Has this ever happened to you?

[sjz]

Yesterday I went to Dick''s (sporting goods) to buy some shorts. Last night when I got home, I was putting away the shorts, and decided to try them on. There was something stuck to the waistband on one pair, and when I took a closer look, it was one of those anti-theft tag thingies! I''ve never had that happen to me before! I couldn''t see any way to get the stupid thing off without damaging the pants, so I had to go back to the store this morning and ask them to remove it. I was kind of embarassed...I was afraid they would think I stole them or something. I had my reciept, but still...

Anyway, they didn''t give me a hard time at all, but they were curious about why the alarms didn''t go off when I left the store yesterday. They didn''t go off when I entered the store this morning, either. I don''t even know why they would put one of those things on a pair of shorts, anyway. It seemed kind of odd to me.

 

[IrishEyes]

Yup, it happened to me once. about 5 years ago I bought a long skirt from a store at the mall. I walked out, no alarms went off or anything. Got it home and noticed it. I struggled with it for about an hour

before I realized it wasn''t coming off and that I was harming the skirt. So I brought it back for them to remove it. They didn''t give me a hard time or anything, but yeah, I felt like you did - I thought they would give me a strange look or something! Apparently it happens more than we think....

 

[MichelleCarmen]

This happened to me once as well. I cannot remember which store it was. . .somewhere like The Gap or another mall store. My husband removed it with a sledge hammer (hahaha - just in case someone has a sense of humor)

. . .I think he used pliers and yanked it off.

 

[sjz]

Date: 4/27/2005 2

4:57 PM
Author: MichelleCarmen
This happened to me once as well. I cannot remember which store it was. . .somewhere like The Gap or another mall store. My husband removed it with a sledge hammer (hahaha - just in case someone has a sense of humor)

. . .I think he used pliers and yanked it off.

I worked on it a little bit, but it was on there pretty good. The shorts were Columbia Sportswear shorts made out of that silky material that''s supposed to be ultra cool and dry easily when it''s wet. I was too afraid I''d tear the material or something if I tried to pry it off. Besides, if I had damaged the shorts or something trying to get that tag off, I don''t think I would have had the guts to take them back to the store. That would have really looked suspicious, I think.

I''m kind of surprised to hear that this sort of thing happens so often! Now I''m going to be paranoid every time I buy clothing...lol. I''ll be double and triple checking everything before I walk out of the store. I know they put those tags on a lot of the clothes in the mall stores, but I usually shop in boutiques and department stores, and I don''t notice them so much there, I guess. I can see how easy it would be to walk out of a mall store with something. They put the clothing right next to the entrance sometimes. I''ve actually activated the alarms before just holding up a shirt to look at it when I was too near the entrance. Talk about scaring the sh%* out of me...lol. Those alarms are LOUD! Once I tripped one off this loud voice came over the PA system that said something like "STOP! DO NOT LEAVE THE STORE! STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" I didn''t realize what had happened, and for a moment I thought the store was being robbed! I was with my daugther, and she just about died of embarassment.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

They put the clothing right next to the entrance sometimes. I''ve actually activated the alarms before just holding up a shirt to look at it when I was too near the entrance. Talk about scaring the sh%* out of me...lol. Those alarms are LOUD! Once I tripped one off this loud voice came over the PA system that said something like ''STOP! DO NOT LEAVE THE STORE! STAY WHERE YOU ARE!'' I didn''t realize what had happened, and for a moment I thought the store was being robbed! I was with my daugther, and she just about died of embarassment.

Triggering the alarm by being in proximity to the sensors happens often. I swear almost every time I''m even near the entrance to Macy''s (where INC and Ralph Lauren/CK clothes are sold) the buzzer is going off and I doubt clothing is being stolen left and right. I''ve noticed that buzzing is going on so frequently, none of the sales girls even react!

 

[ame]

Id take em back in. That happens to me a lot. I think the place that leaves them on the most often is Express.

 

[njc]

This has happened to me a couple times and know exactly what you mean about the strange feeling. I think i still have a sports bra somewhere that i never took back to get the thing taken off. The worst is when the alarm DOES go off and people come running over to you like you are trying to steal it. When i bought a new coat this winter that happened and a saleperson came running up to me like what are you doing?! Meanwhile, the coat was in the stores hanging bag and the reciept was in my hand.

