Calm Man Successfully Buys TV And Denies Walmart Receipt Checkers

Rick is the Gandhi of receipt-check deniers. He writes in with a story of how he bought a 37 inch TV from Walmart and was able to successfully say no to the receipt checker blocking his way with his body. Rick did this by calmly and reasonably explaining his position to the assistant manager who showed up and by ignoring everyone around him who was trying to provoke him. Sometimes the quietest voice speaks the loudest.

“ After work I stopped by the Walmart to pick up a TV for my girlfriend. After circling the whole store in search of the bathroom before realizing it was right next to the entrance, I made my way back to the Electronics section and picked out a TV quickly. I wanted a midsize Vizio, so I chose the 37" 1080p Eco model. I purchased the TV with my debit card at one of the rear registers about 20 feet away, and walked to the front of the store carrying the box in both hands.

I made it through the first set of doors into the front atrium of the store, but before reaching the outer doors I heard a man say "Sir?" I turned and faced Tony, the receipt checker.

I turned and continued walking towards to automatic doors. Tony called again, so I turned back.

Tony: No, I need to see your receipt. Me: No thank you! Tony: What do you mean? Me: I mean no thanks; I'm walking to my car with my purchase. Tony: Well, I need to see your receipt. Me: I just purchased this TV in the back of the store. I don't need to show you a receipt. Tony: Yes, you need to show me your receipt. Me: Actually, state law dictates that once I pay for something, I don't need to show ownership of it. I just paid for this TV, the receipt is in my pocket, but my hands are full, and I don't feel like getting it out. I'm going to leave now, thank you.

At this point Tony has positioned himself between me and the door. As I step towards the door he places his hand on the box in my hands and lightly pushes back, preventing me from moving.

Me: You cannot prevent me from leaving the store with my purchase. Please move out of the way. Tony: I can't just let you leave the store with a TV without checking your receipt.

At this point a woman, who has been standing with her family near some vending machine starts throwing snide comments at me such as "Just show him the receipt; it's not that hard" and "god, you don't have to be such a prick about it." This continues on for the rest of my "stay" here, but I choose to ignore her.

Me: Are you unlawfully detaining me? Tony: I just want to need to see your receipt before you leave. Me: I have paid for this, I have the receipt, but as I have said, state law protects my right to not need to prove ownership of something I have purchased. You cannot physically prevent me from leaving the store. I am now going to leave the store.

I try and step around Tony, but he again pushes on the box in my hands to prevent me from moving anywhere.

Me: Are you illegally detaining me? Tony: Yeah, if that's what you want to call it. (Realizing he just said something bad) Listen, Walmart policy says that I need to check your receipt. Me: Then Walmart's policy is in violation of Virginia state law. They should have informed you that you don'tneed to see a receipt. Tony: (Misunderstanding me) How could they have told me already that you'd bought this? Me: No, when Walmart trained you, they should have informed you that you can't force people to show their receipts. You can only ask. Tony: I'm just a first-class worker, I don't know about any of that.

Now I am starting to fill like the prick the woman near us keeps calling me. This atrium has two exterior doors on opposite sides, so I turn around ready to walk towards the other door to leave, but another receipt checker has walked up at this time. I can't remember her name, so I'll refer to her as S, since I believe that's what her name started with.

S asks me what's going on, and I explain that I'd like to take my purchase to my car, but Tony is demanding me to show a receipt. S agrees with Tony that I need to show my receipt for "purchases like this". I give her the same explanation I gave Tony, that by state law, I don't need to prove ownership of something I just purchased.

Me: You are welcome to check the security tapes to verify that I just purchased this TV at one of the registers in the back, but I don't need to prove ownership. S: You need to show your receipt before you leave the store. Me: According to state law, I don't. S: Well I'm sorry, sir, but that's Walmart policy. Me: Then Walmart's policy is in violation of state law. S: It's not that hard to show a receipt. Me: No, it's not hard at all, but state law says I don't have to. I'm going to leave the store now. S: No, the store manager is coming. Me: When is the store manager coming? S: The assistant store manager... Me: When is the assistant store manager coming? S: Yeah, she'll be right here. Me: Ok.

I finally put the box on the floor. (Woman: "Now just take four fingers, put them in your pocket, take out the receipt..." I'm mentally yelling at her, but completely ignore her externally.) After waiting (what felt like) 2 minutes the assistant store manager appeared around the corner. S walked towards her, and I waved at the store manager to show I wasn't threatening nor uncomfortable with her arrival (in fact I welcomed it.) S pointed towards me and walked somewhere else, but Tony stayed behind me the whole time. I can't remember the assistant store manager's name, either, so I'll refer to her as M.

