Forgot to take cash from EFTPOS withdrawl at Coles - what to do?

GaelicAU on 24/08/2015 - 17:54
Last edited 24/08/2015 - 17:54

Today, I shopped for my lunch at Coles. I paid for my items at the self service and also request additional cash whilst paying by EFTPOS. In my haste to get back for a meeting, I left without taking my cash withdrawal. Whilst the error was entirely mine, the lack of assistance I received from the Coles staff member when I called the store was very abrupt. The staff member offered no help other than stating 'its gone' and even refused to take my details should someone decide to hand it in.

Other than emailing Coles directly, I'm interesting in finding out what others would do in this case?

Financial

Comments

      • DarkOz on 27/08/2015 - 06:54
        +13

        Make that 3. You must include the nice lady that leaves cash for others ALL THE TIME!

  • anonymous01 on 26/08/2015 - 14:26
    +1

    I did a cash out at a petrol pump a month ago and forgot to take the cash and cashier forgot to give as well. 2 days later I remembered and I called them up. They asked for my details as in what time I came and what did I purchased, then later in the day, they watched CCTV footage and apologized to me and asked me to come in to grab it. Honestly I never expected to see it again. Coles will probably not do it because it costs them to investigate and find out, and remember to them their money is more important than your money. Also the problem is you got it from self service checkout, not actual person so the person after you would've/could've easily grabbed it.

    Not sure if this is true as it is second hand information, but you can lodge a complaint with your bank and your bank will ask Coles to investigate and also charge them admin fee (or some other fee, not sure of the name) of $35 or so. My friend's dad owns a petrol pump and she told me if they forget to give cash to someone and people lodge a complaint with their bank, the bank asks the petrol pump to investigate and send them a $35 fee. With big business like Coles, it could be different but worth a try. Good luck!

    • birdmaster on 26/08/2015 - 15:07
      +3

      This is false that coles does not do that, Coles does that it only depends on person to person and how busy they are. Mostly when the matter of short change and cash i have seen them always they do, only few things required you need to have your docket or exact time and spot and visit the store in person. As being worked for coles for 10 years i know on phone staff mostly dont believe the customer 70% and we always ask the customer to pay a visit to the store with your receipt and issue and managers can further investigate.

      As i have faced hundereds of time phone calls from fake customers who claim to have bought meat or some items and they all off and they demand a refund on phone to their cards, explained them politely please come to store see us and bring the receipt and to surprise they never came and see us only few of them came who were legit.

      We need to understand there is big scam coles staff face ever day with thieves who steel expensive items like health & beauty products or shaving razors or vitamins and then they come back after an hour or next day to ask for refund, or first they make a phone call to different stores to trap some new staff who is not well experienced to deal such scams.

      I have faced such customers too and there was 1 guy who stole vitamins and then always use to call on random times to deal with different staff members, he was successful 2 times to get a refund on vitamin around $100 each time but by third time most of the staff spotted him that he is regular in return vitamins.

      In short if OP visits the store with the receipt i am positive either he might get his money back or he will be explained the faith of his money.

  • November14 on 26/08/2015 - 14:50

    -removed. Didn't see complete post.

  • The Finn on 26/08/2015 - 15:21
    +2

    I must have done this about 5 times over the past couple of years. Yes I am silly for not remembering to pick up the cash but I have rung Coles every time and they have had the cash sitting at the front desk waiting for me. Thanks to the staff at the self checkout for doing the right thing. I rang them a couple of days later once and they were able to match up my visit with the cash they retreived.
    I will however say that the machine could be better programmed so it gives you the cash BEFORE any reciept or other messages. This would certainly reduce the amount of mistakes by customers

    • messiah1095 on 28/08/2015 - 08:52

      I had the same thing happen at Woolies last year. Went back after work and they asked me what register I had used, what I had purchased and how much money I took out. Told them and they gave me the $50 I had withdrawn. I now try not to make that mistake again :)

  • JayM on 26/08/2015 - 17:07
    +5

    I did this at Woolies with $100 and once I remembered I called up the store and they were very helpful. Told me to bring in my receipt or other proof that I did this at the certain time and they gave me the money back.

    The Coles person you talked needs to develop some empathy and customer relations.

  • belongsinforums on 26/08/2015 - 19:34

    Go back and talk to the manager. I'm sure people leave money there all the time. If yours isn't there, maybe somebody else's still is.

  • DrStinge on 26/08/2015 - 19:35
    +1

    Edited: Didn't realise this was at a self service.

