SS: Abercrombie Stole $$$ From My Kid

[MikeD]

At least it appears they did. I'll try and keep this short and to the point. Note: I was not present, this is all second hand info.

So my daughter (Tiffany, 10 years old) goes to the mall with a friend and friend's mother on Sunday. The mother goes into a store next to Abercrombie, while the girls go looking for clothes. Tiff has a gift card that I gave her for her birthday that had $45 remaining on it.

She picks out a shirt that costs $18 and goes to pay for it. The girl at the register "swipes" the card and tells her it has a zero balance. Tiffany protests, AF girl tells her no, so Tiff pays cash and asks for the card back. AF girl tells her that it's no longer valid and keeps it, refusing to return it.

Tiff gets home, upset, and tells me what happened. I drive back to the mall and ask the manager to find the card and return it to me. They find it in the trash and give it back. I go home, call the card customer service (AmEx), who tells me that the card has a $5 balance on it. Last charge? Yup, you guessed...$40 at Abercrombie.

I've since returned to the store and asked for a credit; they stalled and told me they couldn't do it. I've contacted AF Corporate Customer service and have a complaint ticket opened up. They got much more responsive when I told them my next phone call was to local media and/or the police. At this time, still waiting to hear back from them.

I don't care about the $$$. I care about them stealing from my kid.

Oh yeah, I did contact some local TV stations. Hopefully one of them will follow up and want to talk to the folks at the store. :hihi:

[mcs328]

I know what store is on my blacklist now. Can't they find who was at the register and what item was bought using the GC?

[ray]

I think you should spam message boards and blogs with this story. It will get the attention of some A&F haters out there!

[MikeD]

I know what store is on my blacklist now. Can't they find who was at the register and what item was bought using the GC?

Corp LP did say they knew who rang the transaction and wanted to "...conduct a personal interview with her".

Pffft. Big deal, that doesn't help me. I fully expected someone from AF to call me and try to make the situation right. A written apology to my daughter, a refund of the money, anything to show her the problem was addressed.

[yippiekiyeh]

hehe, A&F haters unite! Who thinks that their latest display in their store is lame? Who bothers to wear a parka yet go shirtless underneath? Dumb.

[KIISQueen]

OMG!! What a crappy thing to do, especially to a child. I hope this get's some coverage on the news!!!!!

[Memo]

Eh, let's not get all sensational here. A girl who works at Abercrombie stole your daughters money.The kind of people who work at A&F are usually just kids themselves too. Generally, the girls are complete ****s and the guys are complete *******s; just the type of people to do this kind of stuff. None the less, it's not like they are some figure head for the company. I don't see why the local news would pick up on **** like that. It's not like there is some corporate scheme to steal little kids money or some company wide fraud going on here.

Good job on call them up and making them hear about it though. The girl definitely needs to get fired and you definitely need to get your money back. I do think the mother of your daughter's friend should have gone with them though. The cashier probably would not have had the balls to do it if a parent was present.

BTW, A&F sucks ass.

[Butch]

As much as I think A&F is ****ty in general, it sounds like it is definitely the person behind the counter who should be blamed. So long as A&F mgmt is working to make it better - and succeeds - I wouldn't blame the company as a whole. Every company has to deal with a certain percentage of dishonest employees - it just sucks that your daughter (and now you) had to deal with their dishonest employee, too.

[ray]

I think it's pi** poor store management that they haven't already been refunded/reimbursed for the money that was taken from the daughter, especially after MikeD went to speak with the managers after this all happened. In my opinion, the money should have been returned by now.

[jaja]

I don't like when people think it's easier to cheat or steal things from kids, especially they took advantage from them. Hope they’ll get punished…

[CornMonkey]

yet another reason for me to never ever step anywhere near A&F.

[Paymaster]

As much as I think A&F is ****ty in general, it sounds like it is definitely the person behind the counter who should be blamed. So long as A&F mgmt is working to make it better - and succeeds - I wouldn't blame the company as a whole.

But when he went back to the store manager, he wouldn't help either. It's not just the person at the counter.

[Sirrich3]

Wow, guess I better stop shopping there. That does SUCK!

[clutchy]

holy crap, that's nuts. So you're thinking the register slut took her card and charged herself something nice?


Last thing I bought from them was a pair of shorts that were $60. I still have them 9 years later...

[Jeffbx]

The good news is that they should have an easy trail to follow to see who sold the shirt to your daughter (which they already told you they know) and who rang up the $40 purchase on the gift card (which I'm sure they know as well). They KNOW who did it, now it's up to the store mgt to take the proper action - refund & apology. I'd also return the shirt your daughter bought & get her cash back & do your shopping at another A&F, if there's one close by.

If you don't get some swift action from the store manager, I'd tell them that you're filing a police report (which you might want to do anyway) & taking them to court. You have a clear case of theft of your property by an employee, and there is clear evidence of who did it. If you take them to small claims court you will certainly win, and they will certainly 1) get some bad publicity; 2) have to pay their lawyers to represent the store; and 3) most likely get the local manager and employee in some hot water w/corporate, if not fired.

Given this, they should be bending over backwards to take care of you & your daughter.

Good luck man - I have a 9 yr old daughter, and if someone pulled this kind of stunt with her, I'd be breathing fire by now.