£20 Note Seized by Co-op - Refuse to take details or provide reciept

OnTheUp_2-2

I think its very clear that the Co Op should have taken down details

a. so the note could be returned if proven fine
b. to pass your details to the police if it was proven to be fake

To say that its stupid to ask for someone details in case they are aware its fake is also making an assumption that someone is guilty.. if someone was offered the opportunity to leave their details and they refused thats their perogative and probably gives an indication as to whether they are guilty..

Furthermore both parties should have taken note of the serial number

Simple as that

misssarahleigh

OnTheUp wrote: »

I think its very clear that the Co Op should have taken down details

a. so the note could be returned if proven fine
b. to pass your details to the police if it was proven to be fake

To say that its stupid to ask for someone details in case they are aware its fake is also making an assumption that someone is guilty.. if someone was offered the opportunity to leave their details and they refused thats their perogative and probably gives an indication as to whether they are guilty..

Furthermore both parties should have taken note of the serial number

Simple as that

I agree.

Many thanks for your comment:o

misssarahleigh

They have sent a letter of apology and said they would be happy to pass my details to the police. I personally don't feel this is good enough. Just trying to get rid of me i believe.

sad_dog_lady

please keep going with this we need martin to do us a wee card that we can show people if this happens to us, a step by step way of not losing out, my sons have learning delays but can still be partly independant and they would no have a clue with forged notes, we need a fool proof and correct system... PLEASE MARTIN take note

misssarahleigh

sad_dog_lady wrote: »

please keep going with this we need martin to do us a wee card that we can show people if this happens to us, a step by step way of not losing out, my sons have learning delays but can still be partly independant and they would no have a clue with forged notes, we need a fool proof and correct system... PLEASE MARTIN take note

Many thanks for that. Hopefully with the Bank of Englands interest we may be able to put a policy in place.

Hanoverian

McKneff wrote: »

They are not legally allowed to give it back.

Even if you got a receipt for it, it wouldnt have done any good because you couldnt claim the £20 back from anyone, well, only the person who created the forgery and they will be long gone.

Its no one elses fault, so the shop/police/royal bank of england wouldnt refund you, its not their fault so why should they be £20 down.

So a receipt under these circumstances would be useles.
So its a sorry from me but the customer loses out.

I think you maybe really should do some legal research, going to the papers is a bit OTT and ithink you may end up with egg on your face.

Sorry but I disagree...firstly if there is any sort of question like this it is totally unprofessional to make a public song and dance about it, it should be dealt with discreetly, and it is not the stores place to presume guilt.

The correct course of action should have been to take the customer to somewhere private and inform them that they believed the note was a forgery and summon the police to deal with it, as an offence may have been committed, it is for the police to decide if this is the case, and investigate whether the customer was an unwitting party, or set out deliberately to gain goods by deception, not the store. For the store to seize the note, technically they have committed theft by taking your property.

At the very least they should have listened to the customer and provided a reciept, so that she could account for the money to her employer.

I would certainly go to the papers, at the end of the day it is not for a supermarket manager to presume guilt or innocence.

Scrudge

Having looked through this I think that it is possible that what has happened is plain theft. Like I am aware that shop workers tend to abuse the discounts scheme - when they discount goods and hide them so that it is them and not customers who take advantage. (And even goods that they discount are sometimes managed in a way to attract discounting - i.e. held hidden until expiry date approaches) Also I have been short changed on several occasions in shops.

It would not surprise me if shop workers (some of them earn not much more then GBP20 per day) decided to deliberately steal in this manner. I would imagine majority of people would want to walk out as soon as possible because of embarrassment / fear of Police. The fact that you are innocent does not prevent you at all from spending many hours in the Cells, have yourself photographed / fingerprinted / DNAed. Then they could start investigation into your life... So even if offered the chance I would imagine many people would give false details. And coop staff have no power to detain you on mere suspicion of crime - only the Police have that right. So for a dishonest supermarket worker it might well be a good scheme.

As far as given a receipt - it is just common sense. All it is - is a written statement of fact. If they are sure that there acts are legal - I can see no reason why they would not sign it on paper. I don't think that there is need for detailed instructions for this - it is just common sense.

But even if they did provide a receipt with serial number then in theory nothing prevents them from printing a fake note with the same serial number - though most would not go that far of cause!!!!

pinkshoes

misssarahleigh wrote: »

They originally confirmed the note was fake by running the 'special pen' over it at the till point.

Ironically, these "special pens" can also be faked, probably just as much as £20 notes, so that they always show the £20 up to be real, and NOT fake!! I'm sure this was on the Real Hustle or similar!

Renya

pinkshoes wrote: »

Ironically, these "special pens" can also be faked, probably just as much as £20 notes, so that they always show the £20 up to be real, and NOT fake!! I'm sure this was on the Real Hustle or similar!

Yeah, I saw that episode, it's a bit worrying how easy it could be for someone to do that, especially as the staff would probably put a lot of trust into them, and yet still receive forged notes

misssarahleigh

I think my biggest concern that at no point is the customer ever going to get that money back even if it's legal tender. And my apologies, but the pen is not a 100% accurate test (even the bank of england says that)

Like i said, just seems to be a big black hole where the protection of the consumer/victim is again forgotton.