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I interviewed at this software company say X. I got the job offer letter.

They asked me to submit my original documents at the time of offer discussion. I submitted the final semester original result.

I found out that company is a staffing solution and hire candidates on third party payroll and also I got many negative feedback from many people. So, I decided not to join the company and I informed them of my decision.

Just today they send me this in mail:

You were suppose to join the Company but as you have backed out on last moment Co. has to suffer huge loss. In Your interview process, Coordination, Document Verification already Company has spent from the Funds and on top of that you are backing out. So you will have to pay Amt of 15,000 INR for the loss bear by the Company. Kindly acknowledge.

Now they are asking me to pay 15000 INR (= US$ 220) to get my documents back. What should I do?

mhoran_psprep
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Rupal
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    Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. –  Jul 04 '18 at 13:01
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    Is collecting them in person (or having someone collect them on your behalf) an option? – Laconic Droid Jul 04 '18 at 13:23
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    what documents did you gave them that you need back? – J_rite Jul 04 '18 at 13:54
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    @Laconic yes collecting documents in person is the only option. – Rupal Jul 04 '18 at 14:05
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    @Rucha - bharal makes a good point. Do you have evidence (ideally something in writing) beyond the telephone call? Police will find it difficult to act without firm evidence, and it looks like the company could still claim that you misunderstood. – ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere Jul 05 '18 at 08:00
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    This goes for all Indians who face similar situations: Don't ever give your documents to any company. Such companies are always horrible places to work at. Offer to keep it at an escrow account with a bank if they really want to ensure your commitment. They should pay for the account and the conditions of document release should be in your favour; not theirs. – Nav Jul 06 '18 at 09:36
  • Quit your job, wait no.. – Koray Tugay Jul 07 '18 at 13:28
  • Phone the police. And hope for the best. – Fattie Jul 07 '18 at 23:12
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    Nobody seems to address the fact that they not only mention OP had to pay for document return but also to compensate for now obsolete internal procedures. I strongly advise seeking professional help! – Fildor Jul 08 '18 at 08:01

5 Answers5

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Those documents still belong to you and this sounds like extortion. Call the police and accuse the company of theft. Don't just name the company, name the people you were dealing with.

user1666620
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  • OP added context in thecomments, this answer could do with some additional detail around that – bharal Jul 04 '18 at 08:56
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    @bharal not sure the situation has changed tbh. They still want the money and won't return the documents without it. – user1666620 Jul 04 '18 at 10:10
  • i'm not sure if the OP is right in saying they won't give the document back unless he/she pays. – bharal Jul 04 '18 at 10:50
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    I would also ask the police for advice with fraud prevention. The company has shown it has no morals, and may attempt to get money using your documents in the mean time. – UKMonkey Jul 04 '18 at 11:49
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    I add that I wouldn't warn the company, you'd give them time to retaliate. Just go to the police and let them work it out for you. They can't do this, the documents are still yours and $220 is a scam. – Cris Jul 04 '18 at 16:49
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    @Cris - Precisely so. If you warn them, they may destroy the documents out of fear or simple spite. – Richard Jul 04 '18 at 19:11
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    @Cris : the question might be whether police corruption in that area might make it not a good idea. Experience from a local would be welcome. – Val Jul 05 '18 at 05:29
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    This is correct. Call up the police. Similar thing happened with a friend. He filed a police case. The SP was a relative of this friend so sped up the case. Within two days he got his documents back & a call from CEO apologizing & asking forgiveness to take criminal case back – KharoBangdo Jul 05 '18 at 05:34
  • There is no theft without an attempt at conversion, i.e. to realize the value of the object in question. As these documents have zero value to anybody but you, you will not succeed in proving this claim or even in having it taken seriously. You would be better off citing fraud or indeed letting the police figure out what the charge would be. Even if there isn't one they may make a phone call on your behalf, and that alone could be sufficient. – user207421 Jul 07 '18 at 06:45
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    Theft is the crime of taking sonebodys property without permission. – user1666620 Jul 07 '18 at 09:04
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    @EJP - While I agree with you that the police will decide the charges in the situation where they actually file charges, I disagree with your premise of what constitutes theft. If I had these same documents sitting on my desk at home, and someone came in and took them away, obviously, it is theft, regardless if the documents have any "intrinsic" value. The "value" of the items may have importance when considering damages and punishment, but not when considering guilt. – Kevin Fegan Jul 07 '18 at 23:27
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These are still your documents and the company can't just keep them. While you might have a case in going to the police, that's probably going to take a lot of time, effort, and money on both sides.

