HSBC Deposit Error

Cassa

I paid £1200 into a deposit machine last Sunday at HSBC (Bank with First Direct), today I've received a letter stating there was only £1100, and my account has only been credited by £1100.

The amount was definitely £1200, what can I do?

pcombo

Take the receipt showing £1200 into a branch.

bengal-stripe

Cassa wrote: »

......today I've received a letter stating there was only £1100, and my account has only been credited by £1100.

I presume it was one of the old-type machines, where you put your money into an envelope, type into the machine the amount and deposit the envelope (not one of the newer machines where you feed in the notes individually. That deposit would have been counted by two cashiers and in case of a discrepancy would have been counted twice, triple or quadruple times.

You can contact the bank, but they are not likely to agree with you. Ultimately it is the word of a single person against the word of two people.

Generali

Was it cash or cheque? If cheque then ask the bank for a copy of the cheque. If it was cash you're unlikely to see the £100 again.

opinions4u

First of all check in your head that it really was £1,200. Did you make a mistake? You are human, after all.

If you remain convinced that you are right, then you have to complain. But make sure you are certain it was £1,200 before you rock the boat.

This will initiate an investigation in to the conduct of a staff member. If that staff member has made a mistake the money will be found. If there really was only £1,100 in the envelope then the staff member who processed the deposit is being accused of theft when innocent. If the staff member has stolen the money but has no previous complaints against them then it's unlikely anything more than a file note will be made. If there is a trend of missing funds developing then more significant action will be taken.

But unless theft or an error can be proved, you are totally reliant on goodwill to get your money back.

JournalGirl

Sadly, the moral is never use these machines for cash deposits. You will struggle to get the money back.

pinkdalek

I'm not saying you are right nor am I saying you are wrong.

The deposits would have been removed with two staff members present, standard practice.

Check back yourself, for example where did the money come from? Did you withdraw if from another bank and could the other bank have short changed you? Could you have originally had £1200 but then had to take £100 out for something and then forgot when you paid in via the machine?

Contact the bank though, the account may have been credited wrong and the could have been an inbalance of £100.

If you are still unhappy and sure it was £1200 then you would have to go through their complaints department as standard practice.

bengal-stripe

pinkdalek wrote: »

......the account may have been credited wrong and the could have been an inbalance of £100.

Cassa wrote: »

......today I've received a letter stating there was only £1100, and my account has only been credited by £1100.

I think an in-putting mistake is highly unlikely, as the bank has written separately to the OP, advising him/her
of the amount the cashiers were able to establish.

Mishomeister

bengal-stripe wrote: »

I presume it was one of the old-type machines, where you put your money into an envelope, type into the machine the amount and deposit the envelope (not one of the newer machines where you feed in the notes individually. That deposit would have been counted by two cashiers and in case of a discrepancy would have been counted twice, triple or quadruple times.

You can contact the bank, but they are not likely to agree with you. Ultimately it is the word of a single person against the word of two people.

Without making any assumptions at all, when my job(about 4 years ago) was to emty those old machines I always did it on my own, if there was any problem with amount, I've then would go to another member of staff to witness the wrong amount. But as I would've already openned an envelope they would've witnessed an amount in an envelope that wasn't openned in fron of their eyes, so I couldve potentialy taken some money and puten them in to my pocket before witnessing. However the cashier would need to be realy desperate to risk his job for a £100 as there are cameras everywhere, so in your complaint you can ask them to review the camera's reord of the cshier handling the money, to see if they could spot anything suspicious.

P.S.

Whilst I don't like an HSBC old machines where you only get an acknowledgement slip on which you can put any ammount you want ex £1000 but pay a £10 in, The Sandander procedure is much worse.
Once I needed to deposit a cheque in to my Santander account in Liverpool branch and was adviced to use the wwoden box in the corner to write an amount on envelope and just drop it in to the box, without havin any proof of deposit at all, so should they did not credit my account, I wouldn't even have any proof that I have even been to the branch on that day. :mad:

Naf

Mishomeister wrote: »

The Sandander procedure is much worse.
Once I needed to deposit a cheque in to my Santander account in Liverpool branch and was adviced to use the wwoden box in the corner to write an amount on envelope and just drop it in to the box, without havin any proof of deposit at all, so should they did not credit my account, I wouldn't even have any proof that I have even been to the branch on that day. :mad:

This type of cheque deposit box is extremely common across all banks, and after customer feedback all of the banks, Santander included, changed the envelopes to include a tear-off receipt.
You would have been told to use the box because it would clear two days sooner that way than through the ATM. New ATMs have now been introduced in the largest, busiest branches that alleviate both of these issues.


As to OP: what has been said is perfectly correct in all cases. The machines are emptied either with two staff members, or in full view through CCTV cameras (in addition, if someone was taking too long it would be reviewed as to whether they were opening envelopes). The envelopes are sealed so the person receiving them to open and check the values would query if the envelope was opened before they received them (less so if the amount was correct, but it would still be queried). The envelopes are opened in a public area of the branch, not some little corner, where there is a constant flow of other staff and managers and/or plenty of CCTV coverage. Should a discrepancy be found on an individual envelope, the staff member will double count (just to check they did it right the first time) then take it to a manager to double-check and countersign. The chances to take money from an envelope are slim-to-none. I do this every morning :-p (check the envelopes, not take money from them :rotfl:)

Mishomeister

Naf wrote: »

This type of cheque deposit box is extremely common across all banks, and after customer feedback all of the banks, Santander included, changed the envelopes to include a tear-off receipt.
You would have been told to use the box because it would clear two days sooner that way than through the ATM. New ATMs have now been introduced in the largest, busiest branches that alleviate both of these issues.

So therefore nothig is stopping me from goin to Santander branch, taking one of the envelopes, tear off the receipt write say £10,000 on it, not deposit anything in to the box and then come back to the branch next day asking why £10,000 has not appeared on my account