Mall Security Allegedly Assaults 54-Year-Old Asian Man Getting a Refund at Zara

A 54-year-old man from Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, is seeking assault charges after he was allegedly roughed up by security guards when he tried to get a refund for a double charge at Zara.

Xiaobo Wu’s wife received a credit card statement reportedly showing she was charged $80 two times days after she went clothes shopping at West Edmonton Mall in February.

When Wu returned to Zara on Friday to get their money back, he was met with “terrible customer service.”

“I said, ‘I am not leaving until I get this settled … I’ve spent my whole evening here, I’m hungry, I haven’t had dinner, and I was told what to do and I will leave here immediately if you can get refund done’,” he told CTV News Edmonton.

Wu was taken outside to a parking lot and forced to the ground by security guards after employees at Zara said he caused a scene.

His daughter Malina felt the mall did a horrible job of handling the situation.

“They were treating my parents like they were the ‘thieves’ when they were the ones that made the mistake and had taken money from us,” she wrote in a Facebook post, accompanied by her father’s injured face. “At this point, its just $80 and doesn’t make a whole difference but just the way they were handling the situation and treating my parents.”

Wu was charged with trespassing and placed in a mall holding cell.

“When he found out that he was getting arrested for trying to get a refund on money they owed us, he asked to leave and would come back tomorrow but they said he wasn’t allowed and handcuffed him and shoved his face into the side walk outside and now his face is bloody and bruised and looks like he was beat up,” Malina continued.

While he was released an hour later without a ticket, Wu was also banned from entering the mall for 24 hours.

“When the cops came, no ticket or charge was issued, clearly my dad had nothing wrong and the police saw it that way and let him go. The arrest had NO grounds,” Malina said. “My dads face is battered, bruised and bloody now for THEIR MISTAKE!! Tell me, how can ZARA do this to a customer over such a measly amount of money?”

She said the clothing retailer never apologized and if it had been her or her sister that went to ask for the refund, none of this would have happened.

“That just goes to show the prejudice against him,” she wrote.

This is not the first time the Edmonton branch of Zara has been criticized for their customer service recently.

One “plus-sized” Yelp reviewer even said she stopped shopping at Zara after claiming she overheard two sales associates say: “What does she expect to find in here? An extra large? haha as if.”

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