'Never felt so humiliated': Kmart slammed for making shopper 'look like thief'
A Queensland woman’s has slammed retail giant Kmart on social media after she claimed staff made her look like a thief because she didn’t understand the store's confusing new layout.
Candice Draper said in a post on social media, which has since been deleted, that she was returning to Toowoomba’s Grand Central store earlier this month with a pair of tracksuit pants she purchased two weeks earlier, to remove a security tag that was left on it at time of purchase.
It is believed the woman didn’t realise the tag had not been removed when she bought the item until she went to wear it days later.
The woman wrote in her post she had “never felt so embarrassed and humiliated” when she reached the counter with the clothing and receipt in her hand, and was questioned whether she had paid for the item, the Toowoomba Chronicle reported.
Ms Draper said she was made to look like a thief in front of “a crowd” of customers while staff discussed the matter.
"Apparently they had to get confirmation that I hadn't stolen them before I was allowed to leave the store."
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When the customer asked the sales assistant what was taking so long, she was told "there are dishonest people around" and she "could have walked in with a receipt and empty bag, picked up the tracksuit and took it to counter to get tag removed".
Ms Draper said she was given a stern talking to about how she should have showed the item to staff at the front of the store before entering.
Citing the confusing updated layout, she let rip about the added security issues of the new layout of moving the checkout to the centre of the store.
“Newsflash Kmart: had your store still been in the original layout with customer service and checkouts at the front of the store I would not have had to walk through your store to sort out my issue and in turn would not have had to be treated and viewed as a thief,” she said.
“Who in their right mind would think paying in centre of the store is a good idea?
“Save everyone the time of double handling and to avoid having to treat every customer like a thief and reposition the counters to the front of the store,” she suggested.
A Kmart spokesperson responded to the shopper’s comment on social media saying: “We’re sorry to hear of your experience and would like to look into it further.”
A spokeswoman also told The Chronicle the store format had evolved to accommodate the way customers lived and shopped.
"Our innovative new store layout is centred around three product worlds, Home, Clothing and Kids.
"These new worlds are designed to make it easier for customers to find products, customers will see products grouped together in these specific areas to make their shopping experiences as easy and enjoyable as possible."
