Rich in Michigan writes that a Michigan Sam’s Club employee foiled his efforts to circumvent the receipt-checking line.
I was detained in a Sams Club receipt-checking line today. When I attempted to steer my cart around the line and out the exit door, an employee with a nametag of ‘Linda’ stepped in front of my cart and asked me to surrender my receipt. When I asked if I was being detained, she assured me that I was…
At this point, she took the receipt out of my hand, checked it (there were two items in the cart), I left the store. I’m not exactly sure if what went on was legal or ethical, but I damn sure know that it was terrible customer service.
You know, in all this receipt-checking kerfuffle we’ve mentioned that places like Sam’s Club can insert mandatory receipt-checking clauses in their contracts, but we’ve yet to see one proper, and darned if we can’t find a copy of their membership agreement online.
Scavenger hunt: provide us with a copy of a store’s, any store’s, membership contract that says that by signing it you agree to mandatory receipt checks.
PREVIOUSLY:
Circuit City Customer Arrested After Refusing To Show Receipt
TigerDirect Apologizes For Unlawfully Detaining Customer For Refusing To Show Receipt
TigerDirect Unlawfully Restrains And Verbally Abuses Customer For Not Submitting To Receipt-Showing Demands
More From Consumerist
-
The Debt Ceiling Crisis Is So Much More Fun With Choose Your Own Adventure Scenarios
-
More Obnoxious: Agreeing to Membership Rules You Have No Intention of Following, Or Having Your Receipt Checked?
-
Veteran Claims Anti-War Landlord Discriminated Against Him In Refusing Him An Apartment
-
Hey, How Hard Is It To Remake A Starbucks Drink?
-
Former Costco Employee Responds To Man Who Refuses To Show Membership Card Or Have Receipt Checked
@Greasy Thumb Guzik: Odd that I had to shuffle through the same arguments back and forth before I got to yours. I was going to mention Illinois and Florida. You’re right, you don’t need to be a member to buy alcohol. We bought many a keg/case there because it was the cheapest around. And you’re right, you don’t sign or imply consent to any policies by simply entering the store. I assume it’d be the same as any other store at that point.
Florida was the same way, down there in the past and figured we’d give it shot since we can do it here in IL. It worked just fine, no membership needed. Of course the receipt checkers never know that, but I’m not sure they’d care if you brought it up.
Its a “price club” store. Where you have a membership. You agreed to reciept-checking when you joined up. I see no real issue here.
At a wal-mart (or other store)…. that’s a different story.
@Twitch:
…and no store has the right to physically detain you if you say no, regardless of any contract or membership agreement you may have signed. Stores do not have police powers to force you to submit to their policies.
They can ask you to leave and rescind your membership but they can’t keep you from leaving with your stuff.
The only caveat is that they can claim you membership card is store property and may be able to detain you for “theft” if you decline to surrender it, however, I think a judge would frown on such a detention since there is no cash value to the card.
@Twitch: ANY store can request. But I am free to refuse at ANY store. If I signed a membership agreement then they could void it and ban me from the store, but they cannot detain me.
Why is it such a big deal to show them your receipt? If you have done nothing wrong, there is nothing to worry about. Display that receipt with PRIDE if you’ve paid for your goods with your hard earned cash.
Looked at differently – You show your ticket to the gate agent in the airport to get on the plane, even though you have probably showed that ticket to get in the building and to four other people before you got to the gate and have no problem with it, right?
Damn. I cannot believe people are going to fault Wally-World for trying to save us 15 cents on roll of toilet paper by fighting crime with little old lady and men receipt checkers. God bless ‘em. At least they want the job in spite of low wages and the crap they get for doing it.
What an idiot. If he needed to show his membership card to get in,
shouldn’t he remember that Sam’s Club (curses be upon it) is not a
regular store?
Although in this case it would still be illegal to be detained by
employees, the person still violated a contract that he signed, and
could have legally had his membership revoked.
@SOhp101:
Your a Dumb ass, just learn how to read the stuff you sign!!!!
