Beware Lloyds new note counting machines in the branch - they eat your money

usignuolo

My OH runs a small business which involves taking money from the public in small sums, (most of it is in notes, £5, £10 and £20) so he is obliged to bank a lot of cash (cost at LLoyds 57p per £100). He has stuck with Lloyds as they count it in front of you which acts as a double check it is correct. Or rather they used to.

In the last year the bank counters at our local Lloyds have had a make over: the windows have been taken down, musak/ads introduced and automatic note counting and checking machines introduced. These are a disaster, they keep breaking down. I went into the branch to pay in some cash for him two weeks ago and the machine broke down and jammed half way through counting the notes.

My OH is super accurate so I knew it had to be correct and was ready for a row if they had indeed lost it. After a lot of fiddling around, when it seemed to me that at least one note might well be stuck inside, they agreed the amount I paid in was correct.

I know a bit about this sort of machine and said it was asking for trouble as used bank notes have curly corners which catch and the paper sheds a fine dust which clogs up automatic sorters like this. The counter clerk said they knew this and cleaned them several times a day but they were causing no end of trouble.

Today my OH went into the branch to pay in some more cash and low and behold the machines broke down twice, first when counting fives - where they agreed his total and transferred to the second machine. That then broke down completely when counting tens, and they had to rebalance the machine and then told him he was £10 short.

He knew he was not and demanded to see the manager, surprise surprise there was no manager available and the counter clerk was nearly in tears with the frustration of it all and said the machines broke down several times a week plus there was a huge queue and he had to go to work. So he had to leave it, with the promise they would let him know if they found it when they cashed up at the end of the day. Of course he has heard nothing.

OK it is only £10 but this is the second time in a month their cash counting machines have broken down and Lloyds seem to have no alternative system and he has lost confidence in them to count his money accurately.

Does anyone have any suggestions about an alternative high street bank for small business acounts - what is cost of paying in cash at Barclays for example and do they use the same sort of machine?. The Lloyds machine doesn't just weigh the notes, it physically counts them and is said to be self checking, but this is no good if it can't handle curly notes and keeps breaking down with errors in the bank's favour.

LemonGrove

One of my local Lloyds (the only bank who's branches I actually visit) has only just had a refurbishment of the layout and the cashier's desks which are still like the old ones, just more modern. They still count them then put the notes in a drawer, I guess it will be a long time before they introduce them here - which when reading your experience, I'm glad of.

so2006

Other banks could be Barclays, A&L , Royal bank of scotland.

There are loads.

cloudstrife_2

Oh heck I hope they don't force us Halifax branches to start using them note counters!! We do have one behind the counter for our own use (it only counts rather than identifies and adds up the notes!) and I actually broke ours with a dodgy £10 note not so long ago. I know that £5s are ok but £10s are awful to count with the machine!

Erm back to the question at hand! With Halifax Business Accounts (currently provided by Bank of Scotland) cashiers don't count the cash when you pay-in, you pop it into a cash deposit bag and the cashier will deposit the cash to your account. It then gets checked at a cash centre somewhere in the country to make sure the right amount of cash is in the bag.

Now there are changes afoot with our business banking following our takeover by Lloyds TSB but details are yet to be confirmed so things might change on this front.

James

peregrin

My local Halifax has those instant deposit machines which I suppose are similar, if you pay cash in then the machine counts them, asks you to confirm the amount matches what you expected and then pays it into your account immediately. I've used it quite a few times (it's the only way I can pay in as a basic account customer) and works quite well and seems fairly fast - maybe just good luck on my part!

withnell

I've never had an issue with the halifax machines - HSBC i've had many notes rejected for having marks (even notes fresh out of their own cash machine)

must just be the ones lloyds use that eat the money!