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Some shoppers have come up with their own solutions for reciept checks
- Dinniah Bartholomew, News Reporter
A WALMART customer has slammed the store for its receipt checks while insisting there is an easier solution the retailer could do.
A shopper called out the retailer after having to be stopped for a receipt check, a common anti-theft procedure for Walmart.
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"@Walmart stop your receipt checking policy immediately. No customer pays you to shop at your store," they wrote on X, (formerly known as Twitter.)
The customer claimed that the receipt check was not only wrong but illegal.
"You have no right to check their receipt. That is illegal detainment, deformation of character. And invasion of privacy," they wrote.
"Want people to stop stealing get rid of self-checkout"
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While it's not against the law for Walmart to check your receipt, customers are not always obligated to show it.
Under US law, stores are only allowed to detain suspected shoplifters under The Shopkeeper's Privilege.
This allows retailers to stop a suspected criminal in their tracks if there is probable cause to believe someone stole merchandise.
However, this doesn't law doesn't apply to the everyday citizen who doesn't want to show their receipt.
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"There must be some factual basis for believing the person has stolen or is attempting to steal," experts atLegal Matchhave said.
"A merchant cannot use the Shopkeeper’s Privilege to stop anyone without a reasonable cause.
‘We apologize’ Walmart says after shopper points out her receipt ‘wasn’t right’ – she’d been overcharged on groceries
"This requires probable cause, not just a hunch or suspicion."
'RECEIPT CHECKS ARE VOLUNTARY'
Many customers have revealed they have decided to opt out of showing their receipts altogether.
"In the event of a receipt check, Walmart has not seen you conceal and fail to pay for merchandise, because you have not stolen anything," one user user wrote.
"Receipt checks are voluntary and if you're not in the mood for one, it is within your rights to be on your merry way."
Top 5 receipt checking tips from a lawyer
Camron Dowlatshahi, a Los Angeles attorney, spoke to The U.S. Sun about receipt checks and customer's rights and options when it came to being asked to show your receipt.
- There has been a lot of debate around the legality of a retailer asking to see your receipt, but if it is within the store, it is completely legal. “There’s seemingly nothing illegal about that. You’re still on the company’s premises and their reason to do it is to prevent thefts,” Dowlatshahi confirms.
- However, if they are chasing you out of the store, that changes things, Dowlatshahi said. "Location matters," he explained. "If you’re outside of the store you’re in the parking lot and they come and start accusing you of theft and that you have to show your receipt, I think that's a bit of a different situation because now you're on your way."
- While customers are allowed to say no to receipt checks, it may cause issues if you do and the store suspects you of stealing. "You can say no, maybe it creates an unnecessary hassle for yourself because now you may have the police come to your house and follow up," said Dowlatshahi.
- If you are being barred from leaving a store because you refused a receipt check, you could have a legal case — but the store must have held you for a long time. “Let's say it’s for hours, that's certainly false imprisonment, and they didn't have any impetus for doing so," Dowlatshahi explained. "If a customer has been emotionally traumatized by being held for false imprisonment, I would definitely encourage [them] to sue.”
- “I would say, show your receipt," he concluded. "It’s just a really simple thing to do. If you didn’t steal anything, it’s relatively simple to do,” the lawyer advised.
(According to Camron Dowlatshahi, a founding partner atMills Sadat Dowlat LLP)
Another user claimed that they openly refuse to show their reciept when asked.
"I don’t even play that check my receipt stuff no more," the customerwroteon X, formerlyTwitter.
"They ask. I say 'nah,' and go right to my truck.
"The fact that it’s not done at every Walmart, changed how I view it. So I show nothing."
One person added that with the amount of cameras located at the store and on self-checkout kiosks, they believe this shouldn't need to show their receipt.
Read More on The US Sun
"If you think I stole something don't have the 55-year-old retiree at the door, have loss prevention and the footage of me stealing at the door," theysaid.
The U.S. Sun has reached out to Walmart for comment.