TCM 22, I’m with you. Have you looked at these people checking receipts? They don’t care. The club gets what they pay for in that regard. I could have anything in there and as long as I handed over the receipt and they swiped it with their highlighter everyone is happy. As a matter of fact, if it was me, I would take great delight in doing so for someone with a new laptop in their shopping cart and a recept that listed nothing more than one can of tuna – a tip of the hat for the cojones.
@kurometarikku: You don’t need a “reason” to exercise your 4th Amendment Rights.
Find something more important to be righteous about, please.
@Nelsormensch: An employee at the local Costco explained it to me once — they can’t detain you if you refuse the check, but they will revoke your membership.
To be sure, there’s no obligation to show your receipt at a regular store — but why would you agree to a membership contract if you weren’t willing to abide by its terms?
In a way it’s a double-edged sword: Several times at both Sam’s Club and Costco, I’ve had the receipt checker point that I had been overcharged for an item or notice that an item on the receipt wasn’t in the cart (it had been left on the original cart or was a smaller item (like an iTunes gift card) that had been left on the counter.
While it might be invasive to some, it can certainly be beneficial as well.
@ldavis480: CT is the same requirement. Here is how it works
Membership is not required. However, payment is by cash or requires membership+checks–and I’m not sure the rules they have on credit card purchases.
In CT, the liquor store is actually a physically separate store and since checkout is at the exit/entrance, it would be very redundant to check the receipts. Plus, who could hide a case of corona and walk out without being noticed?
@motherfury:
RTFA. there was a LINE to get out. So yes it IS a big deal if I have to wait in line to leave with my newly-purchased property. Why? so some employee that needs a major shot of “hurry up, you twit” can proactively accuse me of being a thief, my only defense being a cash register receipt that may or may not have even been given to me by the thumb-fingered fool that rang up my purchase and quite probably rang it up completely wrong.
“Violating your rights”. Who really gives a rats ass if they look at your receipt as you leave.
Now I’m not saying that detaining a person for not showing their receipt is right (it’s not) but I have worked at Costco (I don’t now) checking receipts at the exit door. Out of the hundreds of receipts I checked that summer I think I had 2 people come through that had an extra item they didn’t pay for. Generally what we were checking for was for duplicate items. If we saw milk on the receipt twice in a row we made sure that they had 2 packages of milk. I caught several thousand dollars worth of mistakes by the cashiers while checking receipts. When a mistake was found it was logged along with the ID number of the cashier (which was on the receipt) so that the cashier could be informed of their mistake. People were generally appreciative when we noticed mistakes like that since doubles of items at warehouse stores can easily add 10 or 20 dollars to the total.
BTW I did have a few people just push past me and leave. I just said to myself “oh well, not my problem.”
@Buran: Unless its a government agent checking your receipt, how does this have anything to do with your fourth ammendment rights? Like I originally said, nobody has come up with any concrete reason this is a bad thing.
Apparently, none of these people have ever been in a Guitar Center. Worst job of my life, sitting at that door.
Ve just vant to vee ze papers. Vat do vou have to hide?
@Designersheets: If a non-member wishes to shop at Sam’s Club, they must obtain a guest pass. I’m sure that this includes an agreement much like the membership agreement.
@wkzero: For some reason, I never really mind it at Guitar center. I hate it at Wal-Mart, though. *shrug* Maybe it’s because the GC people are just more laid-back about it.
“Whinging about some esoteric perceived right just doesn’t seem like it warrants making such a hullabaloo over such a simple procedure.”
Having to submit to a strip search would be a “simple procedure” too, wouldn’t it? Would you go along with that?
Oh, you wouldn’t? OK, then it really isn’t about “going along with a simple procedure” is it? You just draw the line of what you will and will not put up with in a different spot than some other people.
I’m curious; what other “perceived rights” are you willing to give up on the order of some guy in an “official” uniform?
I’m an American citizen; I’m not SUPPOSED to take shit from people. Any store that INSISTS that I show the receipt for the stuff I paid for fifteen feet away from the minimum-wage door monkey can KISS MY ASS. I’ll find another place to spend my money that doesn’t treat me like a criminal.
