Retaining "fake" money

apfelkirsch

Hi!

My (middleaged, foreign) parents are currently visiting me and I sent them to the pub earlier (to have some quiet).

Yesterday I withdrew some cash at Llyods for them. In the pub my mum tried to pay with one of the £20s I got her from the cash machine (it 100% came from the cash machine, I don't carry any cash and she wouldn't have got it anywhere else). The bartender took the money, told her it was fake and she couldn't get it back.

He told her it was glued together in a weird place, which is why he knew it was fake (whut?). She couldn't confirm if it was actually glued when I asked her, because she gave him a folded note.

She told him it was from the cash machine, he told her she could take a picture of the note if she wanted to. She declined, as she suspected he just exchanged the note for a fake one and there was nothing she could do about it. Also, she gets super stroppy.
He didn't give her a receipt, any contact details OR asked for her contact details.

1. Is there a possibility that Lloyds could have given me a fake note out of the machine?
2. Who do I best speak to, Santander (the bank account I withdrew from) or Lloyds (the cash machine I used)?
3. Is there any point in speaking to the pub? Anything they've legally done wrong?
4. As there is no point in proofing that the money was actually from the cash machine, or that the pub has retained it (no receipt), those £20 are probably gone foooorever, correct?

steampowered

I think the money is probably gone.

Your mum would not have helped herself by getting stroppy. Perhaps if she wasn't stroppy the bar staff might have let her inspect the note a bit more closely. If you start getting stroppy with people you tend to get absolutely nowhere.

apfelkirsch

Haha, very true. To be honest I just assume she was getting stroppy. She tried to explain the situation to the bartender, that the note came from the cash machine. He told her to speak to her bank, and she got very confused how her German bank would be able to help with a Pound note.
Their English is not that good and I assume that the situation just got frustrating, which is why she refused to take a picture of the note.

To be honest, it's my local pub and I'm just so angry at the bartender. I worked in the food industry for many years and I would never ever treat someone like that, ESPECIALLY if I'm about to take their money away from them. Why is there no receipt? Why are they even allowed to do this? That's just an invitation for fraud.

LABMAN

If it's your local go in and challenge them yourself.

baza52

pound notes dissapeared years ago.
Speaking to the bank or place that gave them the note would be usual.
As for working in the food industry, would you take cash you believed was counterfiet? As for fraud surely thats what they believe your mum was trying on.

apfelkirsch

baza52 wrote: »

pound notes dissapeared years ago.

Very true! GBP note then? Or what do you call it?

baza52 wrote: »

Speaking to the bank or place that gave them the note would be usual.
As for working in the food industry, would you take cash you believed was counterfiet? As for fraud surely thats what they believe your mum was trying on.

No, but I also had a way to check if it was counterfeit. And I wouldn't just confiscate it without following the procedure. If the procedure says you hand out a receipt and you contact the person in case it is NOT fake, I'd sure as hell do so.
That's all fine and dandy, and I'm not mad at them trying to prevent fraud. But right now I am in the position that they took my parent's money without proving goods, a receipt or any type of proof what they will do with it, and to me that is very much a possibility of fraud.

I'm gonna check with Lloyds tomorrow if there's even a possibility that a "glued" note would end up in the cash machine (I would very much assume that they sort these out before).
And I'll try and chat to the manager of the pub. It's not so much about the £20, more about the principle. Their staff is either lacking training or is taking the p*ss, and either way I don't think this is a situation that someone else should be in.

Fosterdog

I was once given fakes notes straight from a cash machine, it was one of the wall one but on an actual bank. The bank was already closed for the day. I ended up paying them into another bank with the three fakes mixed in the middle of other notes and they just accepted them. I felt a bit bad about leaving them in the system but the money was a charity donation I was paying in so didn’t think it fair that a charity loses out through no fault of theirs

pinkshoes

Go into the pub and speak to them yourself. Tell them you sent your foreign parents in with a £20 note that you got out the cash machine, and that it was confiscated as a fake, and that they failed to give them a written document stating this.

I would cause some trouble!

Is it possible the barman thought he'd rip off foreigners?

lammy82

I'd go down the pub and ask to inspect the note. If they don't still have it, ask them what they did with it.

Personally I have been accused of trying to pass a fake note which was actually genuine (the person behind the bar didn't know the security features of the old £50 note, and this was just before they were phased out). Anyway, they didn't try to confiscate it, but it did make me realise that people's "spider senses" can jump to the wrong conclusion when there seems to be anything "unusual" about the transaction ("I don't recognise these people; they speak with an unusual accent; this note seems to be sticking to itself when folded")...

firefox1956

I wonder about the 'legalities' of the bartender 'confiscating' the note ??
Banks, Building Societie & Post Offices yes but why would the bartender ??
Sounds iffy to me..........

apfelkirsch

Quick update... I went to the bank, they told me it was "very, very unlikely" that a fake note would end up in the cash machine, and definitely not possible that a glued note would go in there.

I then went to the pub and asked for the manager. The only guy that was there turned out to be the manager and the guy that actually confiscated the note. He turned out to be an alright chap, and I think he was genuinely trying to do the right thing. I asked him how come he didn't give my parents a receipt or asked them for their contact details. He actually already knew why I was there before I had to say it and quickly apologised. When I asked him if he would've just kept the money if it turned out to be real, he just blankly stared at me... :doh:

Anyways, I've now got his contact details and the serial number, and he's got my details. He's gonna go to the bank tomorrow and send me an official certificate if the note is real or fake.

firefox1956 wrote: »

I wonder about the 'legalities' of the bartender 'confiscating' the note ??
Banks, Building Societie & Post Offices yes but why would the bartender ??
Sounds iffy to me..........

I did look that bit up, they are actually advised to confiscate it, give the customer a receipt and bring it to the police as soon as possible. The bartender unfortunately only did step 1 haha.