BEST BUYS check your bags..do you know this yes or no?

Question

BEST BUYS check your bags..did you know this yes or no?
I want to see how many people are unaware of the fact that Best buy cant legally force you to open your bags and allow you to check your prurchased products. Once you pay for them, they are your personal property.
Best buy knows this, yet they try to do it in an almost intimidating factor.

They've been know to follow people to their cars, box them in with other cars and threaten to call the police.
Thats illegal detainment---and they know it.
They cant do that, as they are liable against a lawsuit.

They can threaten to call the police and take your license plate -- which is against their SOP, but they do it anyways.
If they think you are shoplifting, AND THEY SEE YOU HIDE MERCHANDISE AND TRY LEAVE THE STORE, they can try to stop you.
But once you pay for youre items, they belong to you, and are your personal property. They have no right to do it, but get away with it, because it looks kinda legitimate.

but did you know that they cant do that?

I dont have a beef with best buy, I read about this article about an off duty cop who didnt want to wait in a line as he chedcked out.

They followed him to his car, and the employees didnt want to let him go.
They actually boxed him in to prevent him from leaving.

HE called the police, and when the police discovered he was off duty cop, they were in trouble.

Then I called my police department,and they verified that unless they see you hide merchandise, thats only when they can look into your bags

Once you pay for the items they are your personal property.

They cannot detain you or risk liability.

I didnt know thta, but its good to know around the holiday season when the lines are extra long just toget out

CRABBY - your wrong. Check the statutues of the laws in your city, or call a police officer.

Stores can take measures to prevent theft, so long as they dont interfere with civil rights. And police cant even search you without probably cause..so what makes you think a store clerk can?

Verify it for yourself, and youll find out youre wrong

Answer 1

Lots of stores do this. When they ask to see in your bag, politely refuse and then leave. If they box you in and threaten to call the police, say, "Sure, go right ahead." When the police arrive and see that you have stolen nothing, get the names of the employees who harassed you, then go home and get on the phone with the Best Buy corporate office...and your lawyer. Good luck; Let me know how it turns out. It will be nice to see a greedy, unethical corporation get a legal @$$-whoopin'. Just make sure you've correctly interpreted the laws regarding buyer and seller rights before you put them to the test.

Answer 2

Acutally, my boyfriend works at Best Buy. Just like Walmart, they do have a right to check the receipts and look in the bags. It is your personal property, but checking the recepit is something that a lot of places do to cut down on shoplifting. There is nothing illegal about it. An inconvenience, yes. And even though he works there, he hates the one here in Panama City. BUT, they do have a right to check them, unfortunately. Thats why the bags are clear and they look at your receipt.

Answer 3

So?

Yes - I am aware that they don't have a legal right to ask to see inside my bag. I worked retail for many years. But I also know the number of "shoppers" are "shoplifters", and their SOP. If they ask to look in my bag, I have absolutely nothing to hide. So what is the big deal? I didn't steal anything, and I have my receipt from my purchase, so they can look away.

See, if you realized that shoplifting is the #1 reason for price hikes for retailed goods, then you would realize that by cooperating, you are helping to keep the prices down. The markup they make on the stuff they sell is minimal. Those TV's and computers they sell, they are lucky if they get 20 % from the sale of it. To put it into perspective, clothing gets marked up as much as 250% from cost. So those clothing retailers are making a killing - even if they sell it at 50 % off original retail price. Electronics don't make much money on the big ticket items, but on the little items - the things that shoplifters steal. That security guy is looking at it as someone stealing HIS paycheck. That was how I looked at it when I worked retail. Stealing from the store was stealing from me in the way of a raise in pay or even that bonus.

I think that cooperating is not too much of an inconvenience. If you have nothing to hide, then what is the harm? What is the worry if you paid for the item in the bag to allow the man or woman a peek at it and your receipt? I think it is more of a hassel to fight with them than to just open the bag and flash the receipt. But that is just me.

PS - if someone is suspected of shoplifting, and has left the point of purchase, they have the right to attempt to recover the items without physical altercation. So they can take your license number (you don't think they have cameras on the lots????) and report it to the police.

You should check with your state. In Wisconsin, one has to be past the point of purchase (registers) in order to be aprehended for shoplifting. But in Illinois, all one has to do for a shoplifting charge is conseal the item and/or the alarm device. In Illinois, that proves intent. It varies from state to state. In your state, they may have the right to do what you are accusing them of. Some of the major retailers hire trained security (Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart, etc), and are used by some of the law enforcement agencies as aids in solving crimes/apprehending criminals. So I think they aren't going to do something to endanger their relationship with the police, and they certainly are not going to do something that would get them fired for landing their company into a big, fat lawsuit.

Answer 4

A buyer has the right to inspect what he paid for under the law on sales. Thus, the act of the seller in preventing a buyer from inspecting the purchased goods is a violation of law.

Answer 5

i can relate to you with your anger over best buy!i brought a 1000 dollar samsung computer monitor with a 4 year warranty,within 6 months it broke i took it back to best buy for repair 3 times.after the 3 time they decided to replace the monitor, i thought great a new monitor but to my susprise i was given a monitor that was worth 500 dollars so i had to eat a 500 dollar loss.they told me that the monitor i had brought was discontinued so it was either take it or leave it!!! i will never set foot in best buy again!!!

Answer 6

So does Sams Club but no one is griping about that. It's a shoplifting deterrent and with crap going on these days I think it's a good idea that they check bags even after you pay for stuff.

Answer 7

Everyone knows that they have certain limits--but you are wrong aobut one thing--they do have a righ to check your bags--and if you refuse, they are within their rights to call the police--and under certain circumstances to detain you.

There are limits to this of curse--but don't kid yourself--a merchan does have the right to take reasonable steps to prevent shoplifting. That's always been true--and should be.

Answer 8

That is common practice and should be a violation of privacy laws if there is not due cause to search a person.

Answer 9

There are quite a few stores that do this. There are quite a few stores that make you leave your bags with a person. It's not all that uncommon.

Answer 10

As long as it stops people from shop lifting, and keeps prices low... rock on Best Buy.