Don't go to this store, unless you want to be falsely accused of shoplifting and have the Police called on you if you dare to complain.
On 6th Aug 2018 I selected a black T shirt that was price marked £2.00 and took it to the tills to pay. The cashier asked me for £1.80, which I paid. I assumed that the 20p shortfall was due to some special offer. (Anyway, is it not legally the cashier's responsibility to charge the correct price, rather than the customer's to offer it?)
I had left the store and was drinking a free sample of coffee from Starbuck's when a guy claiming to be store security approached me and said "you have to pay for that". I initially thought that he was referring to the coffee, which was free. When I showed him my receipt, he dismissed it as an old one until I told him to check its date. He insisted that we return to the store, due to the 20p shortfall in what I had paid.
Just before we re-entered the store, he said to me: "Tell you what: You just give me the T shirt and I'll let this drop." I was shocked to hear a security guard say something so unprofessional.
The guard wore no identification, and only flashed what I assume was his SIA licence at me for about one second (I couldn't even be sure it was an SIA licence!) I therefore initially suspected it was a scam or some TV/YouTube stunt.
When the store's Duty Manager had cleared my receipt with the guard and the Security Manager, there was no apology from anyone. The Security Guard grabbed my shoulder and told me to come with him out of the store. This was a violation of SIA rules, as I passed a Door Supervisor course in 2014, and was told that grabbing customers is legally assault.
The Guard and his Security Manager followed me out of the store, which to me implied an assumption of guilt and/or malicious intent, even though by now the Duty Manger had checked my receipt and cleared it. On the way out, I said that they had not heard the last of it - as it was my intention to complain formally - and that I would not be shopping in Primark again. I believe that these were both reasonable things to say, given the way that they had treated me. However, a few minutes after I exited High Chelmer I was approached by a Policewoman whom the Security Manager had called. Thankfully she saw sense and did not arrest me. read more