getting change from cashiers

Wig

Peter,

Hope you take notice that many people don't want the coins on top of the note.

Skippy,

good advice there, re: refuse to come back later, they have your money you want it back now. If they put the note into a special temporary compartment, then counted and gave you change, after you are satisfied and the cashier has double checked change given relative to the amount in the temporary holder, then the payment can go into the till.... this would stop a lot of misunderstandings.

Stonk

A wonderful, simple tip for ensuring you get change for the correct note:

Before you hand the note to the cashier, remember the last 3 or 4 digits of its serial number. If they give you change for the wrong type of note, tell them "I just handed you a £20 note with a serial number ending in <xyz>". If there's such a note in the till, they can't really deny it.

elona

Just realised why I always find getting change so awkward - thought it was just me

Nile

Stonk wrote:

A wonderful, simple tip for ensuring you get change for the correct note:

Before you hand the note to the cashier, remember the last 3 or 4 digits of its serial number. If they give you change for the wrong type of note, tell them "I just handed you a £20 note with a serial number ending in <xyz>". If there's such a note in the till, they can't really deny it.

Good post Stonk. I've been doing that for years because I'm suspicious by nature. I hate it when the supermarket cashier holds my note up to check it's not a forgery. If I get a £5 note back from them with my change........I always hold it up and study it carefully........but will hold it up for a slightly longer period of time in protest.:mad:

loracan1

Before you hand the note to the cashier, remember the last 3 or 4 digits of its serial number. If they give you change for the wrong type of note, tell them "I just handed you a £20 note with a serial number ending in <xyz>". If there's such a note in the till, they can't really deny it.

Memorising the last 3 numbers is a fairly well-known scam - not common but it does happen, the shop will check the till anyway. There's also the old

"Here's a £10, no, tell you what I'll give you this £20, you give me the £10 back and that £5, oh no, give me the £20 I need that £10...erm no, here's your £5 back and I'll keep the £10 and £20" Customer ends up in pocket. Till ends up down. This is why shops don't like changing notes when you're not buying.

And as for checking £20 notes - you do get forgeries knocking about and they aren't easy to spot. I don't like treating customers as if they're all trying it on, it makes me feel uncomfortable, but we are told to check. (I always feel tight telling someone they've given me and out-of-date £5 or £10 but its surprising how many of these turn up)

We were told a few weeks ago to count out the coins as we give them back but couple of weeks later told to just give back in one go and repeat the amount. I give the coins first and the note with the receipt, if someone is having difficulty putting their coins in their purse I'll wait til they've done and offer the note separately. Likewise those holding other little hands.

Stonk

Memorising the last 3 numbers is a fairly well-known scam

I didn't mean it as a scam!

loracan1

No no no, I know you didn't, didn't mean to suggest you did. I'm really sorry if you were offended but it does happen and the shop would still insist on checking the till.
On the other hand, if I've mistakenly thought someone has given me a £10 when they've given me a £20, I'll have put it in the £10 section, its obviously my fault then. Then again I've had a customer insist they've given me a £20 when there isn't one in the till.

Poppy9

When I worked in a shop in my teens we had to show another assistant the notes and say £10 note etc(it was worth more then as I was only earning £1 per hour).

If I am in a small shop and I hand over a £20 I try to remember to say I am giving a £20 note.

Kantankrus_Mare

I work in a pub, a very busy one,and you wouldnt believe the amount of people that try it on and say they have given you a twenty when it was a 10 pound note!!

Mistakes ARE sometimes made,no body is perfect but as a previous poster said......if a genuine mistake has been made the note would be in wrong compartment and if you always gave the customer the benefit of the doubt......word would soon get round and you would be inundated with tryers on.

Bogof_Babe

Slightly off topic, but does anyone else wonder about those notes with a green or blue marker-pen type "tick" on them? Having seen shops checking for forgeries with a pen that presumably does not show up on genuine notes, I don't like paying with those marked ones, even when they have come out of a cashpoint machine.

Also the other day I was given a £5 note that the silver strip was hanging out of, the note being so grubby and tatty. Luckily a taxi driver accepted it without question but I hate anything like that.

And finally, why do banks now insist on paying cash sums over the counter in notes that really should be taken out of circulation before they fall apart? :mad: