Tesco gave me change from a twenty but i gave them a fifty???

oohlala · 05-01-2011 07:52PM #1

As above, tesco in rathfarnham gave me change from a 20euro note but i had given them a 50. I pointed this out and the girl said i had only given her a 20. I only had a 50 on me at the stage as i didn't have wallet/bag and partner had handed me the 50 getting out of car. The groceries were about 12 euro. The girl insisted i gave 20 then told me to move so she could serve other people, i responded saying not until i get my 30 euro. She was reluctant to call a manager and the manager said they would have to check till at end of day and if it was 30 over they would have it for me tomorrow.

I said to count till now and they said for security they couldnt because the store was open and it was a risk. So left details and of course get no call. Phoned the store and the manager is busy, was supposed to call back but never did. So i had to physically go back to store to be told the till was exactly right to the cent so it must be my mistake. They said they dont have cctv over tills either when i asked them to check that.

So where do i go from here?

Rasmus · 05-01-2011 07:55PM

oohlala wrote: »

As above, tesco in rathfarnham gave me change from a 20euro note but i had given them a 50. I pointed this out and the girl said i had only given her a 20. I only had a 50 on me at the stage as i didn't have wallet/bag and partner had handed me the 50 getting out of car. The groceries were about 12 euro. The girl insisted i gave 20 then told me to move so she could serve other people, i responded saying not until i get my 30 euro. She was reluctant to call a manager and the manager said they would have to check till at end of day and if it was 30 over they would have it for me tomorrow.

I said to count till now and they said for security they couldnt because the store was open and it was a risk. So left details and of course get no call. Phoned the store and the manager is busy, was supposed to call back but never did. So i had to physically go back to store to be told the till was exactly right to the cent so it must be my mistake. They said they dont have cctv over tills either when i asked them to check that.

So where do i go from here?

That is insane, sorry to hear it happened - surely it's BS that they can't count the till during opening hours? Cashiers end shifts and put the money in the drop box.. can't believe they don't have a system in place to handle such issues.

phog · 05-01-2011 08:00PM

Not saying it happened but sure the til operator could pocket the €30 before the end of their shift and hey presto the til is accurate.

daenerysstormborn3 · 05-01-2011 08:07PM

No cctv over tills is such a load of rubbish, where the hell do they have it then??

You seem to be 100% certain on handing over a 50 note. Personally, I wouldn't have left the store in the first place until it was resolved satisfactorily.

I worked in a shop before and I was working on the till one day, really busy and I made a mistake. A customer handed over 20 to pay for items but I thought she had only handed over 10, it was practice in the shop to check the till immediately, this was done in a safe office at the back of the shop with security present. Turns out the woman had handed me 20 euro, she was given her items free of charge as an apology. This was only a small shop so I find it hard to believe that a large Tesco store doesn't have the same resources available to do a till check during the day.

A friend of mine used to work in superquinn and had this kind of dispute come up, the little box (with the money in it) from the till was taken out and brought into a safe room in the shop to be checked with security present and it turned out the customer was wrong because they checked the till first and then the cctv. This was shown to the customer who promptly left the shop and was barred from entering the shop again.

dudara · 05-01-2011 08:09PM

The problem is that it's going to be impossible to prove now. As other posters have said, the staff member could easily have pocketed the €30 (if your story is accurate), thus leaving the till in balance.

The only way to have proved it for certain was to have the till count there and then.

drunkmonkey · 05-01-2011 08:15PM

Sounds like she had a right neck on her telling you to move on, not a whole lot you can do once you left though.
I'd complain to tesco head office about the staff member and the manager fobbing your off. They might send you some vouchers or something for highlighting the lax cash controls instore and rude staff.