My strangest experience was about a year ago. I bought a couple of things from Ann Taylor and watched the woman wipe it over the thing that deactivates the sensor (they sew their sensor tags into the clothes). I walked out of the store and met FI in a department store and the alarms went off. We left that store and went into J Crew and their alarms went off. Puzzled, i walked back to Ann Taylor (no alarms) and asked them to deactivate the tags again. Tried to go into another store and the alarms went off. After that, we just went home!

 

[AChiOAlumna]

It happened to me to at Robinson''s-May. I bought a couple of dresses for a vacation. Fortunately, I found it before I was packing and had to bring it back. There''s has an anti-tampering device that if you try to remove it, a dye will release onto the clothing.

 

[mrssalvo]

Happened to me too a couple of times at Ann Taylor. one time my hubby was leaving on a last minute business trip and needed a new shirt. i ran to TJ Maxx to pick one up got home minutes b/f he had to leave for the airport. while packing we noticed the security tag was still on...he took it with him in hopes of getting it removed somewhere but i ended up taking it back to the store for removal once he returned home... no new shirt and i always try extra hard to pick up his drycleaning on time

 

[Kaleigh]

This just happened to me. I bought a dress to take away on vacation. We got to Antigua and I go to put the dress on and there was that huge plastice security tag!!! Couldn''t wear the dress, boy was I mad. Also bought my son a pair of pants at the gap, and same thing. Both times the alarm never went off, wonder how good they are anyway!!!

 

[Momoftwo]

Yep, left the store with the tag on, found it when I got home and the alarm went off when I went back in the store. They work so well in reverse.

 

[pearcrazy]

Yes, it''s happened to me. I had purchased a suit for an interview I had. Luckily, I was supposed to meet a friend who worked for the company for lunch and some pointers before I went so I was getting dressed early. I put the suit on and then went into the mall store where I bought the suit to have the No-Go tag removed from the jacket.

You have to be careful about removing those things yourself. Some of them aren''t only electronic devices but dye tags that explode if you try to forcibly remove them.

 

[lost on 5th]

i have had that happen too. nothing like realizing at the LAST minute ...while running late... that the stupid tag is still on a pair of pants. we ended up missing a nice dinner reservation because i had to run 20 blocks to bananna and get the tag removed!

as for the security feature aspect.. consider those devices a deterrent, not security. during my retail days, we looked at security tags as something that was there to keep honest people honest... and prevented casual theft. the "seasoned" shoplifters could beat any security tag, cable, lock, case.... you name it.

as for why the tags fail to work at times.. there are MANY reasons. and sometimes things you do without knowing will cause this. and i will leave it at that!

 

[Blue824]

i''ve had this happen so many times, most recently at bloomingdales. now i''ve gotten in the habit of checking through everything before i leave. Its a pain to do that, but it is even more of a pain to have to go back to the store at a later time.

 

[sjz]

Wow! I really had no idea this happened so often! Kind of makes you wonder why they even bother to put those on the items if it''s that easy to get out of the store with them. I also don''t think they do any good for the clothing. I was going to buy a fairly pricey sweater once, and it had one of those tags near the collar. It was difficult to tell if the sweater was going to fit properly with that silly tag on it, so I asked the clerk to remove the tag while I tried it on. The tag left a huge stretched out mark where it had been. The sweater was a dry clean only item, and I didn''t want to wear it with that big "bump" where the tag had been, so I didn''t buy it. The clerk wasn''t too thrilled with me, but oh well...

 

[windy1365]

This happened to me at Express with a shirt. It made me so mad b/c the mall was thirty minutes away...so an hour both ways. My fiancee got it off with a saw, but it kind of stretched out the hole and got the inside a little dirty.

 

[MissAva]

Yes I bought something cute at Victorias Secret I left wihtout an issue. However when I walked into Williams Somona it set of the alarms! Boy was my face red. Luckily they were very nice. I had a number of bags so it took am moment to figure out where it was from. I went back and hed them take it off. They were pretty surpised that it hadnt set off the alarms.

