Natwest Bank Cashier Till Down And Blames Me!!!!

classylea

Hi guys i am new on here so not sure if i have posted in the correct place? Anyhow i have just had a massive unsurreal shock and wondered if you could help me?

I went into my local Natwest branch at lunchtime with my kids to quite simply withdraw some money and pay some in. Simple (or so i thought). Approximately 5 hours later i had a phonecall from an unknown number. It turns out its th cashier from the bank.

:mad: "Hello is that ....." "Yes speaking", "Hello its ...... from Natwest, i served you earlier today." "Yes". "I have just added up my till from the end of the day and it is £14.00 down. I have just looked at my piece of paper i wrote on regarding how much money i gave you etc 3x 20p 6x £1 etc etc bla bla bla. So is it ok if i debit the £14 from your account?" (shell shocked) i said "er no actually. How can you say it was me? Some 5 hours later." "Well have you any way of checking the amount Miss ......" "Well yes actually (so i checked and i am not one penny over or under!!!!!!!) No im afraid i am not up or down." "Like i told you Miss ...... i gave you 3x 20p 6x £1 etc etc bla bla bla. So will it be ok if i debit the money from your account." "No it wont be". "So your contesting what im saying?" "Yes i am". "In that case i will have to speak to my line manager tomorrow and speak to you then. Good bye."

So? Now where do i stand?

Thanks

neilmcl

Unless they can prove they gave you more than they should have then I don't think they have a leg to stand on. I'm assuming they didn't overpay you, or did they?

DVardysShadow

Tell them to put the claim in writing. I get the feeling, rightly or wrongly, that this is not an official call, but a private initiative by the cashier to try and cover up for a mistake.

Owain_Moneysaver

This assumes it's an 'honest' mistake by the cashier. I would report the matter to NatWest security - try 0845 300 3983
http://www.natwest.com/global/security/security-advice/report-resolve-fraud.ashx

Cool_Username

My advice would be to get in touch with Natwest Customer Services and describe the incident to them - I very much doubt that it is company procedure in these circumstances for bank staff to look up a customer's personal contact details and ring them to ask for such a thing in order to balance the till - in fact I would venture to say that this course of action may be classed as misconduct on the part of the cashier in question.

Depending on how you feel with regard to the incident I would also consider informing customer services that as a result of the events you describe and the (likely unauthorised) telephone call by the cashier asking to take money from your account to balance the till, you will be closing your account with the bank and taking your custom to one of their competitors.

JamieD_2

It is entirely company procedure to contact customers to try to balance the tills. To class it as misconduct is ridiculous.

Unless they were asking for your account details it is unlikely to be fraud or phishing

Cashiers have to balance at least once a day and any errors need to be investigated before they can be written off. After getting their cash rechecked by someone else, they will go through their till receipts and compare these with the record of what has been keyed into their computer. If there is any discrepancy between the two, this is where an error can arise. For example, customer requests £200 but cashier makes typo and only keys £100. If they show as £100 short at the end of the day and if they have annotated on their records that they gave out £20 x 10 then it's pretty clear that this is where the error has arisen.

Whether or not you agree with this is a different matter. Are you are sure that all of your transactions were correct? Have you had a look at your account to verify that what is recorded tallies with what you did.

Otherwise you can have a word with the manager, but if the papertrail clearly shows the error then the correction may stand

Cool_Username

Out of interest how do you know that it is company procedure to contact customers via the phone number they have provided in order to request a debit from their account in order to balance the till?

prowla

Tell them to whistle, and they've already wasted more than £14 in trying to tap you for their mistake.

JamieD_2

I used to work for them. Most of the time if someone had an error, they were able to track it down through their paperwork. To be thorough, the cashier would often get in touch with the customer both to verify that this was correct and to inform them of the impending correction.

It's not a case of telling them "tough s***, it's your mistake". After all, if you'd been short changed you'd expect to get your money back.

Obviously if the customer says that their transaction was processed correctly, then it needs to be looked at a bit further, but if the paperwork clearly shows a mistake that precisely matches the error then the situation will be resolved to make everything balance.

Whether the manager will accept the customer's disagreement will depend on the amount involved, the paperwork and the customer. Always worth having a word if you're sure you're right.

Cool_Username

JamieD wrote: »

I used to work for them. Most of the time if someone had an error, they were able to track it down through their paperwork. To be thorough, the cashier would often get in touch with the customer both to verify that this was correct and to inform them of the impending correction.
.

Thanks for that - hope you didn't mind me asking for clarification on how you had "insider knowledge".

If that's how banks deal with shortages then fair enough - I would question how a cashier could actually "prove" how much money had been physically passed over the counter though - for example the transaction may be recorded as £10 of £1 coins being withdrawn and a written slip saying £10 of £1 coins but neither of these actually prove that ten pound coins were handed over do they? I hope I explained that with some sort of clarity...

JamieD_2

I see where you're coming from and no, there's no evidence of the kind that would court, but if the slip is time stamped, the cashier is diligent in filling out what denominations they pass and there is no blatant tampering, then the bank will say that there is sufficient evidence to process a correction with or without the customer's knowledge or consent.

Again, it all depends on the situation, amounts and customer. If it was £1000 that had been keyed as £100, then they might roll out the CCTV to see if anything shows up on there.