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

Starrystarrynight

Only the issuing bank (eg Bank of England) can declare if a note is counterfeit or not, as I remember it. I used to have to 'confiscate' notes that I believed to be forged, stating that I had reason to believe so but that it would be confirmed by the BoE or BoS etc, note who it was from and report it to the Police. I would be breaking the law myself, apparently, if I handed it back.
It does seem very poor practice of the Co-op to not provide even a receipt for the OP's friend, so she can at least show it to her boss for balancing the petty cash.

krazykidskate

misssarahleigh wrote: »

They are refusing to provide me with any proof the note was seized

What is to stop them putting your fake £20 in with the takings and helping themselves to a genuine one in its place? I would definitely pursue this - they sound a bit too keen to keep your note for some reason without giving any proof.

misssarahleigh

Thanks for your enquiry. I note that you have already spoken with a colleague of mine about this earlier today. The correct procedure in your case is that once the suspect note had been identified, a receipt should have been offered detailing the serial number and denomination with contact details of the respective parties, and the note handed to the police as soon as possible. The Bank does not have legal or statutory powers to enforce retailers to give receipts but by law all suspect notes should be handed to the police. It would seem good sensible practice for retailers to issue you a receipt and many retailers do, as you have said some suspect notes are in fact genuine and they would have no way to contact you. There are two courses of action. First, you could check that the note has been handed to the police, and if not ask that it does. I am sure that the police will want to annotate your contact details to their paperwork, and if found to be genuine, you will be refunded. Second I could offer to write to the Co-Op to ask them to review their procedures in light of this situation.


This is the email i recieved from the Bank of England

onejontwo

A similar situation happened to me a while ago. After withdrawing some notes from a cash machine some time earlier We went for a drink and a meal in a pub, but on payment after using the scanner a £20 note was deemed to be a forgery. They then refused to return the note (which according to the police I later found out is quite correct as they would be putting a forged note back in circulation) so I hit the roof for ten minutes, and after calming down I insisted on some form of receipt which reluctantly they agreed to. To cut a long story short, I took this matter up with the issuing bank and after about 2 weeks of pestering on my part, they reimbursed me with a £20 note!
I still wonder to this day though if they do this quite often and put the note back into the till and gain £20.................

McKneff

reehsetin wrote: »

they could if it was found to be real!!

Yes, of course your right, my apologies.

And i am wrong about the reimbursement too apparently, i thought that the
customer was the loser all round. Seems not. Sorry for the duff info.:o

Dr.Shoe_2

I would have taken details from witnesses.

DVardysShadow

misssarahleigh wrote: »

Thanks for your enquiry. I note that you have already spoken with a colleague of mine about this earlier today. The correct procedure in your case is that once the suspect note had been identified, a receipt should have been offered detailing the serial number and denomination with contact details of the respective parties, and the note handed to the police as soon as possible. The Bank does not have legal or statutory powers to enforce retailers to give receipts but by law all suspect notes should be handed to the police. It would seem good sensible practice for retailers to issue you a receipt and many retailers do, as you have said some suspect notes are in fact genuine and they would have no way to contact you. There are two courses of action. First, you could check that the note has been handed to the police, and if not ask that it does. I am sure that the police will want to annotate your contact details to their paperwork, and if found to be genuine, you will be refunded. Second I could offer to write to the Co-Op to ask them to review their procedures in light of this situation.


This is the email i recieved from the Bank of England

Do please go back to the Coop with this and let us know how you get on.

misssarahleigh

My plan is as follows:

1. Reply to the BOE and take him up on his offer to speak with the Co-op
2. Call the lady from the Co-op who i made a formal complaint to and see what action she has taken
3. Telephone the police to ask if this money has been handed over

I personally want all members of staff involved investigated as i believe their actions were shocking and a great deal short of even basic customer service and

If it is not policy to hand a reciept out at the Co-op for this matter i want to hopefull make it standard practice. Even if one person recieves their money back due to their details being taken and the note misidentified as a fake i feel my time will be worth while. I know very few people who can have £20 removed from their purse/wallet without feeling the sting.

The_Pedant

And if they cannot, or will not give a police crime reference, insist on the return of the original note, or a replacement (i.e. if they took it upon themselves to destroy it).

misssarahleigh

OnTheUp wrote: »

I have just spoken to my OH who is a dc.. he has said that IF he seizes what he believes to be fraudulent money he would have to obtain details from the person and there would be an audit trail. Its is his personal opinion only that they have behaved inappropriately especially as if the note is fraudulent, then the police will not know where it came from and if its not, then how on earth are they going to return it to the rightful owner.

He has suggested you DO visit your local police station and ask them to politely intervene

Sorry for asking a daft question but whats a DC (i'm gonna take wild guess at detective constable)??