@Falconfire: If you want your oh-so-scholarly legal arguments to be at all convincing here, you should maybe know that the word is “waive”. Not “wave”, nor “waver”. A person waives their rights.
On one particularly combative day back in ’01 I demanded the door clerk check every single item (I had a really, really bad day) in my cart at Costco. A full cart worth around $400 and after about 15min people just decided to push right through the clerk. After that I was labeled a ‘difficult’ customer but since my account was large (I used it to help my friends church a lot so I always bought around 500-600 worth of items on each trip) they didn’t revoke my membership and allowed me to just skip receipt check from then on. I was a dick to deal with that day and fully deserved my membership revoked, it wasn’t about my rights or anything at the time, I was just being inconvenienced on a really, really bad day. What gets me is the racial profiling. We go to this walmart down the road in a largely Hispanic area and stand in line while 4 or 5 different Hispanic families get searched and we just get flagged on by (with about the same amount of stuff) without showing our receipt. I actually get more pissed about that than actually having to show my receipt.
@SMSDHubbard: I don’t know about using a Walmart gift card, but to buy alcohol you don’t need to obtain any pass, and do not agree to anything in IL.
You walk in, say “I’m hear for alcohol” to the 70 year old ID Card checker and get some dirty look, grab your stuff, and go pay. There is never an agreement signed or implicitly signed.
I didn’t sign any contract when I got my membership. I had a card given to me by my work, and when I took another job later, I asked to have my membership converted to my own name. They took my check and handed me a card. No “contract” involved. So I didn’t actually agree to any such clause. If I had been given a “contract” to sign, I would have lined out that clause. I always read contracts.
@speedwell: And apparently you don’t understand that paying for the membership is going to be seen as tacit agreement to the terms…
Good Lord. I’ve been shopping at Sam’s club for years. They have always checked receipts. For a company that does not bag the items purchased in their store, I’m pretty sure that’s just a good idea on their part. I do not think they are profiling anyone in particular. It’s just policy. Now companies like Best Buy or Safeway, companies you do not sign a contract or pay for a membership to belong to should not be able to detain you. I don’t know. Where I disagree with this on one side, I just see a business looking out for itself on the other. And I think to keep your receipt out of your wallet/purse for 5 extra seconds isn’t a big deal.
I can’t stand these posts about receipt checking anymore. All you people are insane. My receipt gets checked so fast I don’t even have to stop my cart. If you had to wait 30 minutes in another line then I’d agree with you but again, it’s a 2 second thing. And I can’t believe people actually wanted to donate money to the pompous jackAss in the other story who wants to see circuit city and the state. There’s much more important charities out there to donate to than some righteous know-it-all who’s too important to wait 2 seconds. OK, rant over…i’m done and I hope consumerist stops wasting time on these stupid receipt stories
At BJ’s – from [www.bjs.com] -
2. Purchasing, Guests, and Receipt & Inspection Procedures
…BJ’s reserves the right to inspect any bag, backpack, briefcase or container upon entry or exit. BJ’s inspects all receipts as Members exit the Club to ensure that Members have not been overcharged or undercharged for an item and that all selections appear on the receipt.
@dbeahn: Like hell it is. Let them try it.
@speedwell: Right. And buying something from Walmart doesn’t mean they’re going to hold you to the 90 day return policy.
Seriously, you pay for a membership, it’s your responsibility to make sure you’re OK with the terms of that membership. Just because you didn’t do your homework doesn’t mean you aren’t liable and responsible.
I’m assuming this wasn’t the first time this guy’s been to Sam’s Club. I’m also assuming the previous times he’s (probably without any incidents) shown his receipt at the door when they asked for it.
I’m thinking this guy’s read all the recent tough-guy-refuses-to-show-receipt stories on the Consumerist and decided he wanted to see his name in lights. And what better place to show you, too, can be a receipt-wielding hard ass than the one place you KNOW they’re going to ask to see your receipt.
I’m calling bullshit on this one. He’s not a victim or a hero — he’s the guy who pours olive oil in an aisle in a grocery store and pretends to slip.
Why is it such a big deal to show them your receipt?
@MotherFury: Why is it such a big deal to NOT show them the receipt?
