I felt like a criminal – customer said after arrest
Following an alleged false arrest in March earlier this year, the public has been urged to know their rights to navigate complicated situations such as these.
A false arrest at Food Lover’s Market (FLM) at Westgate Shopping Centre left its victim with unforgettable scars and a fear of shopping at her once-loved food outlet.
*Sally Pieters has been shopping at FLM for more than 20 years and was stopped by security after forgetting to buy a salad which was lying at the bottom of her trolley. She was taken to the manager’s office, where she was met with a lack of respect.
She complained to the head office in Cape Town, but nothing happened. Pieters believes that the security had an agenda as their job requires targets to report a certain number of people within a month and that this was but a way to push up the monthly stats. She believes that the store’s management should be held accountable for their actions.
“There weren’t any small baskets available, so I took a big trolley. I took the stuff that I needed and put everything on the seat where the children normally sit. I had three different salads, the space was full, so I put it in the bottom of the trolley,” Pieters said and continued to say that she went to the till, was in the queue, paid for the stuff in the trolley at the top, and had completely forgotten about the salad at the bottom.
She said when she got to the manager’s office, there was allegedly another woman who had also been caught and had told her the same thing happened to her. Pieters said that she phoned her son who said he would speak to the manager, who refused.
“The way they treated me as if I was some sort of criminal. I have been shopping for over 20 years, but since this happened, I told myself I would not set foot there again,” she said.
In response to these claims, FLM said that on the day, the store dealt with multiple shoplifting incidents and the police were already in the store when the woman was approached by the store security.
According to Mirella Gastaldi, head of legal at FLM, Pieters was approached as she was eating a salad as she exited the store and the security guard asked her for the till slip to confirm that the salad had been paid for. She refused to show her till slip. Pieters refuted these allegations after FLM’s response and said that the store should revert to its CCTV footage.
“He then asked the control centre to check the CCTV footage to confirm if the salad was scanned at the till point, along with her other purchase. It had not. The woman was escorted to the office and was arrested on that count,” Gastaldi said.
The National Consumer Commission (NCC) laws and policies were consulted, which showed that they have implemented a digitised complaint-handling process to make it easier for consumers to file complaints against suppliers of goods and services.
According to the guidelines provided within the framework of the NCC, it aims to promote dispute resolution, conduct investigations against suppliers engaging in prohibited conduct, and promote compliance through advocacy, education, and awareness.
The Consumer Protection Act grants consumers several fundamental consumer rights in line with the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and the United Nations Guidelines on Consumer Protection.
The NCC has launched an e-service portal, replacing the manual complaint form, to make the filing process more convenient. The portal is powered by workflows in the backend and instant notifications, and consumer registration is verified through the Department of Home Affairs. Consumers can create a profile online using their ID/ passport number, email address, and mobile number.
The NCC has also planned to accommodate consumers who do not have access to the internet or email addresses. The NCC encourages consumers to use their contact centre for assistance, where agents will create a profile on their behalf and file a complaint.
* Pseudonym was used for protection of identity purposes.
