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  • 03-10-2010 7:46pm
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,194 ✭✭✭


    I was in a branch of one of the major supermarkets today. I handed over 20 euro and only recieved 7 cent back, when I should have gotten 10.07 euro. I complained and I told the cashier that I had given her a twenty. She claimed that I had only given her 10.

    She then produced a 10 note and said that is what I had given her. The thing is that I only had a 20 note on me when I went into the shop. I had just taken it out of the bank. She was point blank refusing to budge so I went down to customer service and complained.

    I gave my name and number and asked them to ring me when they add up the takings at the end of the day. The person said they'd call tomorrow.

    Should I have done anything differently and should I take things further? It's the principle that matters to me rather than the money. I presume there would be CCTV footage around the tills.

    Normally, I would think this was an honest mistake but showing me a 10 euro note raised my suspicions. I checked my online banking and it was 20 that did come out. (It was a very dirty note!)


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Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,078 ✭✭✭questionmark?


    I was in a branch of one of the major supermarkets today. I handed over 20 euro and only recieved 7 cent back, when I should have gotten 10.07 euro. I complained and I told the cashier that I had given her a twenty. She claimed that I had only given her 10.

    She then produced a 10 note and said that is what I had given her. The thing is that I only had a 20 note on me when I went into the shop. I had just taken it out of the bank. She was point blank refusing to budge so I went down to customer service and complained.

    I gave my name and number and asked them to ring me when they add up the takings at the end of the day. The person said they'd call tomorrow.

    Should I have done anything differently and should I take things further? It's the principle that matters to me rather than the money. I presume there would be CCTV footage around the tills.

    Normally, I would think this was an honest mistake but showing me a 10 euro note raised my suspicions. I checked my online banking and it was 20 that did come out. (It was a very dirty note!)

    Personally i wouldn't have moved from the counter and demanded a senior manager(not a supervisor) and requested that the float be counted then and there. It might seem bitchy but for many people that could have meant they only have 7 cent left for the rest of the week instead of 10 euro and 7 cent.

    Ensure that they do contact you tomorrow if not frog march yourself down their to the store manager and ask to know why you weren't contacted.

    If there was a genuine mistake and tesco acknowledge this expect your money back and maybe some vouchers as a way of saying sorry.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,626 ✭✭✭timmywex


    Yeh, have them check cctv and everything in your power. Not so bad in a tesco but the likes of a petrol station it would be a few euro out anyways so it mightnt seem like any differene!

    Get the manager to check the cctv or claim you'll follow legal action


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 16,713 ✭✭✭✭jor el


    Leaving without speaking to a manager was not a good idea. Leaving without your money was not a good idea. You'll probably have to wait for them to call you back, but I'd go back in first thing tomorrow, and speak with the manager this time.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,373 ✭✭✭✭foggy_lad


    The larger supermarkets all have cameras on all till which show all money in and out as well as your shopping list and total amount etc so should be easy to sort out and may mean the shop assistant gets sacked.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,383 ✭✭✭91011


    I was in a branch of one of the major supermarkets today. I handed over 20 euro and only recieved 7 cent back, when I should have gotten 10.07 euro. I complained and I told the cashier that I had given her a twenty. She claimed that I had only given her 10.

    She then produced a 10 note and said that is what I had given her. The thing is that I only had a 20 note on me when I went into the shop. I had just taken it out of the bank. She was point blank refusing to budge so I went down to customer service and complained.

    I gave my name and number and asked them to ring me when they add up the takings at the end of the day. The person said they'd call tomorrow.

    Should I have done anything differently and should I take things further? It's the principle that matters to me rather than the money. I presume there would be CCTV footage around the tills.

    Normally, I would think this was an honest mistake but showing me a 10 euro note raised my suspicions. I checked my online banking and it was 20 that did come out. (It was a very dirty note!)

    You did exactly the right thing - it ridiculous for other posters to suggest that cctv should be looked at imediately / float counted immediately. Far better for it to be done properly in it right envirnoment & time.

    Do call the store today and ask if it had been checked and also let them know you can show a €20 withdrawal from a cash machine close to the time you were in the store.

    From the checkout persons point of view, you have to understand that many people do try this as a scam.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 68,317 ✭✭✭✭seamus


    91011 wrote: »
    You did exactly the right thing - it ridiculous for other posters to suggest that cctv should be looked at imediately / float counted immediately. Far better for it to be done properly in it right envirnoment & time.
    Agreed. The OP went down to customer services, so the incident has been logged. The overs & shorts for all the tills are recorded and noted down on a daily basis. €10 over won't go unnoticed.

    Unless it was €100, you lived 50 miles away or you only had that tenner to last you for the rest of the week, then anything more than what you did would be going overboard for the sake of a tenner.