Really, for the umpteenth time, the big deal isn’t being asked to show the receipt, it’s being detained illegally for not showing it.
by not showing your receipt, sam’s employees likely have probably cause that you are stealing something. its like detaining a kid who shoplifts till the cops get there.
@dbeahn: I’d just not feed the trolls at this point. Here is why.
Sheeple don’t understand that purchasing something in a store in the eyes of the law is considered in 99% of all cases a contract. They don’t understand that the terms on an anything they accept, be it a silly OK screen with a bunch of terms on a touch screen credit card payment device to a 2 foot long receipt with contract terms on it can contractually BIND them to terms.
Don’t get me wrong, at BB when I walk 2 feet from the register to the door I refuse to show my receipt unless I set off the alarm.
However one day BB and CC will get smart. They will include a bar code at the bottom of that receipt. They will require an associate at the door to look at your receipt and scan that bar code to activate your return and warranty coverage. Any merchandise not scanned is simply marked in their system an uncovered and ta da. No more issue. If you want your Xbox covered by any warranty then you’re gonna get it scanned.
It may not be good customer service but if they start to experience enough loss then it will happen.
My hypothetical question is this.
How many people have bought something at Sears or Toys-R-Us and had to take the receipt out to the pickup counter? Why is that any less offensive that showing your receipt on the way out? Is it acceptable to pocket your sears receipt and just walk into their warehouse and take your item? Why not?
There’s a lot of confusion in these comments about government vs. private and what rights you have and the 4th Amendment and so forth.
First off, door bag searches are legal only if they’re voluntary. No matter what document you signed, what you agreed to, when the moment comes you have the right to say no thanks.
Nothing in the law gives the merchant the right to detain a customer for the purpose of searching a shopping bag unless there is a reasonable suspicion of retail theft. And reasonable suspicion is not generated upon the refusal to submit to search – it has to exist beforehand.
What this means is if you refuse the search or show receipt, and the story employee detains you (acts in such a way as to make a reasonable person feel they are not free to leave) or assaults you (makes a reasonable person feel that they will be subject to physical harm), then they are breaking the law.
Whether the arriving officer will feel sympathetic to your cause is open to debate, and the chances the local DA will press charges is very slim unless they make you bleed or really damage your stuff, but as a civil matter you should be able to proceed and sue for damages.
@Rectilinear Propagation:
Its a big deal not to show them the receipt because when you joined you agreed to do it. It’s a club. You joined, there’s rules, you don’t follow them, you’re out of the club and you’re also not allowed to use the secret handshake anymore.
Has anybody actually pointed out that this receipt checking thing is more about deterring would-be shoplifters than it is about suspecting you as being a shoplifter?
It is a show. It’s a ploy. In most cases – they’re checking receipts of people leaving at the same door people are walking in, creating a visible message to those who might entertain the thought of stealing. We’re gonna check your receipt, so don’t even think about it…
Its a big deal not to show them the receipt because when you joined you agreed to do it. It’s a club.
@MotherFury: This store is a club. In most cases it’s no bigger deal to not show it than it is to be asked.
What kills me about Sam’s Club is they require a Social Security number to get a membership. My parents got my husband and myself one for Christmas and when we went to activate it we were told we had to provide our SS#s. When I asked why, I was told it was to make the card secure. In fact, the associate told me the card, with our picture on it, would be so secure I could use it as a form of ID at airport security. Since at that time I did travel a lot for my job (including internationally to places in the Middle East), I said flippantly, “Okay, I will try that next time I am on a flight to go to Pakistan.” The associate then backtracked pretty fast.
What they really need it for, I am supposing, is to get you to apply for their credit card. Now we get pre-approved notices and every time we go through check-out, they tell me I am pre-approved and ask me if I just want to charge the purchase.
I can’t wait for the membership to expire. I have no plans to renew it. My mom knows I hate Wal-Mart so I think she gave us the membership to try to get me to mend my views toward the company. So far it has not worked, and we rarely use the membership, and instead drive an extra 10 minutes to go to a Costco.
