A TikTok creator has shared a tale of being detained by employees at a Seattle-area Coach store for stealing a wallet that the creator claims to have purchased a week prior. The story has since blossomed into a harrowing, multiple-video saga of bad customer service.
The TikTok comes courtesy of creator Colin (@cmg781995), who identifies in his bio as both a drag queen and “the guy who is mad at Coach.” The initial video detailing the incident, put up on the platform Tuesday, generated over 3.8 million views and nearly 11,000 comments in its first three days on the platform.
The on-screen caption notes, “I got detained today at the Bellevue Square Shops for allegedly stealing a wallet I purchased a week ago at another location.” Colin says the Coach store is located in Bellevue, a tony suburb of Seattle.
In the initial video, the creator films two employees, challenging the accusation that he has stolen the wallet in his possession. He expresses his displeasure that he’d been arrested over the incident.
@cmg781995 These lovely employees got me detained at the coach in Bellevue. (Keep in mind my bag has been setting off sensors and nothing had come of it before this) I don’t usually buy #coach and I’m sad to see this is what I get for purchasing nice things for myself. I get #detained for #falseaccusations @Coach ♬ original sound – Colin
In that initial video, Colin is looking to get the name and number of the store’s manager, noting, “I don’t buy nice things for myself often … and then you guys accuse me of stealing.”
The female employee in the clip mentions that the store had a lot of shoplifters recently, by way of explanation, and indeed, a commenter remarked, “They were trying to accuse of me of stealing too….. I went in there just to browse; obviously wasn’t gonna buy bc who would.”
In a following storytime video, Colin claimed to seek a formal apology. The creator says a store representative refused to give out names of managers and employees, though Colin claims he had already been given them via his previous interactions.
The TikToker also tried to go up the management chain, as well as tried contacting the store that left the security tag in his purchased wallet that set off the Bellevue store’s detectors, he says. However, Colin claims that Coach wanted to be “hush-hush” about the incident.
@cmg781995 #coach #coachstorytime @coach #falseaccusations #falsearrest #k18results ♬ original sound – Colin
“All I’m searching for is an apology,” Colin shares in the clip. “And they can’t do it.”
He then advises viewers to tag Coach in the comments section and review-bomb the Bellevue Square store with negative reviews.
In another update later that day, Colin claims Coach responded via Facebook, pledging to get a manager in touch since he allegedly wanted to “escalate this further.”
@cmg781995 #coach #storytime @coach #k18results #falseaccusations ♬ original sound – Colin
There’s still more to the saga. In another video released Thursday, Colin details the arrest. He alleges that after leaving the Coach store, he went into a Nordstrom to buy a shirt. As he exited the store, three officers confronted him outside and told him to “put [his] hands behind [his] back or [they] will drop [him],” Colin says, before handcuffing him in the middle of the mall.
Following what the creator described as a 30-minute interrogation, while Coach employees checked their security camera, one of the cops questioned whether the creator had really stolen the wallet, given that, as the creator depicted the cop saying, “All his stuff is in here.”
Later on Thursday, the creator returned to the platform to detail a conversation with Coach’s West Coast regional manager, who allegedly offered the apology the creator was looking for.
Colin says the manager also asked him if there’s anything Coach could do to keep him “loyal to the brand.” The creator says he responded, “I don’t really know what to do with that.”
Colin was left wondering not only what he should expect or want in the way of compensation but whether to return the wallet that now had such unpleasant memories bound up with it.
@cmg781995 I’m conflicted #coach #fyp #foryou #k18results #update #story ♬ original sound – Colin
“If I continue to support this brand, I’d just be scared that I’d go into another Coach store and they’d accuse me of stealing when I’m wearing all my Coach stuff,” the creator reflected.
The Daily Dot has reached out to the TikToker via comment and a Coach representative and Bellevue Square representative via email.