    A lot of shops though will just count up the till on the spot unless they're out-the-door busy. It only takes ten minutes at most.
    The larger supermarkets all have cameras on all till which show all money in and out as well as your shopping list and total amount etc so should be easy to sort out and may mean the shop assistant gets sacked.
    Very unlikely that a cashier would get sacked over something like this. I've seen people's tills be £50 short and they just get a warning. They're humans, they make mistakes, they count up wrong or notes get stuck together or they look at something wrong and see a tenner instead of a twenty.
    A typical day on the weekend a cashier will handle around €100,000 worth of transactions. In some shops, cashiers actually get small gifts or bonusses if they ever manage to get their till spot on.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 32,386 ✭✭✭✭rubadub


    If there was a genuine mistake and tesco
    timmywex wrote: »
    Not so bad in a tesco
    Just to note, Tesco was never mentioned.
    foggy_lad wrote: »
    The larger supermarkets all have cameras on all till which show all money in and out
    Exactly, if I was so certain I would ask to check it and get it. Its tantamount to attempted theft.
    91011 wrote: »
    You did exactly the right thing - it ridiculous for other posters to suggest that cctv should be looked at imediately / float counted immediately.
    What if they needed the money for a bus ticket or something? I would want it right away, it is not the OP's fault, I would not want to have to give up time to visit the shop again or ring them etc.

    It happened to me in a takeaway recently, I was just given a €1 instead of a €2, the person gave me the €2 right away when I said it -which lead me to believe they knew what they were up to, they did not express any surprise or disbelief. Same thing happened again in a supermarket a few days later -again no surprise or anything. Then just last week I got charged for grapes when I only got a load of beer and peanuts, this time I had a security guard and manager looking at me trying to spot the missing/stolen grapes! and the checkout girl asking "are you certain you got no grapes?" strange as I only had gotten 2 types of items, not like it was a massive shopping trolley.

    I am wondering if checkout/sales people see regulars and know if they check change or not. Quite often I just dump change in my bag so maybe they think I am a good target.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,195 ✭✭✭Corruptedmorals


    I work in a large supermarket, drapery though. You should have asked for a manager to give the girl a till read and count her till. If you remained polite nobody would have had a problem doing that or begrudge you the time taken or anything. From personal experience, it's extremely difficult to input a 20 as a 10- but even more difficult to rob a till under a camera with constant staff and managers present as well as the fact that till overs and unders are posted up and flagged on your record as €3. Go back in with your receipt, it will have the time, till, and cashier number on it. Extremely easy to trace through the cash office and through the cameras.

    Really it is not worth their whiole attempting to rob from you, even if it's done in such a way that it won't show up, there's still the major problem of the cameras, managers and staff all around, and the extreme likelihood of a customer noticing being shortchanged. In places like that, your till is your own and nobody else uses it- much different to pubs etc.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,195 ✭✭✭Corruptedmorals


    seamus wrote: »

    Very unlikely that a cashier would get sacked over something like this. I've seen people's tills be £50 short and they just get a warning. They're humans, they make mistakes, they count up wrong or notes get stuck together or they look at something wrong and see a tenner instead of a twenty.
    A typical day on the weekend a cashier will handle around €100,000 worth of transactions. In some shops, cashiers actually get small gifts or bonusses if they ever manage to get their till spot on.

    They would get sacked if it was proved it was deliberate, very difficult to prove though. Normal overs and unders get warnings, but these days you can start establishing patterns at €3.

    You would never handle €100,000 in one shift, not unless you worked in the cash office. A 'high read' would be €2000 or more, I've never seen one above €6000, and that was before the recession/price drops. Credit cards are not counted as part of your read but even so, an entire supermarket would be lucky to make €100,000 in a day.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 68,317 ✭✭✭✭seamus


    Credit cards are not counted as part of your read but even so, an entire supermarket would be lucky to make €100,000 in a day.
    That's a fair point about credit cards, and I think I'm off by a factor of ten (it's been a long time since I worked on a till). £10,000 would have been a standard saturday shift where I worked, which is not an insignificant amount of cash to go through one's hands. I know you've worked in a supermarket over christmas - I remember seeing the total sales on my till one Xmas eve at over £125,000 over an 11-hour day. Baskets average around £300, largest basket I saw was nearly £1,500.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 770 ✭✭✭Dublindude69


    I had someone try a scam last week, they paid €50 for something that was a €5 and tried to claim I left them €20 short. I knew I hadn't because I pulled 2 €20s outs of the till and counted them infront of her and handed them to her. About 30 seconds later (She stood at the counted for 30 seconds doing nothing, not even looking at the change, when we checked the camera we noticed her hand went into her left pocket) she started claiming I had given her the wrong change. Manager counted the till and it was correct. We felt it very odd that the woman seemed really calm about it and walked off without much fuss.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,078 ✭✭✭questionmark?