@unchi: “by not showing your receipt, sam’s employees likely have probably cause that you are stealing something. its like detaining a kid who shoplifts till the cops get there.”
No, not showing a receipt doesn’t qualify as “probably cause”. Just like showing a receipt doesn’t mean that you don’t have something shoplifted in your jacket pocket.
@Red_Eye: You are, of course, correct about not feeding the trolls. And about the “activate the warranty” thing too. Great idea for the stores.
@Black Bellamy: “First off, door bag searches are legal only if they’re voluntary. No matter what document you signed, what you agreed to, when the moment comes you have the right to say no thanks.”
Correct. And in becoming a member you’re saying you voluntarily agree to the searches and receipt check. If you don’t allow it, then you’ve violated your membership terms, they can revoke your membership and then you have to return all the items in your cart – which they’ll then check against your receipt, either the one in your hand, or the one in their system. Your post is good, and in a non-membership store it’s spot on. But this is a Sam’s *Club* we’re talking about.
Yup, every Sam’s Club performs this check, and as stated in the comments above, it’s in the membership agreement. While I can understand refusing receipt checking in places like Walmart, Krogers, etc, you are signing up and accepting a membership at Sam’s where this is in the agreement.
If this (checking the receipts) was such an issue, why do the people have no issue with providing a card to the cashier with your name, Photo ID, and any other info that is on the pin-stripe (mandatory to checkout at Sam’s)? That’s more of an invasion of privacy than the receipt check by far… I personally don’t like the cashiers who call you by your first name, or even say Mr. —.
You know what? I think the next time I’m asked (in a non-membership store) to show my receipt, I’m going to ask to see that employee’s most recent pay stub. Since checking my things is they “only way” they can “be sure” I’m not stealing, then maybe seeing a pay stub with all that personal info on it is the “only way” I can “be sure” that person is really still an active employee.
Can you imagine the looks you’d get? lol
Whoa, an article that’s not about tipping and it’s at almost 100 posts? What is the world coming to? ^_^
Can’t you just pretend to not speak English or something if you don’t want to show a receipt? I find a nice “Eigo ga hanasemasen” and a baffled expression while bustling out the door is a good technique.
Or you can shout something like “Jimmy, NO!!!” and run out the door screaming “God no! NOOOOO!!!” Bet they wouldn’t stop you then ^_^
My hypothetical question is this.
How many people have bought something at Sears or Toys-R-Us and had to take the receipt out to the pickup counter? Why is that any less offensive that showing your receipt on the way out? Is it acceptable to pocket your sears receipt and just walk into their warehouse and take your item? Why not?
Because it is a completely different situation.
You are not selecting the merchandise yourself. You paid for it in the store and directed to the pickup area, which does not allow public access and is far removed from the purchase point. How else would they know what you purchased?
@jakesprincess: Sams Club has a 100% money back membership policy. Just cancel your membership and get the yearly fees back.
As mentioned earlier, you don’t have to be a member to buy alcohol. But they don’t take Visa/Mastercard (who the hell has Discover anyway?) and the group I was with didn’t actually have the cash to buy alcohol. So the cashier suggested we just join for the day, pay with a check, and then cancel the membership next week. It wasn’t a bad idea, and we did exactly that with zero hastle whatsoever. No reason to ride out the membership, just end it and get your money back.
Or you can shout something like “Jimmy, NO!!!” and run out the door screaming “God no! NOOOOO!!!”
@kimsama: Please, please, PLEASE let me be there when someone does that to skip the line.
To sum up all the posts. The OP is an Ass, if you are a Sam’s member you have agreed.
If you are anywhere else, tell them to f-off.
There will always be idiots that cry 4th Amendment, or some other Bill of Rights crap with private companies. It doesn’t apply.
@kimsama: I find that “Sorry, I don’t speak English” in non-broken English flusters the crap out of receipt checkers and on-street solicitors.
@joeblevins: “idiots that cry 4th Amendment, or some other Bill of Rights crap with private companies. It doesn’t apply.”
Legal precedent says you’re wrong. When you sign up for a club membership, you consent to be searched, but you don’t consent to be detained. The store can call the police and revoke your membership, but it has no police powers.