would this be shoplifting/theft?
Discussion
I recently ordered some camping supplies from a well-known french purveyor of sporting goods, as a "click and collect" order from one of their physical stores. I don't live particularly near one of their shops, but was going to be passing one a few days after the order was meant to be ready.
I turn up, and the order "isn't in the shop". The shop physically had stock of the items, in their normal "sell to a punter on the street" kind of way, but I wasn't allowed to have those, as they weren't the internet order. They weren't able to cancel the order and let me buy the items in the shop with the same payment method (a gift card), so I left empty handed.
I was tempted to just pick the items up from the shelf and walk out with them, but as I'm not one for trouble I instead chose to email a complaint and ask them to refund my gift card instead (they can't do that, as the order hasn't left their warehouse), but I was wondering whether this would actually have been theft? There's no suggestion that I hadn't paid in full for the goods, but does it matter which instance of a thing you obtain?
I turn up, and the order "isn't in the shop". The shop physically had stock of the items, in their normal "sell to a punter on the street" kind of way, but I wasn't allowed to have those, as they weren't the internet order. They weren't able to cancel the order and let me buy the items in the shop with the same payment method (a gift card), so I left empty handed.
I was tempted to just pick the items up from the shelf and walk out with them, but as I'm not one for trouble I instead chose to email a complaint and ask them to refund my gift card instead (they can't do that, as the order hasn't left their warehouse), but I was wondering whether this would actually have been theft? There's no suggestion that I hadn't paid in full for the goods, but does it matter which instance of a thing you obtain?
5lab said:
I wasn't allowed to have those, as they weren't the internet order.
This bit seems odd to me but its not the main focus of your thread.5lab said:
They weren't able to cancel the order and let me buy the items in the shop with the same payment method (a gift card),
If the online process accepts (that) gift card(s) and the in-store process doesn't, then yes its shoplifting. But again, it seems odd the store can't accept what the online can.I forget the shop now, but someone posted the other day that the online version of the shop is a separate company.
Maybe that's a common thing - if so, then you taking stuff from the physical shop would be legally isolated, so would be theft.
If the items should have been there and you still want them, I'd lean on them to ship them to you FOC.
Maybe that's a common thing - if so, then you taking stuff from the physical shop would be legally isolated, so would be theft.
If the items should have been there and you still want them, I'd lean on them to ship them to you FOC.
Edited by Sheepshanks on Monday 1st June 21:06
If you spoke to staff and explained that you believed you were lawfully entitled to walk out with the item as you;d paid for it on line then don't believe you've committed theft and would be a civil matter, however if after leaving you cancelled your on line payment within fourteen days then believe you would commit an ofence of obtaining property by deception..
Suprised the store weren't able to assist you on the day with an in stock item, Polite e mail to their head of customer services required.
Suprised the store weren't able to assist you on the day with an in stock item, Polite e mail to their head of customer services required.
BertBert said:
It wasn't that the shop didn't accept gift cards, the shop couldn't process the refund
Are you sure? The full sentence I quoted is vaguely worded, it could be interpreted 3 different ways:1. They weren't able to cancel the order. They let me buy the items in the shop with the same payment method (a gift card),
2. They weren't able to (cancel the order; and let me buy the items in the shop) (gift card is irrelevant).
3. They might have been able to cancel the order. They would have let me buy the items in the shop but for the fact the payment method was a gift card, which they don't accept.
3 might have another variation: they accept gift cards, but because this particular gift card has already been used on a pending order, it is "spent".
The gift card definitely complicates things. Also, a shop may simply not have the authority to cancel a "click and collect" order willy-nilly. They either fulfil it, have the customer cancel it, let it time out, have some other department/section of the company cancel it, or have to put a reason to cancel it such as stocking error. In theory, the OP could have cancelled the order, but the gift card might not have re-credited or it might have has to have been re-issued as another different gift card of the equivalent amount, a process that might have taken time (like, 2-3 days for example, not 5-10 mins while in a store).
If the OP has just used cash, or had more gift cards (and the shop accepted them), it could have easily been a non-issue. Or if the shop had been able to just hand the one off the shelf and make an internal adjustment, etc.
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