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

KeithP

Isn't this the reverse of those signs we used to see that said something like "please check your change before leaving the counter, as mistakes cannot be rectified later".

At the time, the OP was given some cash and some other transactions took place and at that time both the customer and the bank agreed everything was right.

If I went into the bank and withdrew £100 and later that day I phoned the bank and said I only had £90 in my wallet, I wonder what they would say to me?

soolin

I concur with some of the other replies. I worked in a bank, not Nat West, and it was common practice to phone customers where our slips showed we had handed out too much money. We might try asking if the money could be debited, but if customer refused we couldn't go ahead and just take it and would have to let the loss go.

WE were normally quite accurate at knowing where the mistake was made and if it was a small loss then it would just be put aside and never mentioned again, if it was a larger loss though (and on some occasions it could go into the hundreds) then the customer was always dealt with by two members of staff, or the money handed out was double checked for a while.

soolin

KeithP wrote: »

If I went into the bank and withdrew £100 and later that day I phoned the bank and said I only had £90 in my wallet, I wonder what they would say to me?

In my branch if you phoned and the cashier checked their slips and it showed you had taken 10 x £5 notes, and £20 of 20p and £20 of 10ps then we would know we were £10 wrong and repay you.

Old_Wrinkly

Could I ask the bank ex-employees what would happen if you rang the customer and didn't get any answer. Would you simply process things as if they had accepted the 'revision'? Would you regard it as a 'failure to agree'? Or would you move on to another customer to see if they were prepared to admit they had been paid too much?

Also, there seems to be some difference between banks as to what happens if the cashier feels certain of the error, but the customer disagrees.
JamesD implies that (at Natwest) the change would be made and it would be up to the customer to object (which is what the OP seems to be finding).
soolin states that (at a different bank) "if customer refused we couldn't go ahead and just take it and would have to let the loss go".
How many would prefer the Natwest way? :think:

pmduk

My reaction would depend on whether I knew the cashier had made a mistake. My budget is so tight, I'd have noticed the error immediately and told them. If the customer believes that no error has taken place, then I'd sit firm. The cashier should have counted out the money first, if not, then their problem.

williham

I know someone that works in a competitor bank and they said they wouldn't even investigate unless the till was at least £100 down.

pendulum

classylea wrote: »

: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 straight away your attitude was "Prove it?"
You admit you only "checked" after the cashier asked you to... and I bet that was only to check that the extra £14 was still there.

I hope they get the CCTV out on principle then debit it back!

If a till is exactly £14 down, and after investigation of their paper records, your transaction shows a £14 error and all the others tally, well we know where the money's gone don't we? We can rule out deliberate cashier fraud because for £14.00 its out of the question.

soolin

Old_Wrinkly wrote: »

Could I ask the bank ex-employees what would happen if you rang the customer and didn't get any answer. Would you simply process things as if they had accepted the 'revision'? Would you regard it as a 'failure to agree'? Or would you move on to another customer to see if they were prepared to admit they had been paid too much?
? :think:

We would not move onto another customer as we wouldn't be phoning a customer anyway unless we were 99.999% sure we had the right person. If there was a possibility it was between two or more customers we would not phone any of them as there would be too much doubt. If we couldn't show the manager we knew who had the money we wouldn't phone anyone.

If the customer did not answer the phone we would probably try them again another time, but we certainly would not be removing funds from an account and would just let it go.

Most of the time errors couldn't be traced and the loss was written off, it was only when we had detailed notes of all transactions and the notes themselves indicated that we had issued too much money would we actually phone. So for instance if I counted out 11 x £10 notes to someone and my notes showed that I gave them £100 in ten pounds notes there would be nothing I could do about it. If however I made an arithmetcal error and my notes actually showed i had overpaid and my till was wrong by the same amount then I would be expected to call the customer.

dacouch

Couldn't Natwest go to the [STRIKE]Government[/STRIKE] taxpayer and ask for a bailout for the £14 they have lost?

pendulum

Out of interest to anyone that's ever worked in a bank recently. Is the CCTV pointed at the cashier generally clear enough to spot the amount of money counted out / handed over?

I bought an £8 webcam off eBay and the picture quality seems to be better than the fuzzy, and in some cases black and white kind of setup most businesses/banks still seem to use. In this day and age you would think big businesses would have excellent CCTV setups by now.