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B&Q Refusing Cash Tranactions

Nozebleed

I was at my local B&Q this morning..where i queued for 20 mins to get in and then a further 20 mins to pay for my stuff only to be told the no longer take cash transaction in accordance with government guidelines. I was shocked..told the woman i have only cash..i was then asked by the staff member do i know someone with a back card who could pay for the items in question..but she new by the face on me..not to ask anymore questions.

is this legal practice on the part of B&Q?

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Quackster

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Perhaps varies by shop, but I was in two Woodies over the last two days (Drogheda and Seatown in Dublin) and both accepted cash, and never passed any remarks when I took it out.

Personally, I tend to use a mish-mash of cards and cash, but lately as I've been budgeting a bit more, I've been trying to use cash where possible. So I haven't used Homebase or B&Q, but I can understand why they have those policies in place, nonetheless.

You can achieve the same using Revolut or similar though. Load your weekly/monthly discretionary spending allowance to Revolut and it's easy to keep tabs on there.

feelings

I know right? The OP should have spent 10 seconds of their time to check the store policy before going to the store. (especially as B&Q have only recently re-opened)

coylemj wrote: »

That's not much use to the OP. Who spent 40 minutes queuing, only to discover that they were not accepting cash.

If B&Q are to be faulted, it's that the OP only discovered the 'no cash' policy at the checkout. Surely there were signs at the entrance and at various points inside the store? Was there a 'card only' sign visible to people standing in the queue for the checkout? I find it hard to believe that a shopper would only find out when they reached the top of the queue at the checkout.

GerardKeating

Nozebleed wrote: »

im sure they can request a preferred method of payment but the cant refuse legal tender.

ChelseaRentBoy wrote: »

OP they have a legal obligation to except cash as payment. You had every right to be shocked at their behaviour

No, they have a legal obligation to accept any legal tender to settle a debt, but unless you are purchasing some consumable item that you already consumed (food etc) or broke something, then no debt exists with the store and they can stipulate any form of payments (card, jelly beans etc) that they want.

Mrs OBumble

ChelseaRentBoy wrote: »

Woodies as of this morning excepted payment by myself with cash in their Sandyford store so you are inaccurate.

Glad to hear it. Mr Obumble had the opposite experience in Galway last week.

Guy:Incognito

ChelseaRentBoy wrote: »

.

OP they have a legal obligation to except cash as payment. You had every right to be shocked at their behaviour

You know you can't just say anything you like and make it true.

SCOOP 64

I know a good few pensioners who go to the post office every week and take all the pension out as cash,paid bills in post office the same way with cash, i understand in these times its safer /better to use card payments but still think its mad retailers refusing cash.

Nozebleed

feelings wrote: »

I know right? The OP should have spent 10 seconds of their time to check the store policy before going to the store. (especially as B&Q have only recently re-opened)

oh i should mention...that i had used cash on bank holiday monday at the same outlet..the new regulation only started on Wednesday!

Allinall

They should take all the cash they can get, and invest in literacy lessons for their staff.

Attachment not found.

There were dozens of these outside B & Q in Liffey Valley at the weekend.

coylemj

ChelseaRentBoy wrote: »

Cash isn't dead. The establishment want it dead because of their greed and need to undermine the black market in particular.

Is Bill Gates or George Soros behind it? There is no 'establishment' involved here, it's simply a case of individual retailers making decisions to protect their staff by reducing their exposure to the virus.

ChelseaRentBoy wrote: »

OP they have a legal obligation to except cash as payment. You had every right to be shocked at their behaviour

Can we kill this one please? A person or trader is obliged to accept legal tender money when it's offered in settlement of a debt. But in a retail environment where hard goods are for sale, no debt arises at any point in the transaction.

Ownership of the goods transfers at the point when the vendor accepts your payment - at no stage do you owe him money so legal tender doesn't come into it. It does apply in the case of food consumed in a restaurant, drinks bought on a tab and the delivery of services from the likes of a hairdresser or a plumber where the goods are consumed or the service is delivered before payment is sought but does not apply when buying hard goods in a retail environment.

dartboardio

That is bloody ridiculous. They should not be allowed refuse cash..

Prefer it yes, refuse it, no...

Alot of people probably don't even use bank cards. I know that sounds like a silly statement but it's true.

they should at the very least, have a very noticeable sign up saying 'no cash transactions'

L1011

ChelseaRentBoy wrote: »

OP they have a legal obligation to except cash as payment.

They don't.

dartboardio wrote: »

they should at the very least, have a very noticeable sign up saying 'no cash transactions'

All the evidence would suggest they did.

nelly17

I was on B&Q on Saturday and along pretty much every 2m social distancing marking point in the queue to get in there was a sign indicating contactless payment only. If i was going to use cash I would not have que'd for 20 mins to discover they meant it.

lisasimpson

For those who say cash is dead what will ye do when ye get to when yeget to a shop and card machine isnt working. Happened me in a chemist last sat. They asked me for cash. Also i was at a wedding a few years back and there was a nationwide system failure in the visa network. A lot of people got caught with no cash on them

L1011

lisasimpson wrote: »

For those who say cash is dead what will ye do when ye get to when yeget to a shop and card machine isnt working. Happened me in a chemist last sat. They asked me for cash. Also i was at a wedding a few years back and there was a nationwide system failure in the visa network. A lot of people got caught with no cash on them

I go find a shop with working kit.

I haven't used cash since early March and not sure I ever will again.

There are entire countries where cash was basically dead a long time before this started - Sweden for instance.

Sonics2k

dartboardio wrote: »

That is bloody ridiculous. They should not be allowed refuse cash..

Prefer it yes, refuse it, no...

Alot of people probably don't even use bank cards. I know that sounds like a silly statement but it's true.

they should at the very least, have a very noticeable sign up saying 'no cash transactions'

B&Q is prioritizing the health and safety of it's staff. And I believe all the stores have quite a few signs up saying "Card payments/Contactless only", or at least the two stores I visited do.

I imagine the OP didn't bother to read the signs.

StackSteevens

lisasimpson wrote: »

For those who say cash is dead what will ye do when ye get to when yeget to a shop and card machine isnt working. Happened me in a chemist last sat. They asked me for cash. Also i was at a wedding a few years back and there was a nationwide system failure in the visa network. A lot of people got caught with no cash on them

Much the same problem tends to arise when one loses one's wallet/purse/handbag.

But you already knew that! :rolleyes:

StackSteevens

Sonics2k wrote: »

B&Q is prioritizing the health and safety of it's staff. And I believe all the stores have quite a few signs up saying "Card payments/Contactless only", or at least the two stores I visited do.

I imagine the OP didn't bother to read the signs.

I'm not going to second guess what the OP did or didn't do, but I am astonished that it took him until day 84 of the Covid 19 crisis, to realise that some retailers weren't accepting cash.

Guy:Incognito

dartboardio wrote: »

That is bloody ridiculous. They should not be allowed refuse cash..
'

Its their shop. If they want to price everything in and only accept , bags of feathers, they can.

dartboardio

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Its their shop. If they want to price everything in and only accept , bags of feathers, they can.

Yeah I know they can do what they like, just I think it's ridiculous.

micosoft

Nozebleed wrote: »

im sure they can request a preferred method of payment but the cant refuse legal tender.

Common misconception. They cannot refuse legal tender for a Debt.

They can of course refuse to sell you something before the debt is incurred.

Unless OP was buying on credit he can't force them to accept any means of payment. They can they only accept sea shells if they feel like it. Well within their rights.

I told ya

Vic_08 wrote: »

Yes.

They can require any form of payment they like.

Cash cannot be refused. If you refuse to accept legal tender in certain cases the debt is deemed paid. That's why it's called legal tender. If people could refuse to accept cash then it would undermine the currency. It could also expose people to uncertainty and abuse.

There are limitations eg where you try to use a box of 1c coins to pay a €100 debt.

It's a very long time since I've studied this area but the above is the general position. The relevant legislation also sets out the limits for the use of coins, use of large notes, etc.

BeardySi

I told ya wrote: »

Cash cannot be refused. If you refuse to accept legal tender in certain cases the debt is deemed paid. That's why it's called legal tender. If people could refuse to accept cash then it would undermine the currency. It could also expose people to uncertainty and abuse.

There are limitations eg where you try to use a box of 1c coins to pay a €100 debt.