    You would never handle €100,000 in one shift, not unless you worked in the cash office. A 'high read' would be €2000 or more, I've never seen one above €6000, and that was before the recession/price drops. Credit cards are not counted as part of your read but even so, an entire supermarket would be lucky to make €100,000 in a day.

    To be fair a high read of only 2000 euro in a large supermarket chain is not a large read. Thats 20 people spending 100 yoyos a piece! Not exactly unheard of for a weekly shop. Multiply this many times over plus the smaller baskets on a busy food shopping day like a Thursday and the total adds up quickly.

    Dont know about CC but surely laser cards would be counted considering the option of cashback?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,663 ✭✭✭Nolimits


    foggy_lad wrote: »
    The larger supermarkets all have cameras on all till which show all money in and out as well as your shopping list and total amount etc so should be easy to sort out and may mean the shop assistant gets sacked.

    I work in a very large supermarket and there's no such thing. It's possible for them to zoom in on anyone if they want to watch them but there would only be a few cameras on all the tills might even be just the one. Certainly nothing like on every till.


    edit: this is grocery, where the tills are spaced out, in drapery where the tills are together there could well be one camera that could watch every till like that.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,244 ✭✭✭sdanseo


    Never leave the store. I wouldn't have been moved until I got my money back.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,378 ✭✭✭✭jimmycrackcorm


    The same situation happened to me and I refused to leave the till as I also knew I only had a €20. The manager came over and stated that they'd do the flaot later in the day and check. I countered that I'd let them give me my tenner change and if they subsequently found €10 short they could have it back but I also had an ATM receipt from about 20 minutes previously and I showed them my empty pockets. I said I wasn't budging from the till and given my receipt and empty pockets, if he wanted to make an issue out of it, it would cost the shop a fair penny. I got my tenner without question.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,009 ✭✭✭✭Run_to_da_hills


    In my old local in Dalkey a bar tender was renound for short changing customers, particularly towards the end of the night when people would be boozed up. One night I marked a twenty pound note and ordered a pint. He gave me the change of a tenner and denied completly that handed him a twenty. In those days there was no CCTV.

    I then roared across the bar table in front of customers and demanded that he produce the score with the mark that I just gave him. He never tried pulling that fast one on me again.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,195 ✭✭✭Corruptedmorals


    To be fair a high read of only 2000 euro in a large supermarket chain is not a large read. Thats 20 people spending 100 yoyos a piece! Not exactly unheard of for a weekly shop. Multiply this many times over plus the smaller baskets on a busy food shopping day like a Thursday and the total adds up quickly.

    Dont know about CC but surely laser cards would be counted considering the option of cashback?


    Yes actually, €2000 would apply to drapery- standard read if your whole shift is on tills is €2-3k. Supermarket would be more on a busy day, not more than €5k though. I'd say 4/5 out of 10 sales are card sales sometimes. Laser isn't counted either, cashback just subtracts from your read.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 770 ✭✭✭Dublindude69


    The same situation happened to me and I refused to leave the till as I also knew I only had a €20. The manager came over and stated that they'd do the flaot later in the day and check. I countered that I'd let them give me my tenner change and if they subsequently found €10 short they could have it back but I also had an ATM receipt from about 20 minutes previously and I showed them my empty pockets. I said I wasn't budging from the till and given my receipt and empty pockets, if he wanted to make an issue out of it, it would cost the shop a fair penny. I got my tenner without question.

    Yeah because it would have been impossible for you to have gotten the money and put it in your car or given it to a friend and then try to pull a scam. In this day there are so many scams going around you can't really blame someone for being a tad suspicious.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 417 ✭✭muffy


    People should be aware that in some stores the staff are NOT allowed to hand back money to people who claim they have been given the wrong change. This is because many stores have been targeted by people trying to do the whole buy-something-for-1 euro-and-pay-with-a-fifty scam. In the shop i work in there is normally only one member of staff on so if you insist on the till being checked there and then, you will be asked to wait outside the store whilst the shutter is pulled down and the other customers asked to leave so the float can be assessed.
    PLEASE bear this in mind if it happens to you, human error can occur to even the most experienced assistant.
    OP you did the right thing, ring them tommorrow if you are worried they won't remember to call you.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,799 ✭✭✭gerrycollins


    When I worked in a large irish grocery retailer the policy in these instances was that if it was quiet the till was counted and balanced and the difference sorted.

    if it was busy name taken and till counted later that day or first thing following morning. then customer called by member of cash office. If the customer made a special request then we did what we could as best we could

    that was a good number of years ago, today in my last shop every till had a camera so I could check in 2 minutes a customers claim and they were about 50/50.