    However the same rules apply in reverse e.g. if an ATM spits out $100 when you requested $50 - if you take it without calling the bank it's illegal. You can pressure Coles to follow up on CCTV and involve the Police if the amount is worth it to you.

    • Charity on 27/08/2015 - 00:38

      interesting comparison…

  • outofdateyesterday on 26/08/2015 - 21:02

    I always remove my money from the self service kiosk.

  • BoyGotSkills on 27/08/2015 - 00:56
    +1

    Are you sure you didn't pay with paypass?
    I'm pretty sure you can select $100 cash out on those machines, then pay with paypass, and the money will never come out.
    Check your online banking to see how much the card transaction was for.

  • mousie on 27/08/2015 - 01:29
    +1

    What you really should do is start a thread on Ozbargain and ask the internet god for sympathy.

  • Cheap Rich Guy on 27/08/2015 - 05:10
    -1

    Setup a Paypal account. 80 of us will give you a dollar.

      • TailsK on 27/08/2015 - 13:02
        +9

        Firstly, not that much interest, cash rates are pretty low right now…

        Secondly, just because you don't like the advice people are giving you, doesn't mean they're trolling.

  • onlyletters on 27/08/2015 - 09:53
    -3

    Contact the store directly and they can see what happened to the cash, they will check CCTV footage, the self service area is well covered and things like this happen more often than you think, it most likely was taken or handed to staff.

    If someone took it, possibly theft?

  • dlakers3peat on 27/08/2015 - 11:21

    this happened to me at coles. they checked the CCTV and said they could not see who took it. even if they did what can they do. lost $20. Also they could not care less. must happen every day. just move on.

  • JimmyF on 27/08/2015 - 12:04

    Rather than CALL the store, go in and see them in person.

  • [Deactivated] on 27/08/2015 - 13:04

    Slightly off topic, but the TAB also have the same issues, people leaving their credit on the self serve machines and the next punter profiting. Most shop fronts now have a message saying it's the customers responsibility not there's.
    Like most customer focussed issues, depends who is listening on the other side.

  • esty on 27/08/2015 - 15:09

    OP, lets say roles are reversed and you found a 20. What would you have honestly done?

    Me, i wouldnt know, chances are i wouldve kept it.

  • cyrax83 on 27/08/2015 - 16:04

    Your fault, suck it up. Take your cash next time. It's not the responsibility of Coles to make sure you take your cash when using self serve

  • iSamurai on 27/08/2015 - 18:58
    +2

    You should:

    1. Open an ING direct account
    2. Withdraw $200 160 times, or $32k
    3. Success

    But seriously though, it's better to move on and write it off. Set yourself a new goal to save $80. You'll be surprised how quickly you can claw back that money.

    • [Deactivated] on 28/08/2015 - 22:58

      Or just earn 16,000 fly buy points to get $80 worth of Fly Buy dollars

  • Crayg on 27/08/2015 - 19:44
    -1

    Just go back and tell them. I used to be duty manager for many years at Coles. It happens all the time. I'd just check the cameras and confirm you didn't get it, and then give you the money.

    • Crayg on 27/08/2015 - 19:50
      -1

      I just saw that it was self serve. I'd say someone else took it, and that'll be it.

  • babezaves on 27/08/2015 - 19:50

    You need to ask them if they have balanced the cash drawers as this what they need to do at the end of the business day. If they are over the amount that you were supposed to have withdrawn then there is a possibility that they can give you your money. Good luck!

  • FittyFitty on 27/08/2015 - 19:53
    +5

    You'll feel a lot better the moment you accept that it really was your fault…

  • RolandWaites on 27/08/2015 - 23:44
    +4

    I did the same thing once. Thought about it for a second once I realised what I'd done and then accepted it was completely my fault and the next person had probably pocketed it.

    There was no point getting upset or calling up stores to try and get it back, I lost it and it was entirely my fault. I've not forgotten to take the money since.

    • lostn on 28/08/2015 - 00:03

      $80 makes it a cheap lesson to learn. He could have lost his phone or worse, his wallet, as some people do.

      It was a mistake you won't be making again. Better to learn that lesson early rather than later when the loss might be bigger.

  • lostn on 27/08/2015 - 23:54

    Someone scratched my car door (most likely with a shopping trolley) while I was shopping. They wouldn't even let me see the CCTV footage to see who did it. Busy people, just don't have the time.

  • illz on 28/08/2015 - 10:36
    +1

    This happened to me when Big W first started using the self checkout system years ago.

    Bought something and withdrew $100, left the money.

    Freaked and came back to the store and it was gone, my own fault.