It's a very long time since I've studied this area but the above is the general position. The relevant legislation also sets out the limits for the use of coins, use of large notes, etc.

*facepalm*

There is no debt at the till.

Read the thread, it's been pointed out MANY times...

L1011

I told ya wrote: »

Cash cannot be refused. If you refuse to accept legal tender in certain cases the debt is deemed paid. That's why it's called legal tender. If people could refuse to accept cash then it would undermine the currency. It could also expose people to uncertainty and abuse.

There are limitations eg where you try to use a box of 1c coins to pay a €100 debt.

It's a very long time since I've studied this area but the above is the general position. The relevant legislation also sets out the limits for the use of coins, use of large notes, etc.

The major issue here is that no debt exists in this scenario; no matter how you try to argue it.

The state and ECB absolutely do not give a toss about acceptance of cash; those days are over - people feeling that the numbers in their bank account actually mean something and work is what is important. Both would be delighted to get away from issuing cash.

Vic_08

I told ya wrote: »

Cash cannot be refused. If you refuse to accept legal tender in certain cases the debt is deemed paid. That's why it's called legal tender. If people could refuse to accept cash then it would undermine the currency. It could also expose people to uncertainty and abuse.

There are limitations eg where you try to use a box of 1c coins to pay a €100 debt.

It's a very long time since I've studied this area but the above is the general position. The relevant legislation also sets out the limits for the use of coins, use of large notes, etc.

As countless other posters have already explained the only situation where "legal tender" has any relevance is in the settlement of a debt.

All other retail transactions are "Invitations to treat" where no debt has been taken, no contract has been formed and no obligation to trade is in force UNTIL goods and payment OF WHATEVER TYPE BOTH PARTIES AGREE ON have been exchanged.

The only exceptions are refusal to trade based on prescribed discriminatory basis, only posessing cash is not one of these.

Juwwi

This situation in general must be a nightmare for Bertie Ahern who doesn't have a bank account.

SPDUB

StackSteevens wrote: »

I'm not going to second guess what the OP did or didn't do, but I am astonished that it took him until day 84 of the Covid 19 crisis, to realise that some retailers weren't accepting cash.

I have used a card but all the shops I have been in during these 84 days have accepted Cash so not astonished that the OP might not have realised some places aren't .

swarlb

L1011 wrote: »

I go find a shop with working kit.

I haven't used cash since early March and not sure I ever will again.

There are entire countries where cash was basically dead a long time before this started - Sweden for instance.

I wish people would stop doing this... we are NOT Sweden, or any other country for that matter, we are who we are, Irish. And we have OUR ways of doing things, OUR way, not Sweden's.....
Some, if not plenty of people here use cash, and cards, and even cheques.

As an aside, I've never been to Sweden. Do they have no form of currency whatsoever apart from plastics cards ? Because if they do have a currency, then cash is not DEAD in Sweden, just like in Ireland, someone must use it.

L1011

swarlb wrote: »

I wish people would stop doing this... we are NOT Sweden, or any other country for that matter, we are who we are, Irish. And we have OUR ways of doing things, OUR way, not Sweden's.....
Some, if not plenty of people here use cash, and cards, and even cheques.

As an aside, I've never been to Sweden. Do they have no form of currency whatsoever apart from plastics cards ? Because if they do have a currency, then cash is not DEAD in Sweden, just like in Ireland, someone must use it.

And "OUR way" now appears to be near total use of cards with multiple shops completely refusing to accept cash.

Sweden has physical currency, but nobody uses it. Most shops don't take it, most banks don't have any, ATM networks are getting switched off. Some single banks here have more ATMs than are left on the main interbank network in Sweden. They were down to 13% of transactions (by number, 6% by value, further down the report) in 2018 and the decline since then has basically been terminal.

That some people appear to have an emotional connection to physical cash won't make it come back.

Rodney Bathgate

Juwwi wrote: »

This situation in general must be a nightmare for Bertie Ahern who doesn't have a bank account.

He might have Revolut now. Assuming he has a passport.

phormium

I prefer to use cash, I budget by taking out one cash lump sum per week from ATM however I have been using contactless with credit card as needed. Woodies where I am take cash and I have only come across one garage/convenience store that takes no cash at all. Local diys etc take cash no problem.

Shop can decide policy, once it's well communicated then that's their choice.