happen.  I never got a call from them, ever.

During this whole time I’m trying to reach out to the store I am still calling corporate to try and find out what this is about.  I tell them it’s not me they tell me go to the store or go to the police department to fill out some forms.  I’m not sure if this was Identity theft, where it happen when it happen or anything. It seems they wanted to give me as little information as possible.  When the store finally told me that Steven could not talk with me, I did go to the Elk Grove Police Department.

I talked with a officer at the desk there not really sure what I’m supposed to be doing I showed him the letters, he asked a few questions, have you lost your ID and some other things, then they ran my ID said there was nothing pending against me the case on the paper was a store case.  He told me I can write up what is happening and submit it the next day with the letters they sent me and it opens a case or something like that.  I called corporate again when I get home tell them I went to the police department and what they told me, they told me I need to file a Identity Theft report for them to keep collections from Happening. Then they finally told me the date the incident happen May 22, 2019 and this is where it began to get interesting and very upsetting.

My wife was at work the day I got this information, when she got home I asked her was that the Day I did a return at kohl’s she got the receipt and told me yes.  I call the Corporate Office the next morning I said I think I got this figured out, I was there on May 22nd I did a legitimate return and asked them what they were actually accusing me of. I told him, every couple years it seems my wife likes doing a spring cleaning and everything our kids did not like or wear and she did not like she asked if I could return it this was all brand new never been used things.

I have done this before and said sure.  On May 22, 1019 I went to that Kohl’s in Elk Grove I went through the front door directly to returns waited in a small line talked to the returns clerk who I told the same thing to my wife was just doing spring cleaning and this is all the stuff she wanted to get rid of. She told me typical returns policy I could only get store credit and it would be for the lowest sales price they had for the item, I said no problem.

There were a handful of items that were too old that were no longer in their system we finished up the return. The amount was too high they told me that I would get a store credit card in the mail and if I did not receive it call the number on the bottom.  Sure enough I did end up needing to call that number they told me they needed to do a couple follow up questions mainly why I was returning all that stuff I told her the same thing about the wife and they sent out the card.

The Corporate person who I told this to then proceeded to tell me what the Loss Preventions person wrote up in his report, he said that they have me on camera come into the store stop at a kiosk grab something off the kiosk and proceed to claims where I tried to return that item. HE (Steven) then confronted me at returns where I gave him my ID and I guess they still let me do the return?  His story was a little confusing.

At this point Now I’m really upset, not only I have I never shoplifted in my life, they are lying about what I did, trying to extort me to pay $375 or be sent to collections, and telling me I’m lying. Even the Corporate person I was talking with said, it was hard for him to believe my story because they would have not just let me walk into the front of the store without stopping me and checking what I was bringing store. 

After we hung up I was in disbelief I know they have all the evidence, I know they have the phone conversations in. Which I’m not sure if different locations have this policy but I have never been stopped or have seen someone at the entrance that checks merchandise I know Walmart and some other places do.  He then told me that they will delay the collections and get back to me next week after he sends an email to the I had with corporate, I know they have all the items I did a return on.

Why would I waste so much time and energy if I got confronted by Loss Preventions it would have been the first thing I told my wife that day, that Kohl’s was accusing me of stealing I would have never spent so much time and energy trying to figure out what was going on.

Sorry for the long story So that is where I am currently at, not sure what I can and should do next.  I’m not sure what they teach at Kohl’s Loss Preventions like if they are suspicious of something write it up and just threaten the person and hope they are right so the person just ends up paying.  Not sure if I should reach out to a Lawyer for Defamation.  Can I file a police report I only gave my ID to the returns lady to do the return and this claims person stole my ID to fabricate this case?  This has seriously been stressing me out, SO any advice or feedback would be great thanks.

Please Share the more people who see the more information I can get for what I can do.