    I'm super careful now.

    • zealmax on 28/08/2015 - 10:39
      +2

      Those self checkout machines were confusing at first. I found money in them before. First time $10 and second time $20. I am still waiting for the rightful owner of the money to contact me. In the meantime I have it sitting in my offset account.

  • ronnknee on 28/08/2015 - 12:21
    +4

    Don't shift the blame/anger onto Coles. You had forgotten to take the cash. It's not their responsibility to find the cash or the culprit. It's also highly unlikely that someone would return the cash after they had taken it.

  • illumination on 28/08/2015 - 12:34
    +2

    I don't blame you for having that glimmer of hope thinking that someone may return it, but just wanted to say that it's much less likely someone would hand in lost cash as opposed to a physical item. All down to liquidity. $80 is $80, but even if someone finds a iPhone 5 which could be worth $400, I think they'd be more likely to hand in the iPhone because it doesn't provide that much value to them without putting in effort to reset it/resell it.

    • esty on 28/08/2015 - 15:55

      THIS +1.

      I would keep the 80, and hand in the iphone.

  • [Deactivated] on 28/08/2015 - 17:17
    -2

    If you are that stupid not to collect your cash from the self checkout cash slot then perhaps you stick to being served by a person at a regular check out. But you probably still be on here complaining about losing your money even if a checkout member handed the cash straight into your hand.

    As for the person who took your money .. Good for them! I have benefited from a free $10 "idiot bonus" from Coles self checkout and I don't feel one bit guilty financially benefiting from other peoples stupidity.

  • whirlpool_guy on 28/08/2015 - 18:45
    +1

    Next time shop at Aldi. Happened to me once and got my $50 back.

    • jackary on 28/08/2015 - 19:38
      +1

      Damn I love Aldi.

  • JoyVee on 28/08/2015 - 23:25

    I asked at Bendigo Bank what happens if I leave my money in an ATM.?
    Assuming that no one is behind you and you just walk away thus is what happens.

    If you leave cash in slot and forget to take it, the machine will wait a specific amount of time and then take money back,

    ATM then does reconciliation and will show a credit balance. If you go into bank and tell them the time and amount of money you forgot to take they can check it and reimburse you.

    Likewise if you leave your card in machine it will swallow it and you can also retrieve it. Guess this is less likely to occur as you usually take it out before getting the cash out.

  • CHIEFMEGADETH on 29/08/2015 - 03:34

    Move on mate.Life to short to worry so much over so little.
    Shit happens so let it go.

  • FatBlanket on 29/08/2015 - 14:48

    Find a bargain that saves you the same amount of money you lost and it will be like this never happened.

  • paloverde88 on 29/08/2015 - 15:41

    Has happened to me once many moons ago now I am very careful but yes CCTV can show who has taken your money and you can then report to police.

    However in my case moons ago, Coles gave me the cash after i returned in 10 minutes and showed my receipt and I asked them to watch their video which would show I did not take anything and left but I guess $20 was not worth the trouble, they gave me $20 crispies.

  • stan86 on 29/08/2015 - 18:07

    while the staff member at Coles didn't offer to take down your name and number. There isn't really a point even if he did. Think about it this way…if a customer did find the money you left behind they would've handed it in straight away to a staff member. Doubt they will leave the store and come back to hand it in at a later time.
    So when you called up and the person said is gone. Your chances of seeing the money is close to zero since they don't have a record of it being handed in.

  • ramsheed on 29/08/2015 - 20:35

    I left some money in a selfserve check out recently - Coles checked their video to tell me the money was indeed left behind, and was taken by the next customer -end of story. They said they used to reimburse people in these cases but no longer as they reckoned you could scam them by getting your friend to follow behind and take the money..

  • meong on 29/08/2015 - 21:58

    It happened to me at Coles as well.. I was shopping and asked for 100 cashout then left and realised that I forgot to take the money of the machine. That evening I gave it a go by coming back to Coles saying that I forgot to take some money when I chose the cashout option. The lady near the self-service asked me "What time was it?" and also asked "How much cash did you withdraw?" and that was enough of a verification. The lady gave the money to me. It seemed that she knew about it as possibly someone might have handed the cash to her (another customer or staff?).

    I would say, try to walk into the store again and ask. Having to show your face might even prove that you were honest.

  • DeeGee on 15/09/2015 - 20:56
    +1

    I found $50 hanging out of the self-serve check out about a month ago. I called over the Coles Assistant and he printed off the previous receipt and took it to the service desk. Always worth going back and asking…

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