 

[denverkat]

That''s funny- just a few weeks ago I bought a denim skirt from the Dick''s near me, and they left the stupid tag on (no alarms ever went off). Since it was denim, though, I chose the brutal approach and pried it off with a hammer and pliers.

 

[marriahlyn]

This very thing just happened to my mom yesterday on a pair of jeans and the store alarms never went off. She took them back today and the lady rudely told her she had to have a receipt. Of course she did, but my mom nicely informed the clerk that SHE was the one who didn''t take the tag off.

Word of warning.............don''t try to remove the tags yourself. My friend did this and it squirted orange neon ink ALL over and ruined more things than just her skirt.

I''ve had trouble with the Ann Taylor tags that are now sewn into the clothing. My mom and I buy a lot and sometimes the alarms go off but they just let us go thru. The tags can just be cut off so it''s no big deal. Well, I forgot to cut the tag out of my capris and the alarms went off at Wal-Mart. I thought I was going to be strip searched LOL. I finally realized what it was and went to customer service and borrowed some scissors.

This kind of thing happens a lot!!

 

[Sparkster]

I setal a lot of clothes all the time and the little alarm things never go off!!

My FI''s work security pass sets off the alarms in some supermarkets. He keeps it in his wallet and when he walks past those monitor things, he has to hold his wallet above his head - strangers must wonder what on earth he''s doing. He sometimes forgets though and he sets them off.

 

[bopitaddict]

Date: 4/27/2005 2

4:57 PM
Author: MichelleCarmen
This happened to me once as well. I cannot remember which store it was. . .somewhere like The Gap or another mall store. My husband removed it with a sledge hammer (hahaha - just in case someone has a sense of humor)

. . .I think he used pliers and yanked it off.

hahaha... that''s too funny.

it''s happened to me as well, and i actually did use a hammer to break it off.

 

[cinnabar]

My ex-boss once bought some very expensive designer thing, and found the security tag on it when she got home.  She rang the store and demanded that someone come out to her house with the device for removing the tag, since it was the fault of the store staff and she refused to be inconvenienced by their negligence (and she wanted to wear the item that evening).  Because she was a big spender at that store, and threatened to take her business elsewhere, they actually sent someone out. 

I''ve never had a tag left on anything myself, but I did used to set off the alarms all the time at shops in a particular large mall.  Eventually, one of the shop staff asked me if I had a lot of cards with magnetic strips in my wallet; yes I did, I had store cards for most places in the mall.  Apparently the electronic sensors get a headache from an overload of cards, and when I left my cards with the girl at the shop counter and went in and out, the alarm was fine.  I didn''t need all those store cards anyway, I only had most of them because the staff hassle you to get them for the 10% discount on your first purchase and I feel sorry for the staff that they have to get by on the commission for those cards.

 

[AGBF]

Date: 4/27/2005 2

4:57 PM
Author: MichelleCarmen
This happened to me once as well. I cannot remember which store it was. . .somewhere like The Gap or another mall store. My husband removed it with a sledge hammer (hahaha - just in case someone has a sense of humor)

. . .I think he used pliers and yanked it off.

MichelleCarmen,

You are a piece of work! I really laughed when I read this posting! Thank you for making my day. I thought that this thread might be boring...just a list of one store after another from which people took home theft-proofed goods!

Deb, whose qualification for posting to this thread is that she had it happen with a clothing item from a Laura Ashley Mother and Child store far from her home and had to take it back to another mall and plead with a regular Laura Ashley store to remove it!

 

[icelady]

Date: 4/27/2005 2

4:57 PM
Author: MichelleCarmen
This happened to me once as well. I cannot remember which store it was. . .somewhere like The Gap or another mall store. My husband removed it with a sledge hammer (hahaha - just in case someone has a sense of humor)

. . .I think he used pliers and yanked it off.

Michelle, I like your sense of humor!!!! Oh, now you''ve really revealed a pattern here.....(joking!!!)

The alarm tag thing happened to someone I know where they walked out of the store, alarm did not go off, but walked into another store and their alarm went off.