Ardennes1944 · 05-01-2011 08:20PM

i worked on the tills in Dunnes last Christmas and a customer got very angry at me saying i had short changed her by twenty euro. i called my manager, she complained in depth about my 'mistake' to him and my manager then said the procedure was to now count the money in my till. he got the read off my till amount and counted every last cent with her witnessing. i was bang on, she apologised ( just about ) left and i gave her the very as she did

there should be no problem counting the money in a till

Ms. Chanandler Bong · 05-01-2011 08:22PM

Any retail business I've ever worked in, the practice was (& is) that if you notice you've been short-changed whilst at the till, we'll check the till immediately (in a previous employment, this was done at the till so that the customer could see). If you've left the till area before realising and come back, we'll check it when doing up the cash the following day.
The CCTV thing I understand. Surprisingly the smaller businesses I've worked in have always had CCTV cameras over all the tills. Larger retailers don't. They have moveable cameras that can cover many areas but not at once. If the camera wasn't pointed at the till then it's your word against the cashier's.:(
I second drunkmonkey's suggestion: complain to HO. You asked for the till to be checked immediately & this request was refused. Why? The cashier had now been alerted to the fact that there was €30 extra in her till & would have been aware that there was no CCTV over her till (at this point in the year, she's not new staff & would know how security worked in the store. She had ample opportunity to take the money, thus balancing her till whilst making extra money for herself!

noodler · 05-01-2011 09:20PM

Lets not assume the worst of the staff here by the way.

Everyone goes straight to thief.

drunkmonkey · 05-01-2011 09:54PM

noodler wrote: »

Lets not assume the worst of the staff here by the way.

Everyone goes straight to thief.

I wouldn't normally but when someone tells you to move on it's not the first time they've ended up in this position. That takes neck.

wmpdd3 · 06-01-2011 12:41AM

Deutschlandfürimmer7 wrote: »

i worked on the tills in Dunnes last Christmas and a customer got very angry at me saying i had short changed her by twenty euro. i called my manager, she complained in depth about my 'mistake' to him and my manager then said the procedure was to now count the money in my till. he got the read off my till amount and counted every last cent with her witnessing. i was bang on, she apologised ( just about ) left and i gave her the very as she did there should be no problem counting the money in a till

This is the usual procedure, if the supermarket is doing regular lifts through the POD system there shouldn't be more than a few hundred in the till. This would make is easier to count on the shop floor in relation to security.

The problem could be that the office could be unmanned and someone would have to go in and find all the PODS from that till since the start of day and count those too.

Anytime this has happened we have counted but it has taken up to 40 mins to get a total.

Happened to me once in Woodies, I got the money back 3 days later. I just left my name and address with the manager and took his name and number.

OP I think at this stage I would write a letter to the store manager and Tesco Customer service asking for an investigation. The entire store and cash office is balanced on a Monday morning. I would demand to know if there was an over in this total as it is nearly a short.

Customer services: customer.services@tesco.ie

To contact the manager write to the store or fill this out:

https://www.tescocomments.com/

( you need the number from the bottom of any receipt from that store.)

jor el · 06-01-2011 01:48AM

oohlala wrote: »

I said to count till now and they said for security they couldnt because the store was open and it was a risk.

They open the till every time someone buys something, so you should have asked is that a risk too? Insisting that they either refund you, or count the money on the spot was the only way this could end in your favour.

Apart from contacting head office, as wmpdd3 says, there's nothing you can do.

Ficheall · 06-01-2011 02:02AM

People make mistakes like this all the time - I know I've given out too much and too little change on occasion, and I've had people come back complaining or to return the extra change. I've returned the extra tenner or thirty when I've been given too much change, and I once made the mistake of inquiring about being shortchanged and duly been mortified when I was wrong.

It's also an all-too common scam, to claim one has been shortchanged (not suggesting you're a scam artist, OP). This is especially popular when there are other customers around as a store will often give the 'customer' the benefit of the doubt to hurry them on their way. I've been brow-beaten on occasion into giving extra change. So I wouldn't be too quick to criticise the store, and I certainly wouldn't infer from her telling the OP to move on that she was intentionally shortchanging him.