    One such complaint, a fella claimed he was left short €20 becasue he gave in a €50. I apoligised and said I'd go upstairs to check the CCTV, by the time I got to the office(it was v far away) I got a call to say the man bolted just after I left him, turned out he was chancing his arm.

    I always found that those who made the biggest scene were the one's trying it on. Oh ya and be careful of the lads who ask for the change of a few €50 and then start asking to break that change down further etc tell them your not a bank.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 770 ✭✭✭Dublindude69


    There should be a thread on well know scams.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 16,096 ✭✭✭✭the groutch


    this is a well known scam, although it's unlikely to be done in a supermarket



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 923 ✭✭✭VERYinterested


    That Real Hustle show should be called Lemony Snicketts (A series of unlikely events) some of the scams they dream up would never fly. Mr. Smug, the Jock with the Goatee beard is an odious sort of smart arse, but Jess is nice to look at ;)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 68,317 ✭✭✭✭seamus


    That Real Hustle show should be called Lemony Snicketts (A series of unlikely events) some of the scams they dream up would never fly. Mr. Smug, the Jock with the Goatee beard is an odious sort of smart arse, but Jess is nice to look at ;)
    You'd be surprised. Most scams rely more on the acting ability of the scammer rather than situation itself. More outlandish scenarios can also be more effective because it overwhelms the mark with information, making it harder for them to ask, "Why doesn't he do X?" and making it harder to work through the scenario. It also exploits the person's sense of, "This is just so insane, you couldn't make it up".

    I had a guy approach me in a prominent public square in Brussels. He had an English accent and he first asked me if I spoke English. When I said yes, he replied, elated, "Oh thank God, someone who speaks english". Now, if you've ever been to Brussels you'll know that you don't have to go very far to find someone who speaks english.
    Anyway, he proceeded to tell "his" story. It went on for a good five minutes, during which the guy broke down into tears a couple of times. I don't remember the full story, but the jist of it was that his family lived in Sweden (or somewhere up there) and he worked elsewhere in Europe on an oil rig (or something). He was returning home to attend to a funeral or somesuch, taking a train to Brussels from where he was going to fly onto Sweden. He fell asleep on the train and when he woke up, he'd been robbed. His wallet, his bag, his plane ticket, everything. All he had was his passport and his clothes. The airline didn't want to know. He went to the Swedish embassy who wouldn't help him because he wasn't a Swedish citizen. He went to the UK embassy who could only arrange for a flight home to the UK, where he has no family. His family didn't have much money and couldn't afford to pay the last-minute flight charges home. They did find a cheapish flight from another airport, 500km north of Brussels and booked it. So now he needed to get there from Brussels with no money and the train ticket was €160.
    He begged, pleaded, promised everything under the sun that if I gave him the €160, he would send it back to me once he got home.

    It was an oscar-winning performance. The guy looked like a complete mess and claimed to not have slept in two days. It's got "scam" written all over it, right? Well, it still sounds relatively plausible ad his performance backed it up. And my conscience didn't want to take the risk that he might just be telling the truth. So I gave him €20 and told him that's all I could afford. And I still don't regret it even though I'm very sure that it was a con.

    So it's easy to say that you'd never be caught out by a scam until you actually end up standing there in front of one. Real-life conmen, the kind that speak to you face-to-face, can be extremely difficult to spot.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 923 ✭✭✭VERYinterested


    I know what you mean some scams are unbelievable, but there was an episode recently that featured an Art auction. They conned two fellas out of a couple of grand. It involved two lads overhearing a conversation in a pub, stepping in to buy a painting, and re-sell it to another person that was bidding over the phone and the connection to 'Tokyo' or somewhere was lost.

    Anyway it turned out that they hired a room, hired a room full of people to pose as punters at an auction, and all they got was two grand. After expenses it wasn't worth their while. The moral of the story was don't get suckered in a pub eavesdropping! I think they ran out of proper scams a few series back and now come up with ridiculous ones.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,917 ✭✭✭JimsAlterEgo


    seamus wrote: »
    You'd be surprised. Most scams rely more on the acting ability of the scammer rather than situation itself. More outlandish scenarios can also be more effective because it overwhelms the mark with information, making it harder for them to ask, "Why doesn't he do X?" and making it harder to work through the scenario. It also exploits the person's sense of, "This is just so insane, you couldn't make it up".

    I had a guy approach me in a prominent public square in Brussels. He had an English accent and he first asked me if I spoke English. When I said yes, he replied, elated, "Oh thank God, someone who speaks english". Now, if you've ever been to Brussels you'll know that you don't have to go very far to find someone who speaks english.
    Anyway, he proceeded to tell "his" story. It went on for a good five minutes, during which the guy broke down into tears a couple of times. I don't remember the full story, but the jist of it was that his family lived in Sweden (or somewhere up there) and he worked elsewhere in Europe on an oil rig (or something). He was returning home to attend to a funeral or somesuch, taking a train to Brussels from where he was going to fly onto Sweden. He fell asleep on the train and when he woke up, he'd been robbed. His wallet, his bag, his plane ticket, everything. All he had was his passport and his clothes. The airline didn't want to know. He went to the Swedish embassy who wouldn't help him because he wasn't a Swedish citizen. He went to the UK embassy who could only arrange for a flight home to the UK, where he has no family. His family didn't have much money and couldn't afford to pay the last-minute flight charges home. They did find a cheapish flight from another airport, 500km north of Brussels and booked it. So now he needed to get there from Brussels with no money and the train ticket was €160.
    He begged, pleaded, promised everything under the sun that if I gave him the €160, he would send it back to me once he got home.

    It was an oscar-winning performance. The guy looked like a complete mess and claimed to not have slept in two days. It's got "scam" written all over it, right? Well, it still sounds relatively plausible ad his performance backed it up. And my conscience didn't want to take the risk that he might just be telling the truth. So I gave him €20 and told him that's all I could afford. And I still don't regret it even though I'm very sure that it was a con.

    So it's easy to say that you'd never be caught out by a scam until you actually end up standing there in front of one. Real-life conmen, the kind that speak to you face-to-face, can be extremely difficult to spot.



    guy used to do the quays in Dublin, not quite as elaborate a story and only wanted 20 to get somewhere down the country. Funny thing was he approached me 2 weeks in a row. The look on his face when I asked him if he still hadn't got home a week later was priceless. :D Have seen him since and I will warn off people if I see him talkign to them.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,194 ✭✭✭Onthe3rdDay


    Thanks for the various answers and advice. The Store ran back to say that they had totted up the till and it balanced. I pointed out again that I only had 20 on me at the time. The person on the end of the phone was polite and professional, she said that if I was insistent that I handed over the 20 that she would give back the 10 euro change. It will be waiting at their customer service desk for me the next time I go in. She also apologised for any inconvenience.

    Now while polite she at no time admitted that they had made a mistake and while I’m getting back my 10 euro it appears to be more a goodwill gesture. Are they instructed to do this because of worry of other action?

    At the same time I defiantly did hand over that 20, if the till added up where did my 10 go?

    1) The assistant on the till made several mistakes and it’s a happy coincidence everything added up. (It is possible)
    2) The till was 10 over and they don’t want to admit their mistake.
    3) The assistant kept the ten herself.

    None of the above fill me with confidence.

    The result is that I won’t be shopping in that store again if possible. It’s not a boycott and I have nothing against the store (that’s one of the reasons I’m not mentioning the name) but it’s an extra hassle that I don’t need. There are 3 or 4 stores roughly the same distance where I can do a weekly shop at basically the same price. That means that 10,000 euro of turnover disappears in a year. (I know they won’t even notice it)

    Some will say it’s an over reaction, but my time has been wasted and I now don’t feel secure handing over money in there especially to the same assistant.

    I’m tempted to follow the actions of a friend of mind from now on. He goes into the bank and gets his money out in 10 euro notes! He says it makes him feel richer. At the same time he says it’s easier to keep track!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,240 ✭✭✭✭thesandeman


    Lol. I meet a guy like the above every time I arrive at Malaga airport. Hes been trying to get as far as Cordoba for 4 years now. We are on first name terms at this stage. Back on topic: having worked in the bar game for years the amount of people who thought they had given 50 or whatever who were suddenly brought to their senses when I asked them had they used the note to pay admission/cloakroom was amazing. I presume same happens in supermarkets with people getting change for the trolly. I really cant see somebody trying to skim a few pound in a supermarket.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 38 coffeenut


    OP - I wouldn't have left without the money, wouldn't have taken them long to cash up that till and in a big supermarket they'd have had a spare float to put into it anyway so the till wouldn't even have been out of action that long.

    I had similar issue a while back when cashier forgot to give me €60 cashback. i don't usually take cashback so i was half way out of the store when i realised. I went to customer service desk and was told that they wouldn't be cashing up until after the store was closed so that I would have to wait until the following day for my money. I had 4 days until pay day it was my last €60 with a weekend to get through.

    I very kindly explained to the manager that it was MY money, not theirs and that I wasn't budging until they returned my money to me. The cashier hadn't gotten me to initial the receipt for the cashback which would have indicated that she never gave it to me in the first place. I had no issue with waiting 20 or 30 mins for them to do up the till so i didn't see why they should have an issue with cashing it up when it wasn't going to cost them anything. Got my €60 10 minutes later.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,072 ✭✭✭sunnysoutheast


    Lol. I meet a guy like the above every time I arrive at Malaga airport. Hes been trying to get as far as Cordoba for 4 years now. We are on first name terms at this stage. Back on topic: having worked in the bar game for years the amount of people who thought they had given 50 or whatever who were suddenly brought to their senses when I asked them had they used the note to pay admission/cloakroom was amazing. I presume same happens in supermarkets with people getting change for the trolly. I really cant see somebody trying to skim a few pound in a supermarket.