I'd start by sending them a message which lays out in no uncertain terms that:

  • These documents are yours, and they are not allowed to keep them
  • You will take it to the police if they don't send them back
  • Optionally: you'll cover postage for sending the documents

They're likely aware that they can't do this and just hoping to make some quick money. Alternatively, they might be super shady, in which case your documents are probably not coming back either way.

If they don't respond, then take it up with the police if it's really important, but it might be easier to obtain a fresh set of the original documents from the source. Universities will usually provide you with a new copy of your grades if you ask. Of course it depends on the document; if you sent them a passport or something, it's really important that you file a complaint with the police and get the old one invalidated.

Next time, don't send people original documents. That's just not necessary and only gives people the option to screw you over. Either take them with you when you visit in person or just send them a copy. They can't keep your original documents, so they'll end up with a copy in their files either way.

Erik
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    Respectfully, going to the police in this case seems the approach to take, since they may be doing this to several other recruits. A threat may get what the OP wants (the documents), but they won't likely stop doing the same to others... – CPHPython Jul 04 '18 at 08:43
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    @CPHPython The OP hasn't stated they want to change the companies behaviour or save the planet - just get their documents back. – bye Jul 04 '18 at 14:09
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    @DrEval reporting them is indeed acting in the common interest, but the point is rather that we have no clue of whom the OP is dealing with: a threat may backfire (and paying them will not guarantee the return of the documents). – CPHPython Jul 04 '18 at 16:45
  • While it couldn't hurt to go to the police, this maybe the fastest, least energy intensive approach if they surrender immediately. Otherwise then you should probably go to the police. – Mark Rogers Jul 04 '18 at 18:37
  • You can always go to the police after you get your documents back. Best of both worlds... save your docs and the planet, etc... – JeffC Jul 05 '18 at 14:40
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    @JeffC, police in the U.S. at least have their hands tied: IANAL, but there's a very high probability they wouldn't be able to do anything if you already got your documents back. – Wildcard Jul 06 '18 at 03:00
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If they've said (ideally in writing) that they will not return the documents unless you pay them, that's extortion and should be reported to the police.

If they've not actually said this, they've not yet done anything criminal and if they were approached by the police could claim they had intended to return your documents, but hadn't got round to it.

You could reply to the mail with something like :

I acknowledge receipt of your mail of [date]. If you have a copy of an agreement where I accepted I would cover your costs, please enclose it when you return my documents.

You're acknowledging that you've seen the mail - not that you're agreeing with anything in it. If they're intending to keep your documents, your response is likely to trigger a reply that you could take to the police as definitive evidence.

They might send you something to sign saying you accept their costs when they return your documents. This will show that they don't already have this. Don't sign it, and tell them you don't accept liability for their costs. By this time you should already have your documents.

If they are able to produce something you've already signed to say you'll accept costs (read the small print in your agreement with them), you may be stuck with paying, though it would be worth consulting a lawyer if this happens. But at this point you should have your documents.

ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere
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    That message seems to that the OP is agreeing to pay the 15000 INR – user1666620 Jul 04 '18 at 11:48
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    @user1666620 - It could be read that way (which would result in them sending something to sign), but if they don't already have an agreement this message wouldn't commit Rucha to anything. I considered saying I didn't believe such an agreement existed, but if they're trying extortion they won't return the documents if they see that. There's possible ambiguity, but either way Rucha is agreeing to nothing and stands a better chance of getting the documents. – ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere Jul 04 '18 at 12:06
  • Consensus seems to be I'm trying to be too clever by playing with ambiguity. I'll Keep It Simple. Editing. – ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere Jul 04 '18 at 13:10
  • @user1666620 which seems extremely steep for sending something across town or even across the country using UPS or a similar service. In fact it sounds like extortionist overcharging, the actual cost is more likely to be about 10% of that. – jwenting Jul 04 '18 at 13:16
  • Sorry, but this seems like a terrible idea. – Richard Jul 04 '18 at 19:10
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    "If they are able to produce something you've already signed to say you'll accept costs (read the small print in your agreement with them), you may be stuck with paying." -- note that just because the small print says something, does mean it's true. ask a lawyer in your local area, but in many countries certain kinds of contract terms are not enforceable, and this is exactly the kind of term that is commonly on those lists. – Jules Jul 05 '18 at 00:24
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    @Richard - Any part in particular? What was the issue? – ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere Jul 05 '18 at 07:03
  • @Jules - Excellent point. That's going in another edit. – ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere Jul 05 '18 at 07:04
  • Engaging with them can only make the situation worse and lengthen the time it takes to get the documents back. – Richard Jul 05 '18 at 07:38
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    @Richard - If they haven't linked return of the documents to payment, they've not yet done anything illegal (if Rucha tells us they have, I'll edit), and the police won't be able to take action. The response might nudge them into making this link, or might result in return of the documents. I don't see a way of getting the documents without engaging with the people who currently have the documents, but I'm open to suggestions. – ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere Jul 05 '18 at 07:46
  • The police are perfectly capable of taking action short of an arrest. In this instance it's likely that they'd take his word for it and just nip around to collect the documents for him. – Richard Jul 05 '18 at 08:10
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    @Richard The police aren't a courier service and they can't remove documents from a business without a warrant. They might telephone the company and advise them that they should return the documents but I can't see them collecting them. – David Richerby Jul 05 '18 at 18:04
  • @DavidRicherby - If they have reason to suspect a crime has been committed they absolutely will visit the potential perpetrator to ask what's happened. At that point they'll almost certainly be given the documents and have it explained that it was a misunderstanding. Alternatively they might be stupid enough to explain that they're holding these documents to ransom for a fee. Either way OP gets them back. – Richard Jul 05 '18 at 18:06
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    @Richard If the company plays the "It was all just a misunderstanding, we were just about to send them back" line, the police response would be "OK, do that" not "No, no, give them to us and we'll take on the hassle and bureaucracy of getting them back to their owner." – David Richerby Jul 05 '18 at 19:34
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I'm not a lawyer in either the U.S. or India, but it is something of a commonplace across history that cooperating with extortion only leads to more extortion: ransomware victims are discouraged from paying the ransom for their files because it will get you a reputation as a valuable easy mark, and you don't want to do that. Possibly you could pay the amount demanded of you and more expensive complications could mysteriously crop up.

Have you touched base with the institution that gave you the original documents first? And explained the situation and asked if they can help? Even if their stated policies do not touch your case as you haven't lost them in the usual term of the sense of carelessly losing things, I'd like to think that people at some educational institutions would just on a human level try to do what they can to give you a useful copy of important documents for your education and professional future. They could of course possibly say "No," but you have a sympathetic story and quite possibly they would want to say, "Yes."

Christos Hayward
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Just to play Devil's Advocate, your position may be impacted by whether their initial request for the documents indicated that they would be returning them (or charging for the return). A company requesting original documents should have indicated that they would be returned because said documents presumably have value (exam results might seem trivial for some, but consider if the request was for a birth certificate, for example), but some requests for materials come with a note saying that materials sent are considered property of the company and may not be returned, or arrange for conditions for return.

This is a fairly reasonable position if, indeed, it will cost them money to retrieve those documents. In this case, the amount requested seems pretty extortionate, but this may be a standard amount which they apply for, say, a company they worked with asking for the original document of the invoice from March 13th, 2015, requiring them to go to their off-site storage facility and have a filing employees spend several hours manually browsing through the files to find the document in question.

So, long story short, check what they have sent you to ensure that they don't have a legal grounds to charge you for document return, and if so, consider the cost of fighting that versus the cost of document retrieval, versus the cost of requesting another copy from your school.

Sean Duggan
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    Generally you’re making a good point but I don’t think this applies here: the documents in question are original legal documents: they can’t change owner except under special circumstances. Of course OP needs to consider the concrete Indian legal situation but it’s unlikely to be very different. – Konrad Rudolph Jul 04 '18 at 14:45
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    @KonradRudolph: In the case of exam results, I don't figure there's as much legal protection compared to, say, a birth certificate. I'm not familiar with Indian documents, but this seems parallel to something like an official transcript of college grades, or one's SAT results. If the original document is lost, another one is easily requested. I also sort of wonder if the request for "original documents" was more along the lines of "official documents, not copies" so that they don't get a photocopied or scanned result that lacks a seal of authenticity. – Sean Duggan Jul 04 '18 at 15:05
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    @SeanDuggan I live in India and the ownership of such documents do not change. You can obtain an duplicate document easily but it would require a Police FIR stating that you lost the document. If the OP does that then he would have lied to the police. –  Jul 05 '18 at 05:43
  • Sorry, but I can't see this applying to the situation in the question. It sounds like a simple case of the applicant supplying documents to verify claims made in their application (e.g., their qualifications). When companies have finished verifying these things, they return the documents to the applicant (usually easy because they're now an employee so the company can just hand them back). There's no reason that the documents would have been put in some long-term storage facility. – David Richerby Jul 05 '18 at 17:56