Over payment from foreign exchange company

sheramber

So, if they had given you less than you paid for you would not have known , as you did not check what was being counted out. You must be very trusting but , no doubt, you have learned from this and will check in future. 

I check the £20 I withdraw from the Post Office  as the teller counts it out. 

Pollycat

simandom said:

When i went to collect it, it was placed in a see through plastic bag 
   

I don't generally get foreign currency in a face-to-face transaction but I would have thought that it would have been counted out in front of the customer.
I certainly would have insisted on that.

If you withdraw cash from a bank, doesn't the cashier count it out in front of you?

eskbanker

Pollycat said:

simandom said:

When i went to collect it, it was placed in a see through plastic bag 
   

I don't generally get foreign currency in a face-to-face transaction but I would have thought that it would have been counted out in front of the customer.
I certainly would have insisted on that.

If you withdraw cash from a bank, doesn't the cashier count it out in front of you?

You must have missed where OP said, further down that same post:

may i just add the the teller did count the money in front of me but after i got past the fist $70 in $1, i lost interest and started looking and the holiday magazines

Asking for such a huge volume of notes would seem to have compromised OP's ability to pay attention though....

flaneurs_lobster

eskbanker said:

Pollycat said:

simandom said:

When i went to collect it, it was placed in a see through plastic bag 
   

I don't generally get foreign currency in a face-to-face transaction but I would have thought that it would have been counted out in front of the customer.
I certainly would have insisted on that.

If you withdraw cash from a bank, doesn't the cashier count it out in front of you?

You must have missed where OP said, further down that same post:

may i just add the the teller did count the money in front of me but after i got past the fist $70 in $1, i lost interest and started looking and the holiday magazines

Asking for such a huge volume of notes would seem to have compromised OP's ability to pay attention though....

..and just as the OP got bored with watching their money, the teller switched from counting out $1 bills to $20's, it's easily done.  

born_again

Jumblebumble said:

On-the-coast said:

I find it hard to believe that anyone would purposely ask for 150 $1 dollar bills??…. But if you did you did. 

On the flip side what do the receipts you have say? - the smaller figure or the larger?
and how can the FX people be sure their teller didn’t pocket the difference?
the whole sequence of missed communications is very unusual. 

I struggle to understand what your belief has to do with a teller who has caused this issue because they cant count?

I wonder if the issue is someone mis read the amount of £200 & that is why there is a extra $900

vacheron

This story gets more bizarre as it develops.

Firstly, what an odd denomination selection for someone travelling as it would have been about an inch thick. It also would only ended it disappointment when they see the huge stash then realise it is all in $1's, almost a practical joke rather than a gift?

One option is someone was planning the instagram "swag" trick when you put high denomination notes on either side of a stack of $1's to make it look like a large amount of cash because all US notes are the same size and colour.

If this was the case, there is a further scenario. 

• OP goes to recieve money, 
• OP notices that the teller is counting out $10's instead of $1's.
• OP decides to keep their mouth shut and see what happens. 
• The company realises, elaboarate story created to cover why the OP didn't report the overpayment like an honest person would, and why they now can't return it.

I collected $1000 from a local supermarket kiosk about 6 months ago, it was already in a sealed bag when I arrived, but by the time the teller unpacked it, counted it, re-counted it out for their own assurance, then re-counted it AGAIN onto the counter loudly for me (and proabaly the cameras) , I was getting pretty bored TBH as I had already counted it up twice in my head as I was watching them were counting it for themselves the first 2 times.

flaneurs_lobster

vacheron said:

I collected $1000 from a local supermarket kiosk about 6 months ago, it was already in a bag when I was arrived, but by the time the teller unpacked it, counted it, re-counted it out for their own assurance, then re-counted it AGAIN onto the counter loudly for me (and proabaly the cameras) , I was getting pretty bored TBH as I had already counted it up twice in my head as I was watching them were counting it for themselves the first 2 times.

This, it's standard teller procedure, whether it's a BdeC, a bank or the bookies. The same wad of notes is always counted out (at least) twice, referencing the receipt that documents the withdrawal. 

Pollycat

eskbanker said:

Pollycat said:

simandom said:

When i went to collect it, it was placed in a see through plastic bag 
   

I don't generally get foreign currency in a face-to-face transaction but I would have thought that it would have been counted out in front of the customer.
I certainly would have insisted on that.

If you withdraw cash from a bank, doesn't the cashier count it out in front of you?

You must have missed where OP said, further down that same post:

may i just add the the teller did count the money in front of me but after i got past the fist $70 in $1, i lost interest and started looking and the holiday magazines

Asking for such a huge volume of notes would seem to have compromised OP's ability to pay attention though....

Sorry, yes I did miss that.

So the OP's lack of concentration has come back to bite them...

Ectophile

I posted a comment on a previous thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81034830/#Comment_81034830 :

There is a big minefield of Common Law around the concept of "unjust enrichment".  In general, if someone accidentally gives you money that they shouldn't have, then they are entitled to ask for it back.  Essentially:

• You gained money
• They lost money
• You haven't actually done anything in return for that money.

If it ever gets to court, there is a defence if you spent the money in good faith, thinking it was yours, and can't reasonably get the money back again.  But, otherwise, case law is against you.

I think the same applies here, except that you gave the money away.

If it ever got to court, do you think that you could persuade the judge that you can't reasonably pay it back?

I don't think it's as simple as some of the other posters think it is.