Target was punished for making one of the most elementary mistakes a business can make: falsely accusing the customer. Rita Cantrell of Greenville, South Carolina was accused by Target as being a "shhoplifter" trying to pass out conterfeit cash. The $100 bill actually was legitimate, just somewhat dated. Cantrell was unable to purchase from two Target stores using the bill. Before studying more into the situation, Target emailed dozens surrounding businesses that Cantrell tried to use a conterfeit bill and should be on the lookout for her in their stores.
As the story goes, Cantrell was a customer at a local Target when she went to pay for her merchandise with a $100 bill. The employees working their shifts questioned the authenticity of the bill. The question in review was about how the bill was a 1974 series bill, allegedly. An email was then produced and sent to a group called the Carolina Organized Retail Theft Task Force by a Target employee. The content in the email was that Cantrell tried to use a contrerfeit bill and that she had shoplifted. This email was sent to 31 members of the group. These members included local, state, and federal enforcements, mails, department stores to grocery stores and home-improvement stores.
Cantrell then filed a complaint to the courts. She complained that Target's emails were "wrongdoings." Target claims that the email was sent only to another loss-prevention worker at another local department store. The emails led the US Secret Service to question Cantrell while she was at work at a Belk's department store in Greenville. They reviewed the bill (an old 1974 series bill) and concluded that she performed no wrongdoings.
The case went to court, where the jury awarded Cantrell $100,000 in damages and punished Target with a $3 million fine to be paid to Cantrell.
My opinion on the entire situation is that Target made an elementary mistake and should suffer the losses that they incurred. First off, the single most important thing about being in a business in which selling is the key, customer service is crucial. Falsely accusing a woman of stealing is about as wrong as could be. Not only was it wrong to make the accusation, but it was even more wrong to send emails to other stores and enforcement agencies alerting them of a "shoplifter." This defamation is going to cost a very popular company a lot of money and very poor publicity. When I personally worked in a store, the first thing I was taught was that the customer is always right. Never assume anything about the customer that you are not 100% sure of. These important lessons were not instilled into the Target employees. Now, the company is going to have to recover from their losses.
1 comment:
I agree with Zack one hundred percent. Target should not accuse a consumer of paying with fake cash unless they are absolutely sure. The most Target should have done was written down the customers information and confirm the bill was real at a later time. Target has attracted negative publicity, which was totally avoidable. Also, accusing a customer of shoplifting is different then allegedly paying with a counterfeit bill. Target has hopefully learned a lesson, and will make sure a bill is counterfeit before throwing accusations around. Furthermore, each cashier carry one of those pens that detects counterfeit bills.
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