    I used to work in a pub in the English midland countryside a few years ago, and every summer/autumn we used to get an influx of itinerant workers on the farms plus the hangers-on. So many of them tried this particular scam (GAVE YOU A TWENTY!!!) that, for anyone other than the locals, change was only ever (publicly) counted out onto the bar and not into the hand. Every note was also inspected very carefully as forgeries were everywhere.

    SSE


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 32,386 ✭✭✭✭rubadub


    guy used to do the quays in Dublin, not quite as elaborate a story and only wanted 20 to get somewhere down the country.
    My mate used to see this girl on and off when we were about 18-19. She was grand looking, well spoken etc and used to scab £1-5 off people for a bus fare or taxi home. Loads fell for it, probably thinking "that could be my sister/daughter stuck in town", I don't think she ever overdid the whole sob story thing. Many in that "real hustle" program do this similar scam, appearing to be similar to the mark they are conning, so they thing "that could be me".
    Some will say it’s an over reaction, but my time has been wasted and I now don’t feel secure handing over money in there especially to the same assistant.
    Once bitten twice shy anyway. I am checking all my change these days.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,799 ✭✭✭gerrycollins


    rubadub wrote: »
    My mate used to see this girl on and off when we were about 18-19. She was grand looking, well spoken etc and used to scab £1-5 off people for a bus fare or taxi home. Loads fell for it, probably thinking "that could be my sister/daughter stuck in town", I don't think she ever overdid the whole sob story thing. Many in that "real hustle" program do this similar scam, appearing to be similar to the mark they are conning, so they thing "that could be me".

    Once bitten twice shy anyway. I am checking all my change these days.

    didnt the real hustle cover this one before where a well dressed business man outside a tube station with a few fake business cards asking people for a £1 or 2 as he left his wallet at home in the rush this morning and one of the kids just got sick at school and he was only a £1 short.

    To those that gave him a £5 he offered his business card as colleteral but nobody called him back, however he made over £200 that day, and think of all the stations etc he could pull that on on for a week or so not bad way to make a few spare bob


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,383 ✭✭✭91011



    Now while polite she at no time admitted that they had made a mistake and while I’m getting back my 10 euro it appears to be more a goodwill gesture. Are they instructed to do this because of worry of other action?

    At the same time I defiantly did hand over that 20, if the till added up where did my 10 go?

    1) The assistant on the till made several mistakes and it’s a happy coincidence everything added up. (It is possible)
    2) The till was 10 over and they don’t want to admit their mistake.
    3) The assistant kept the ten herself.

    You forgot
    4) You only gave them €10


    What other action could be taken?. Seriously you are now making a mountain out of a molehill.

    €10 on a days takings in a supermarket is tiny and well within plus & minuses. - Checkout operators are human and humans make mistakes. (maybe you're the exception) It is not for someone then to claim possible theft by a checkout person in some mad theorectical theft scam.


    It is simple

    You claimed that you gave a €20, they said you gave a €10.

    Their till added up correctly, but they still are giving you the €10 you claim you are owed.

    That's it, nothing more, nothing less. Be happy and accept that case is over.


    Finally - why not pay by laser?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 68,317 ✭✭✭✭seamus


    91011 wrote: »
    You forgot
    4) You only gave them €10
    +1
    OP, you may indeed have only given her a tenner without realising it. I've done it myself, "I definitely had €20 in my pocket, where that other €10 go?". Then you play the whole day back in your head and you forgot that you broke your twenty earlier on in the day and you did indeed hand over a tenner.

    It's unlikely that the shop would cover it up, that makes zero sense. It's also not very likely that the assistant pocketed the €10 after all that fuss. If she was making a regular habit of this, then she would have a plan where she hands back the money to anyone who catches her - she wouldn't go through the whole hassle of having her till counted for the sake of your €10. If this was a regular occurence she would risk losing her job.

    It's possible that her till was way off that day and she gave some people back too much change. It would be unlikely that her till would exactly balance anyway, so if her till was maybe €3 over, they have no way of knowing if that's due to your tenner being in the till or because she forgot to give someone else €3 change (or 6 people 50c change). If she's new or generally incompetent, this is a possibility.

    The shop are giving you the tenner because it's only a tenner. They would rather give it to you and have you spend it in their shop in future rather than stop shopping there and spend your money elsewhere. You got the desired result despite the facts not going in your favour.

