“Absolutely disgusting”: Kmart under fire over police interrogation
Kmart is under fire over new claims that police were sent to a family home and wrongly accused a father of stealing $21 worth of merchandise from the store.
Brisbane woman Bharathi Ranjit explained the situation on Facebook saying that two police officers had showed up at her home and accused her husband of shoplifting.
She said that the claims were based on a purchase made three weeks earlier at Kmart’s Mount Ommaney store in Brisbane's out suburbs.
“(We were) surprised and shocked,” Ms Singh wrote.
“We quickly apologised and said we didn’t know how that could be possible.”
Police explained that her husband had made the purchase, scanned his Flybuys card and walked off into his car without paying for the merchandise. They also claimed that staff took a photo of his car registration.
“Why didn’t the staff/duty manager stop him and verify then?” the mum wrote.
“The officers were asking us to present a receipt as a body of evidence of the purchase. Gosh. We usually don’t print receipts.
“I calmed down and took a couple of minutes to review our transactions on the card.”
After speaking with the police for half-an-hour, Ms Singh showed the officers a receipt on a mobile banking app.
Police deemed “that is good enough” and left the residence.
Ms Singh has warned others to keep their receipts in case something like that happens to them.
“But I am so mad at Kmart Mt Ommaney management team for messing up my weekend and causing me unnecessary mental stress,” she said.
“Please keep your receipts. If I didn’t have a smart phone with a banking app the situation wouldn’t have been favourable.”
In response to her Facebook post, Kmart Australia has apologised for the incident.
“We're sorry to hear about your experience with our Mt Ommaney store,” Kmart wrote.
“We can understand how disappointing this situation would have been for yourself and your husband, and we apologise for the inconvenience caused.”
However, others were quick to give their thoughts on the matter.
“Absolutely disgusting,” one man wrote.
“I'm surprised the police bothered you for such a small amount of money,” a woman said.
Another said that “it’s not right to do that” and explained that Kmart staff should’ve spoken with the man directly instead of contacting the police.