Natwest Cash Machine stole 100 quid in new fivers!

zoopakev

Just wondering if anything like this has happened to anyone else ?

Ive been banking at Natwest for 30+ years, not had any real problems that couldnt be sorted out until now.

I paid £400 into a cash deposit machine (Newcastle Northumberland street) and it only registered £300. I know for a fact that I paid in £100 more so pressed to eject it back out. I heard the machine count and it then gave me £300 in what looked like fresher notes. I put in £200 in new £10's and the same in new fives. When I got the money back out I was a bit taken aback as it was the last thing I expected. I checked thru the notes, 20x£10 and 20x£5, should of been 40. I looked through the fivers and the one thing I noticed was there was no sign of the 2 scottish fivers that I definately had. The Branch had only 1 person there but she had loads of people around her so I figured I must of somehow made a mistake, and left the missing notes at home somehow as £100 seemed such a 'round' number, so I tried again with the £300 and the notes went straight into my account as you would expect, I went home expecting to find the missing notes on the table, but alas ... nothing. I rang the bank to report it immediately and was assured the machine would be checked in the morning (they'd email them) and they would give me a call back ..... nothing. I rang them again late on and went through the same process, assured, bank email, no call back etc. So I was a bit miffed and rang again for the 3rd day running. On the 3rd call (I recorded this one as I was getting suspicious) I filled out a full complaint over the service I'd got and again reported the problem. Still got no callback next day but had been assured it would be looked into and would get a letter from the bank after an investigation. Got the letter which apologised for the customer service I got. None of the emails were apparently sent, none of the calls I made were recorded, other than the 3rd one by me. I was told no problems were found with the machine, but at the very earliest it was 4 days later they checked the machine, if at all.

It seems weird that there's no 'paper' trail of the entire thing at their side, and if I was paranoid Id be saying they're trying to cover something up. I'm 100% sure the money went in and that their machines are having problems with fivers. Any advice would be welcome or has anyone else had a similar problem at Natwest etc ?

The money isn't the biggest thing to me, being effectively made out to be a liar is ,,,,

msallen

I can't comment on the particular device you used, but I work with teller cash recyclers (TCR's) which are the devices that most tellers have under their desk, and the mechanics of them are very similar to ATM's and assisted service devices. I can categorically say that with TCRs when a deposit is rolled back they don't just simply dispense the same amount, rather they return the same physical notes (exactly because of occasions like this where there is a dispute about the amount).

rosieraspberry

Did you see the Scottish fivers when you were putting the money in or did you just know you had them?

agrinnall

I'm not familiar with the workings of cash deposit machines but I would be very surprised if they don't do the same as ATMs and keep a minutely detailed record of every action that they perform. If that record has now been checked and no issues were found then I'd suspect that you were mistaken about how much you paid in.

18cc

If the machine returned only £300 and not the Scottish £5 notes, then something has gone wrong and the only thing I can think of that makes sense is that somehow the previous person's deposit was returned? Is that even possible?

System

The machine would just treat the Scottish notes like English or NI ones for deposit purposes.

All sounds very odd.

zoopakev

rosieraspberry wrote: »

Did you see the Scottish fivers when you were putting the money in or did you just know you had them?

I knew for certain I had them, 2 different ones, one had a couple of fish on it, can't remember the design on the other. Much nicer than the usual ones.

zoopakev

The whole experience was a bit surreal to be honest, When it happened I automatically thought I was in the wrong and must of made a mistake, but I really don't think I did. The way Natwest dealt with it was just to effectively ignore doing anything about it until I put an official complaint in. Next time I get into town i'm going in to quiz the staff and see if they were actually were contacted by the customer services department etc

Shakin_Steve

Couple of fish, you say?

d123

zoopakev wrote: »

Ive been banking at Natwest for 30+ years, not had any real problems that couldnt be sorted out until now.

I paid £400 into a cash deposit machine (Newcastle Northumberland street) and it only registered £300.

I checked thru the notes, 20x£10 and 20x£5, should of been 40.

20 + 40 = 60

So a bit of user error involved as well?

What transactions can be carried out at a Cash & Deposit Machine (CDM)?

Pay in notes and cheques
Pay in up to 50 notes
Pay in up to 50 cheques
Pay bills
Some CDMs will accept coins, and let you pay in up to 1,000 coins loose and mixed

https://supportcentre.natwest.com/Searchable/913254762/What-transactions-can-be-carried-out-at-a-Cash-Deposit-Machine-CDM.htm

System

Shakin_Steve wrote: »

Couple of fish, you say?

Fivers used in Scotland:

• The Royal Bank have two mackerel on the reverse.
• Clydesdale - the Forth (rail) Bridge and
• Bank of Scotland - the Brig o'Doon.
• Bank of England - some auld burd.