Anyway - I know it's of little use now, OP, but I always memorise the serial code of the banknote I'm handing over if it's a fifty or more. That too, is of course open to fraud, but... every little helps!

stripysocks85 · 06-01-2011 11:52AM

Worked in a shop myself for ages and if there was every a query about a note that had been handed over, then the policy was to check at the end of the day. It was not feasible to get the till counted so it was checked after closing and the person was phoned accordingly.

ztoical · 06-01-2011 12:56PM

stripysocks85 wrote: »

Worked in a shop myself for ages and if there was every a query about a note that had been handed over, then the policy was to check at the end of the day. It was not feasible to get the till counted so it was checked after closing and the person was phoned accordingly.

I worked retail years myself as both staff and a manager and the policy always was the till was checked there and then. Another float would be brought from the cash office and the till taken out back to be counted. I find it very hard to belive a Tesco didn't have another float made up and was unable to bring a till to their cash office and count it there and then.

Unfortunatly OP you've little comeback once you left the till area. I would have stayed and demanded they count the till and not budged till they did.

Corruptedmorals · 06-01-2011 02:23PM

That's awful, doesn't look like you have much of a comeback now unfortunately except to lodge a complaint.

It is not fair to say that the checkout girl took the money- this is unsubstantiated and it would be very difficult to pocket money when you're constantly around customers/colleagues etc. AND cameras- these do exist over tills and checkouts- perhaps that one in particular is broken or not sufficient to determine notes handed over?

Never leave the checkout until it's resolved. They may be reluctant to count a till if it's busy but I'm sure they could have called someone else onto tills/checkouts to take over, it only takes 5 minutes. I had my till counted about 10 times when I worked in Dunnes, 5 or 6 were random check-ups which had to be done, the others were chancers lying over what note they gave (this happens ALL the time and unfortunately gives the impression that everyone is lying) and one was when I was quite sick and forgot to give someone their cashback so the till was €20 over from the read. All of these times the till was counted right then at the tillbank by a manager, none of this 'we're too busy' crap, often it WAS extremely busy and it was a busy flagship anyway. I hope you get some sort of resolution!

About tills having drops performed- yes this would make it more difficult but it's your money. Also, Dunnes does not do this. Regular occurrence to have 3 or more grand in your till. Occasionally they do at christmas but it's the luck of the draw, several people would be on lunch or have their tills locked away.

wmpdd3 · 06-01-2011 07:48PM

I don't know of any Tesco without atleast 1 camera over every till, but I have never been into that store.

TequilaMockingBird · 06-01-2011 08:04PM

Shame on Tesco. Very poor service. How long can it take to count a till?

This carry-on of leaving it until the end of day?! Eh no! It's MY money, sort it.

Corruptedmorals · 07-01-2011 01:22AM

Yeah ridiculous, it doesn't take long and it's worth doing! Best action is to get onto head office and shame them into either forcing the store to refund you or sending you out a €50 voucher or something.

Laphroaig52 · 08-01-2011 03:39PM

wmpdd3 wrote: »

I don't know of any Tesco without atleast 1 camera over every till, but I have never been into that store.

I saw a very low-tech but simple approach to this problem in Japan about 20 years ago:

When the customer hands the note to the check out assistant, she attaches it to the top of the till with a magnet keeping it in full view of herself and the customer.

She then opens the till, counts out the customers change which she hands to the the customer along with the receipt. Only when the customer accepts this does the tendered note go into the till and the transaction closed.

Simple!

smelltheglove · 09-01-2011 12:29AM

Lodge a complaint with Tesco head office. I had an issue with tesco insurance once, the rep on the phone was extremely rude to me and caused a bit of hassle so I lodged a complaint and received a courtesy gift of a gift card, I think it may have been for €40 when all I was expecting was an apology for the bad service.

hussey · 10-01-2011 07:11AM

Same thing happened to me a few years back in An Post
after working in retail, I knew people can make mistakes, but when I came back the next day the manager shouted at me saying "She (the till girl) didn't rob my money and that the till was down"

I was pretty shocked at the reaction of the manager (I never mentioned the word 'rob')

I asked about cameras and she said they were not working.

