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Give me my money back!
Reporter: BEATRIZ AYALA
Date online: 16 July 2010
A MUM was left stunned after Sainsbury’s staff refused to hand over money she had withdrawn only moments earlier from the store’s own cash point.
Justine Newman, of Hillspring Road, Springhead, withdrew £60 from the Union Street supermarket’s hole-in-the-wall but forgot to take the money from the machine before entering the store.
Realising her mistake, Ms Newman (47) rushed back outside when another customer, accompanied by a security guard, found her and said he had handed the notes to customer services.
However, when all three approached the desk, staff said they could not immediately hand the cash back as it did not follow store procedure.
Ms Newman, a careers adviser, said: “I was stunned, I felt like someone had stolen from me. The customer services woman had the money in her hand but said she didn’t know what to do and called a manager.
“I made them call my bank right there and then, who confirmed the transaction had taken place.
“But supermarket staff said I still had to get my bank to email Sainsbury’s bank to inform them in writing of the transaction.
“And they said it could take 12 weeks for the money to be credited to my account.”
Ms Newman, mother to 16-year-old Harley, said she was forced to borrow money from relatives to tide her over until pay day.
She said: “I’m livid. The £60 was the last bit of money I had in my account until pay day and I was going to spend it inside the store anyway on food.
“If the money had been inside a purse, it would have been handed back immediately.
“I called Sainsbury’s headquarters when I got home on Friday and even they couldn’t understand why common sense hadn’t come into play and why I hadn’t been given my money back.
“I’m so grateful to the man who found the money, it was such an act of kindness and restores your faith in humanity.
“But I’d hate this to happen to someone who hasn’t got access to any other cash.”
A spokeswoman for Sainsburys Finance said: “In order to protect our customers and ensure that the money is returned to its rightful owner, staff in-store must follow a standard security procedure, which was explained to the customer who had approached staff to say she had lost the money.
“This involves the customer contacting their own card-issuing bank who will then follow standard UK banking practices by submitting a claim to us to reimburse the money.
“The customer has a 12-week window to file this claim.
“As soon as we receive notification of such a claim, we investigate it and if found to be valid, the money is reimbursed to the customer’s bank who will then pass that to the customer.
“Our customer services now have the customer’s details and will contact her to assist her with processing her query as quickly as possible.”
Comments
It's indicative of the state of our society that someone makes an error & then blames someone else when they're trying to put it right for her.
She's very fortunate that the money was handed in and that proceedures are being followed to make sure it's returned to the correct person. Instead she's 'livid' that her stupidity hasn't been corrected for her instantly.
Where is the story in this!!! I am baffled. Why is this news. She will get her money back but quite righly the correct procedures must take place. All the money she has until pay day!! Good god woman.
Teach her not to be such a dope. No way could I walk away from a cash machine and forget my money. Sainsbury's have done the right thing.
joncurtis: Yes that's all well and good, but surely common sense should prevail in this instance. They already checked with the bank and confirmed the transaction. This country is hamstrung by prissy jobsworths who cannot think or deduce for themselves.
Unfortunate as this situation is, the supermarket have acted correctly.
If you visit a cash machine and find money hanging out the best way is to let the machine draw it back in, let the customer make a claim via their bank and the difference will be found in the ATM machine.
With them handing the money into store this may delay the claim
so she was livid..? im with sainsburys on this one...although it may seem far fetched, procedures have to be followed... she should be livid with herself for her own stupidity...
jennyd - why do you find it so shocking that this is all the money she had left until payday ? most people dont have an endless supply of cash and after paying the bills and mortgage can surprisingly run out before the next pay day !
I am amazed that this woman has 'gone public' on the matter.
If I had been so silly I would keep my head down!
Several weeks ago I used an ATM in the centre of Singapore and wanted to withdraw $300. I entered all my details and then a message came on the screen stating - 'Sorry, we are unable to complete this transaction'. I kept the printed acknowledgment slip (luckily). The next day I checked my balance and saw that the $300 had been debited by the (other) bank.I went to my own bank, explained the situation, and they immediately made enquiries. I had my money back within 48 hours.
Have Your Say
Now imagine if the witnesses were wrong and somebody else tried to claim the money with their backing, and sainsburys gave the money to the wrong person. Havoc would break loose. That is why they correctly went down their procedures to avoid that.
Whats the way to avoid this? Ensure you pick up your money first time. Count your chickens that somebody did the honest thing and handed the money in, instead of keeping it for themselves.
By joncurtis199 @ 16/07/2010 13:02:09