Do you trust the self-service machines?

Herbalus

Today in Sainsburys I emptied a pocketfull of small change into the self-service machines before paying the rest with card. I don't know how much was there, but it was a selection of coins up to 20p.

I distinctly remember putting in two 20p coins as well as some others, and then looked at the screen to see that the machine had credited my bill with just 32p. Strange, I thought, as I'd just put the second 20p in. I pushed the "reject" button, expecting to see all my coins roll out, but instead different coins (much cleaner than mine) came out. It was 32p.

I'm not really bothered about the 20p, but I do take exception to the thought that this could be common.

Anyone else experienced this at self-service machines?

GolfFoxtrot

They can count notes / coins incorrectly, if for example you put a £20 in and it only registered as a £10 you can let staff know and if the machine is found to be £10 up when it's counted the store will contact you and refund your £10.
Many machines which accept money have one pot for money which goes in and another which goes out so by pressing coin return you don't get your coins back. The machine thought you'd put in 32p hence why it refunded you that much.
Like anything it can make mistakes, when I used to be a cashier I once or twice miscounted or pressed the wrong amount button on my till, it happens.

mgdavid

If that concerned, you do have the option of counting it first |(and why wouldn't you?)

milliemonster

I've never used one again after putting a £20 note in one at Morrisons and it took it but never even registered it!, fortunately, I must have had an honest face as when I told the assistant she told me it probably became stuck, she opened it up but it wasn't stuck and had obviously just gone into the machine totally. They did believe me but it put me off using them again with cash.

shiney85

I had one the other day in Mr T's which took my £10 note, but it didn't register, and said I still owed the full amount. I got quite upset as this was my last £10 til payday a couple of days later, and the assistant was quite rude, looking at me as if I'd made it up, but when she opened the machine, there was my £10 at the top of the note store, and so I got it back. To add insult, my change gave me a euro coin instead of a £1, another assistant came to my aid and sorted me out but the previous one came up and was very rude again, I'm SUCH a troublemaker!!

geerex

Agreed. This happens all the time with me. I regularly used to just chuck a handful of change in and trust it to give me the overage back.

I started to suspect that what I was getting back wasn't quite enough, so did a little "experiment". Got done out of 47p. That was in sainsbury's, although everyone else apart from Morrisons appear to use the same ones.

Not only do they save on staffing costs, they also get a little bonus too!

brightonman123

best to count one at a time, to make sure they register..

dealer_wins

I put all coins I amass each day into a moneybag, and when its full take it round to Sainsburys and shove them all into the machine!! This means I am occupying one of the 3 machines for upwards of 5 minutes!

Doing this during rush hour (6-7pm) can cause people in the queue to start foaming in the mouth!!

Herbalus

brightonman123 wrote: »

best to count one at a time, to make sure they register..

That's what I thought. But that won't work if the coins won't register...

shiney85 wrote: »

I had one the other day in Mr T's which took my £10 note, but it didn't register

milliemonster wrote: »

I've never used one again after putting a £20 note in one at Morrisons and it took it but never even registered it!

boo_star

dealer_wins wrote: »

I put all coins I amass each day into a moneybag, and when its full take it round to Sainsburys and shove them all into the machine!! This means I am occupying one of the 3 machines for upwards of 5 minutes!

Doing this during rush hour (6-7pm) can cause people in the queue to start foaming in the mouth!!

I'm not surprised.

Consider other people for once instead of yourself?

And if you an issue with change start paying £10.03 for a £9.93 transaction etc.

taurusgb

GolfFoxtrot wrote: »

They can count notes / coins incorrectly, if for example you put a £20 in and it only registered as a £10 you can let staff know and if the machine is found to be £10 up when it's counted the store will contact you and refund your £10.
Many machines which accept money have one pot for money which goes in and another which goes out so by pressing coin return you don't get your coins back. The machine thought you'd put in 32p hence why it refunded you that much.
Like anything it can make mistakes, when I used to be a cashier I once or twice miscounted or pressed the wrong amount button on my till, it happens.

And just why should the customer wait until the store cashes up the till and contacts them to get their money back? What if they have no more money? Errors such as this should be sorted immediately, even if it means closing the till and checking -irritating for other customers but if it happens often enough the store would see they need to ensure the machines work properly in the first place.

on a different note, I never use these myself. It will eventually mean job losses and I've seen / heard about the frustrations they cause