M: Hello, sir, how are you today? Me: I'm doing fine, but I'd like to leave the store with my purchase. M: Well, what's the problem? Me: Tony, here, says I can't leave unless I show my receipt. M: Do you have your receipt? Me: Yes, but I just purchased the TV in the back of the store and had my hands full with the box, so I didn't want to take it out. Tony physically prevented me from leaving the store. Now I'm refusing to show me receipt for the principle of the matter. State law dictates that I do not need to prove ownership of something I have purchased, meaning I do not need to show a receipt. M: Hmm. (She thinks for a bit.) Where did you buy the TV? Me: In the back of the store. M: (Thinks a bit more.) There are two registers in the back. Me: *sigh* I purchased the TV at the register closest to the front of the store. There was a man checking out with his family at the register nearest the rear of the store. I paid for the TV with my debit card, and then picked up the TV myself. The cashier asked if I was going to carry it, and I said "yes, it's light." I then walked to the front of the store. M: (Thinks a bit more, taken aback at the detailed report.) Ok, sir, it is your choice to leave the store with your purchase. Me: Thank you.

I pick up the box, turn around, and tell Tony to "have a good night" as I exit the store.

The thing is, I bear no ill will towards the Walmart employees. They were simply not educated as to their role and lawful restrictions. I thought Walmart would have fixed this issue after all of the heat they've gotten about it over the years, but clearly this store didn't get an internal memo. The situation could have definitely gotten worse. I'm almost glad the second checker arrived, as I don't know what Tony would have done had I tried to exit the store through the other door. (He is an older gentleman, so I don't think he would have tried to tackle me, but if he had actually placed a hand on me or otherwise gotten more physical, I would have been placed in a very awkward position.)

I don't think an email to a Walmart executive will do anything. I'm open to any advice on how to inform this store's management about the situation, so that they can properly train their employees. I feel badly about my interaction with Tony and M, since the honestly believed they were doing their jobs. I feel like I should stop by and give them gift cards for performing admirably in the tough situation Walmart has put them in, but that might be received poorly. ”

The laws vary by state, but heres a good synopsis:

http://www.thelegality.com/2008/03/12/stop-that-paying-customer-the-legality-of-compulsory-receipt-checking/

The stores have a right to ask, but they have NO RIGHT to force you to provide them with the receipt or detain you for not showing it. If they witnessed me pick up the item, and try to walk out without paying they could detain me on suspicion of shoplifting, however if I paid for my item, and them go to leave the store with it, the do NOT have a legal right to demand I show them a receipt or to detain me under shopkeeper exhemptions to the false imprisonment laws.

The key paragraph is the synopsis at the bottom:

Litigious customers facing off against the police or Costco might not have much luck. Police need probable cause to conduct a search, and Costco members have voluntarily agreed to submit to searches. The question of law is more interesting when a retailer like Circuit City attempts to implement a receipt-check policy without the benefit of a member agreement. In states where the shopkeeper’s privilege exists, stores like Circuit City may only claim the privilege to search customers when the store agent has a reasonable belief that a customer has engaged in unlawful activity. It seems implausible that store agents could honestly claim they need to check every receipt on the grounds that they have a reasonable belief that every one of their customers is a thief.

As I stated before, Wal Mart has a right to ask, and you have a right to obligue or not. However simply refusing to obligue the request is NOT eviden or justification for them to suspect you of being a theif in and of itself and detaining you for refusing would indeed put them in violation of false imprisonment statutes.

Now if they witnessed you not try to pay for the item and try to walk out with it they could detain you, but simply refusing to produce a receipt is NOT legal grounds that will meet the shopkeepers exceptions to unlawful imprisonment. Every state has varying laws, so double check, but in general the simple act of refusing to show a receipt does NOT give the store any right to detain you.

“My local grocery hands out blank plastic bags. They look neater as liners in the IKEA plastic trash containers I use in my bathrooms.”

Yeah, well my idiot state representative, Jason Atkinson, a Republican, is sponsoring a bill in the legislature to OUTLAW stores from giving out plastic bags! Another Republican loses sight of what freedom is all about and wants to deprive us of another legal product that they personally find offensive!

And on that, I’m sure all here will agree!

“The people constituting Wal-Mart are entitled to be secure against unreasonable seizures ~ like trying to waltz out the door without showing your receipt!”

You’ve got a rather STUPID view of unreasonable. Wal-Mart is the one that set up the cash register at the back of the store. Wal-Mart is the one that took a customer’s money for a purchase. Wal-Mart makes a customer walk through the store to the only doors available to customers at the front of the store. Wal-Mart then demands the customers prove they paid???

