A nurse says she was accused of theft in Lidl after eating a single cashew nut to test the quality. Anna Bagot, 60, was accused by a member of staff as she made her test, which she claimed was because a previous bag she’d bought was stale.
The NHS worker said she felt ‘intimidated’ and branded the incident a ‘ridiculous’ overreaction. However, Lidl said that it is normal practice to expect customers to buy a product before eating it. Anna said the incident at the store in Fakenham, Norfolk, left her feeling awful.
She said: “It was so so awful. I felt quite intimidated. It’s not like I was having my lunch. It was half a nut - it’s absolutely ridiculous. Honestly I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. And with everything that’s going on in the world at the moment, it just felt so trivial.
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“I’ve worked all through Covid and now we’re in a cost of living crisis. Nuts are a luxury and we can’t all risk money on food that might be stale. It’s inconvenient taking goods back and it takes time, plus it can feel awkward.
“I’ve just had 25 rounds of chemo. And with that and everything else going on in the world, a nut seems pretty insignificant.”
Anna said that she immediately bought a large bag of nuts for £2.33 and gave one back to the shop worker. Anna added: “I won’t go back after this.
“He said, ‘It’s theft by deception’, I said, ‘It’s just one nut’. He was absolutely serious and I was really upset.“
A Lidl spokesperson said: “We always aim to provide our customers with a pleasant and positive experience when shopping in our stores. Nevertheless, we kindly ask that products are purchased before consumption. Should a customer be unhappy with a product, we would always encourage them to get in touch with our customer services team.”
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