Your problems: I feel robbed by Waitrose response to shoplifting

While I was shopping at my local Waitrose, I saw a man putting three bottles of gin into his backpack. I challenged him and told him to put the gin back.

He verbally threatened me in the store, saying he was going to follow me to my car, get my number plate and come to my house. I said that wouldn’t get him very far as I had walked (I was angry at this point).

As he left the store, I alerted staff in a loud voice that he had stolen gin and put it in his backpack.

I then paid for my shopping and, as I left the store, I asked the staff at the door what happened. They said the store had no security so they just let him go.

The man was waiting for me at the edge of the car park and, as I walked past him, he poured a bottle of sticky drink all over me, shouting, “Next time that will be petrol”.

Other shoppers came to see if I was OK but when I went back into Waitrose to speak to the manager, he offered me no support, empathy or care. When I asked him to replace my newspaper he said yes, he could do this for me. The rest of my shopping I had to wash when I got home.

The manager knew I was not happy with his response, but he did not budge from “I will not do anything to put my staff in any danger” and expressed no interest in me and the attack as it did not happen inside his store. He did tell me to lower my voice.

The response in store was about the worst case of customer support you could imagine in the circumstances. I went home and rang Waitrose but didn’t hear back about my complaint. I also submitted a report to the police.

The next day, I sent an email to a selection of Waitrose board members, including the chief customer officer, which finally elicited a response. This assured me that Waitrose had taken my complaint very seriously, and that the branch manager had carried out a “full investigation and would also like to extend his sincere apologies to you”.

I feel that Waitrose has simply closed ranks, without learning a single lesson. It made me feel that I simply should not have done anything [to prevent this crime].

Waitrose told me that its stores do have security guards and staff trained to intervene to prevent shoplifting but, “like other retailers, we ask them only to do this when it’s safe to do so”.

Waitrose told you that it does not encourage customers to approach anyone they see shoplifting, as there could be an unknown reaction. It said: “The safety of our Partners and customers is our main focus and we are only permitted to deter shoplifting.

“A Partner or customer should never put themselves at risk in order to recover stock, no matter the value.”

While I admire your bravery and integrity, I do think that Waitrose has the correct general attitude towards such situations. It is not worth putting yourself, or anyone else, at risk for the sake of preventing a theft. Better to tell staff quietly without alerting the shoplifter, so staff can observe and record what is happening.

However, the way staff handled your particular situation was deplorable. Given that the shoplifter was aware that you had informed supermarket staff that he was stealing, they should have encouraged you to stay inside the store until he had left the vicinity. Better still, they could have arranged for a taxi to take you home.

After the attack, they should have treated you kindly, made you a cup of tea, replaced your shopping, called the police themselves and ensured that you got home safely.

Waitrose acknowledges that the response of its staff after the incident – and the support offered to you – fell short of what it would expect. It said: “We were incredibly sorry to hear of our customer’s deeply upsetting experience, and have since been in touch to offer our sincere apologies into how this incident was handled.”

It says it is reviewing the incident with Partners in the branch and its security team to see if they could have done anything differently and to implement changes, should this happen again.

It has sent you flowers and £50 in apology, but that was not the aim of your complaint. You said: “I want [Waitrose] to learn and change. And I want good people to feel that they can stand up to bad people, otherwise what happens to society?”

If you would like advice from Jill, please email your.problems@observer.co.uk, including an address and phone number. Submission and publication are subject to our terms and conditions