    Just on a side note - would you prefer that the conversation was had on the shop floor, "I gave you a tenner!", "Yes sir, but the till has balanced correctly, it's not over", or that it was had privately, over the phone, without anyone having to be embarrassed or annoyed?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,503 ✭✭✭smelltheglove


    I find it strange that they didnt check the till straight away. Any store I ever worked in checked the till for short changes straight away, it takes a minute or two max, it makes the customer feel more secure knowing their issue is being dealt with and if the cashier was trying to swipe a few euro then it will deter them from attempting more often. I have been a supervisor and customer care assitant in a few different large stores and none of them had cctv on ach till, there would be a camera to cover all tills but not each individually.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,272 ✭✭✭✭Max Power1


    Legally, the shop is not obliged to give change. If they do not refund you of their own accord, you will not be getting your money back.

    There was a thread on this around here recently.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,062 ✭✭✭dlambirl


    OP -
    Did you get any joy??


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,194 ✭✭✭Onthe3rdDay


    91011 wrote: »
    You forgot
    4) You only gave them €10


    What other action could be taken?. Seriously you are now making a mountain out of a molehill.

    €10 on a days takings in a supermarket is tiny and well within plus & minuses. - Checkout operators are human and humans make mistakes. (maybe you're the exception) It is not for someone then to claim possible theft by a checkout person in some mad theorectical theft scam.


    It is simple

    You claimed that you gave a €20, they said you gave a €10.

    Their till added up correctly, but they still are giving you the €10 you claim you are owed.

    That's it, nothing more, nothing less. Be happy and accept that case is over.


    Finally - why not pay by laser?

    No I gave them 20, How do I know, I took 20 out of the bank at the shop, I noticed that the note was dirty. I had no other money on me other than a few cent.

    I'm not making a mountain out of a molehole as you say, If they admitted their mistake I'd be happy. The 10 they're giving back is a goodwill gesture rather than saying I was right. Why should I take my chances with my cash in that shop in the future?

    I am happy that I got my 10 euro back and I have no problem with the shop. I didn't expect any more. I know mistakes can be made. In the past I've been given wrong change which was corrected there and then, I've even given back money because I got 10 and 20 euro too much in change.

    However, I'd just rather not deal with a shop where they make mistakes and it puts me out. It's my right as a consumer.

    You could just as easily be told that You're over reacting with your response to this thread. I am not upset the situation nor I'm I looking for extra, I was just retelling something that happened to me.

    As for laser...We don't all have loads of money in our laser accounts all the time:D I,m operating on savings till the end of next week.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,194 ✭✭✭Onthe3rdDay


    seamus wrote: »
    +1
    Just on a side note - would you prefer that the conversation was had on the shop floor, "I gave you a tenner!", "Yes sir, but the till has balanced correctly, it's not over", or that it was had privately, over the phone, without anyone having to be embarrassed or annoyed?

    No I would have preferred the conversation on the shop floor, as I was in the right.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,663 ✭✭✭wench


    I find it strange that they didnt check the till straight away. Any store I ever worked in checked the till for short changes straight away, it takes a minute or two max,
    If it were just the cash in the drawer that had to be counted, then yes, its a five minute job.
    However, any money that has already been lifted from the till needs to be checked. This could require security to come and collect the lock boxes from the tills, find all the drops related to that cashier, and then do the count.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 32,386 ✭✭✭✭rubadub


    91011 wrote: »
    It is not for someone then to claim possible theft by a checkout person in some mad theorectical theft scam.
    It is not a particularly crazy or unusual idea/occurrence, I know many people have had the problem with barmen, as I said I had it in a takeaway just a few weeks ago, only a euro but if they get away with it on several customers a day its a few more quid "wages". In a way they are in effect saying he is trying to steal €10 from them by saying he only gave €10
    91011 wrote: »
    Finally - why not pay by laser?
    I have no laser card, I do have CC and always pay with it for this reason, and to stop having pockets of change. The shop I was caught out in was lidl who do not take CC.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,663 ✭✭✭Nolimits


    Max Power1 wrote: »
    Legally, the shop is not obliged to give change. If they do not refund you of their own accord, you will not be getting your money back.

    There was a thread on this around here recently.

    This kind of comment is just smug and unnecessary. While it may be true, I'm sure the OP (or indeed anyone else) would not be shopping there if the shop didn't give change.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 770 ✭✭✭Dublindude69


    Nolimits wrote: »
    This kind of comment is just smug and unnecessary. While it may be true, I'm sure the OP (or indeed anyone else) would not be shopping there if the shop didn't give change.

    I've fairly sure this is the exact reason the law isn't in forced in any way shape or form.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,195 ✭✭✭Corruptedmorals


    No I gave them 20, How do I know, I took 20 out of the bank at the shop, I noticed that the note was dirty. I had no other money on me other than a few cent.