So I wrote a letter to the customer service department, clearly stating my case along with dates and times

a few weeks later I got a letter with a cheque accepting no blame, but as a gesture of good will.

Maybe a hand written letter?

keithclancy · 10-01-2011 10:49AM

When you hand over a 50 always include the statement "theres a fifty"

Person on the other side of the till is less likely to pull a fast one if they know your aware of what you handed over.

parsi · 10-01-2011 07:35PM

I recall being in TKMaxx one day and paying for my items with cash. The cashier kept up a steady chitchat all through the transaction and proceeded to hand back the wrong change. I pointed this out and there wasn't a problem but at the back of my mind is the concern that the chitchat was a deliberate distraction.

cc-offe · 11-01-2011 12:05AM

I worked in a shop once where a man said I shortchanged him,

I can't remember the details exactly now but I knew at the time I hadn't shortchanged him

I called the manager who counted the till and my till was perfectly accurate

The manager told the customer my till was accurate but gave him the disputed money out of 'good will'.

I felt completely undermined......this wasn't even a manger who ever once gave a **** about good customer service grrrrrrr:mad:

daheff · 11-01-2011 12:01PM

I always fold over the corner of a 50 or 20 when i give it to a shop (when i'm due a good bit of change -wouldnt bother if change was less than a 10)

it means worker has to unfold the corner...more likely to see what you've given them...and if they argue you can tell them you folded the corner and its blindingly obvious in the till when they look

From my experience working in retail and dealing with cashiers, you will generally know when somebody is try to pull a fast one...generally they get either really defensive or will immediately agree you gave them a different note to what they said (ie without checking or thinking about it at all)

dont leave the till until you have been given back you change. Counting the till doesnt prove anything...the till could already be under or over.

smelltheglove · 11-01-2011 02:10PM

Im sure there are genuine mistakes, I was given too much change yesterday by 10 in my local shop. I immediately handed it back to the girl and reminded her that I gave her 30 not 40, I guess it goes both ways.

Corruptedmorals · 11-01-2011 02:32PM

daheff wrote: »

dont leave the till until you have been given back you change. Counting the till doesnt prove anything...the till could already be under or over.

How often do you think when say the giving of a €50 is disputed that the till is ALREADY out by €30? And that this first person did not query their change? Counting the till is the shops main way of verifying what happened, cameras are often not good enough or slightly out of range. It is also difficult when you're so used to notes to enter the wrong note into the till. I never did that, in over 3 years. Also, till errors are flagged at €3, establish any kind of pattern and you get warnings. Losing vast amount of money like you imply- you would not last long. Particularly temp staff, supermarkets tend to have a much higher ratio of these these days.

Bartyman · 11-01-2011 03:20PM

Friend of mine was also stung with this, he now uses his camera phone when using large notes and has the date & time stamp on it. No-one can afford to be losing €30.00.

The Waltzing Consumer · 11-01-2011 03:27PM

Bartyman wrote: »

Friend of mine was also stung with this, he now uses his camera phone when using large notes and has the date & time stamp on it. No-one can afford to be losing €30.00.

Your friend might look really weird whenever he is handing over large notes, to be taking out his camera and recording it. Does he wear a tinfoil hat too?

Bartyman · 11-01-2011 03:46PM

The Waltzing Consumer wrote: »

Your friend might look really weird whenever he is handing over large notes, to be taking out his camera and recording it. Does he wear a tinfoil hat too?

Indeed, like me and a few others, he doesn't have that many €50 notes to be dispensing, so he's not constantly taking photo's, as for the tinfoil hat, he's been tempted to swap it for a balaclava.

Tesco gave me change from a twenty but i gave them a fifty???

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