I don’t know what makes you so stupid, but it really works. I mean, it REALLY works.

No, They can only detain you if they suspect you of shoplifting, and the act of refusing to show them your receipt in and of itself is NOT reasonable cause for them to think you have stolen the item.

They are setting themselves up for a loss in court and being found guilty of false imprisonment and paying you money if they detain you for the simple act of not showing the checker your receipt.

The shopkeeper exhemptions do not give them cart blanche rights to detain you.. they must have a reasonable belief you have stolen or were trying to steal something. Simply refusing to dig out your receipt for the checker to look at is not in and of itself going to place them into exemptions to false imprisonment, and they will lose a law suit should the person detain decide to sue them.

Ownership does not convey in that case ~ he simply keeps the custody he had when they handed him their receipt.

It's like when you buy stuff at a postal auction ~ (which is not all that good an example but I think it makes the point) ~ you can only BUY an ownership as good as that of the person who sold you something. It's always good to keep the receipt on any serious purchase just in case the owner shows up and demands his stuff.

If there's the slightest bit of legitimacy to the buyer's claim, you may have to pay him to retrieve it.

As it turns out WalMart can actually create duplicates of the receipt they gave you at will!

The law is called “False Imprisonment” and the shopkeeper exeptions.. the exemptions do vary from state to state but no state gives shops the rights to detain people carte blanche.

They must have a reasonable belief that you are stealing or trying to steal and item, and refusing to provide the checker with a receipt is NOT and does not constitute a reasonable belief in and of itself for them to be exempt from engaging in “false imprisonment”.

They detain you for nothing more than refusing to show your receipt, you are going to have a nice little tort suit against them that they will indeed lose. Pure and simple.

If someone refuses to show their receipt then that would DEFINATELY be reasonable belief in my mind. It is NOT an infringement of any right to have to show your receipt on the way out... especially when one knows that this is the proceedure of the store in the first place.

I think the guy was being a major prick and would have loved seeing the look on his face if the item's security tab had set off the the theft alarm because it wasn't deactivated during the purchase.

Best Buy has a checker at the exit and I'm perfectly willing to let him check my receipts.

A friend of mine's wife is a "loss prevention" employee at a local Meijer store and she divides her day between watching surveilance cameras and roaming the store with a cart posing as a shopper. If anyone thinks that shoplifting is an infrequent minor problem, you should have the opportunity to hear her stories.

You could think up any possible way to steal any item from a major retail store such as these and she could tell you 20 more that you never would have thought of; one of them probably being the stunt this jackwagon just pulled that maybe, just maybe, might have put the store manager's job in jeopardy.......Risking pissing off the prick, she should have stuck with store policy and demanded his receipt with the threat of calling the local law enforcement or offered an immediate refund if he didn't like it. Either way, he would have had to provide the receipt...

You are dillusional.

Lets take this matter to court shall we?

I paid a representative of the company for my purchase.. lets show the video tape. Yep, there I am.

I am leaving the store with my purchase.. Yep there I am

I am detained by an employee of the same company I just paid for the item that has now refused to let me leave the premises.

Now, this secondary employee has ZERO cause to believe I have stolen this item, they have not witnessed me engage in theft nor have the been informed by another that they witnessed me attempt without paying for it. The only justification they have is that I didn’t respond the way they wanted me to when they asked me to show my receipt.

Sorry, that in and of itself is not probable or just cause to detain me, and they have now engaged in illegal imprisonment, and Wal Mart just had to pay out a check to me for it.

the cashier asked for my zip code. I don't know why but I told her I didn't want to give it

That's used by the corporation to gather sales data from all their stores. Your zip code sold "x" number of "green widgets" which is far less than the stores on the other side of your state. So when it comes to future product restocking, that store on the other side of your state will receive more "green widgets" because they sell more. So the next time you shop for it, don't be surprised if your store is out of stock........

Let's simplify if further: "XYZ" corporation buys 500,000 raincoats that have to be distributed to their stores throughout the United States. And since product distribution is based on zip code sales, which zip code do you think would have the most sales of raincoats and thus the most raincoats in stock? One in Oregon or one in Arizona?

Sorry, that in and of itself is not probable or just cause to detain me, and they have now engaged in illegal imprisonment, and Wal Mart just had to pay out a check to me for it.

If I was on any such jury I would agree that it is indeed reasonable to suspect theft if someone refuses to show their receipt. "Reasonable cause" is not the same thing as "proof of guilt", and I think that's where you're getting confused. If there is reasonable cause, then they CAN detain you until it is sorted out. If the customer wants to PREVENT it being sorted out by simply showing the receipt, then tough luck for him... that was HIS choice.

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