    I'm not making a mountain out of a molehole as you say, If they admitted their mistake I'd be happy. The 10 they're giving back is a goodwill gesture rather than saying I was right. Why should I take my chances with my cash in that shop in the future?

    I am happy that I got my 10 euro back and I have no problem with the shop. I didn't expect any more. I know mistakes can be made. In the past I've been given wrong change which was corrected there and then, I've even given back money because I got 10 and 20 euro too much in change.

    However, I'd just rather not deal with a shop where they make mistakes and it puts me out. It's my right as a consumer.

    You could just as easily be told that You're over reacting with your response to this thread. I am not upset the situation nor I'm I looking for extra, I was just retelling something that happened to me.

    As for laser...We don't all have loads of money in our laser accounts all the time:D I,m operating on savings till the end of next week.


    Yes you gave them a €20 but you have to understand the amount of times cahiers who deal with hundreds of transactions a day are faced with 1) change scams 2) People insisting they gave you a €50- oh wait no it was a 20 I have the €50 in my pocket haha- and so on. They don't know you personally, they can't take your word for it that that was the only money you had until the till is counted and it's out by €10ish OR it's picked up on CCTV- and any shop would be stupid to do otherwise. They gave you your €10 back- they should have apologised for the inconvenience moreso that the mistake- human nature etc. However if the till DID balance and they still gave you the €10, then they shouldn't apologise, they are placating you with no proof. Why blacken a store because ONE cashier made a mistake? You should try it, work a week of 8/9/10 hour shifts on checkouts and not make one single mistake.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,383 ✭✭✭91011


    As for laser...We don't all have loads of money in our laser accounts all the time:D I,m operating on savings till the end of next week.

    sorry, I thought by your earlier comment about the store losing your annual spend of €10,000 per year that with €200 a week spent on groceries the possible useage of a laser / credit card would be a reasonable assumption


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,194 ✭✭✭Onthe3rdDay


    Yes you gave them a €20 but you have to understand the amount of times cahiers who deal with hundreds of transactions a day are faced with 1) change scams 2) People insisting they gave you a €50- oh wait no it was a 20 I have the €50 in my pocket haha- and so on. They don't know you personally, they can't take your word for it that that was the only money you had until the till is counted and it's out by €10ish OR it's picked up on CCTV- and any shop would be stupid to do otherwise. They gave you your €10 back- they should have apologised for the inconvenience moreso that the mistake- human nature etc. However if the till DID balance and they still gave you the €10, then they shouldn't apologise, they are placating you with no proof. Why blacken a store because ONE cashier made a mistake? You should try it, work a week of 8/9/10 hour shifts on checkouts and not make one single mistake.

    I haven't blackened the name of any store, I've not mentioned any store name. I understand that mistakes can be made. At the same time by saying that the till balanced It could be said they're blackening my name. ( That's Just for example. The call I received was professional!) I know I handed over 20 euro. If the till balanced that meant that there was at least 2 mistakes.

    If I make 2 mistakes in a day I'd be in big trouble in my workplace.

    I have no problem with the store, I just choose to take my custom elsewhere.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,195 ✭✭✭Corruptedmorals


    Anyone who establishes a pattern of till overs/unders gets warnings- so yes, they would be in trouble. I am just trying to emphasise the store's point of view- it is unfortunate but they have to treat people as potential scammers unless the till is out by the amount and should not be taken as a personal slight. Obviously the whole situation is annoying but the sheer amount of chancers means they can't take your word for it and chance the till being out. If it ever happens again, stand your ground and get the till counted- this is what is done in my store no matter how busy it is.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 959 ✭✭✭maringo


    I wouldn't have moved from the till until a manager came and sorted me out with my correct change. Happened me once and they don't like you standing there and delaying the queue behind you so they are likely to sort it out pretty quick.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 770 ✭✭✭Dublindude69


    maringo wrote: »
    I wouldn't have moved from the till until a manager came and sorted me out with my correct change. Happened me once and they don't like you standing there and delaying the queue behind you so they are likely to sort it out pretty quick.

    Unfortunatly scammers rely on this.


  • Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 7,441 Mod ✭✭✭✭XxMCRxBabyxX


    91011 wrote: »
    You forgot
    4) You only gave them €10

    This happened to me with a customer when working one day. was handed a €5 and gave her the correct change to it. She then stood there insisting that she gave me a €20, even went so far as to ask me "do you remember me handing you the blue note". I was sure that I had been given a fiver but the shop was busy and I was still new and therefore nervous so I gave her the benefit of the doubt and her change as she insisted.

    Later on in the day one of the other girls working with me who had seen what happened came up to me and said that the lady had been back in. She had remembered that she had actually spent that €20 and it was a €5 she had given me so came back with her change and apologised.

    So it can happen although! Although I doubt so many people would be as honest as that woman if it had!


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