money counting machines at Lloyds TSB

[maggeeee]

Do all of the branches have this machine? The cashiers have been loading money straight into them. On 3 occassions, they have disputed the amount that I had written down. On the 2nd occassion, there was only one £5 note in my pile of cash, but according to the machine, there was not a £5 note there.

I have seen other times when all the money was jammed inside, and had to be cleared out.

I always count my money 3-4 times before taking it into the bank to avoid these situations, but according to them, the machine is correct, and they are never willing to cooperate.

On my third time, it says that I was £20 short. After a long argument, they agreed to open the top of the machine to check if it was jammed, but it wasn't. Had they counted the money by hand first, then I could've counted it at the same time, and there wouldn't be a problem. The problem is that they don't count the money before loading it all into the machine, which cannot be 100% accurate. They have agreed to give me a call if the bank does not balance. But a lot of things can happen. £20 is not a lot of money, just 1 mistake, and it could end up somewhere else.

Has anyone had the same problem?

 

[JCBeastie]

I visit a couple of local branches, the cashiers have a small scales that can count correctly bagged coins by weight; if that doesn't correlate with the amount I've claimed they manually count. Not had an issue.

 

[Derek W]

If they're going to give you a call if 'the bank doesn't balance' then I fear you could find yourself slightly more than 20quid out of pocket

I'm with the bank of Scotland and they use electronic scales with predetermined weights depending on what bag of coins is placed on.

Oh and nice first post!

 

[233]

nip into your local branch and acquire a large number of money bags (small clear plastic bags that are usable for all denominations)

fill bags with required amount and take to bank

Profit

 

[malfunkshun]

I think the OP is referring to note counters. I dont' think that they are as accurate as people are led to believe. I have only had to deal with one once, it counted differently so I asked for all the money to be returned.

 

[=XDC=FluphyBunny]

As said above its the note counters the OP was referring to.

My local branch uses them and so far I've not had a problem. They do throw out a lot of the scruffy notes but as yet they haven't said I've been under, so non missing yet.

They were fitted at the local branch when they removed all the safety glass (!) so the notes go in these machines rather then in the drawers just to the side of the cashier.

 

[tom_e]

I use the NatWest ones all the time and I've never had a problem with it being under.

 

[Mr C]

I have used note counters all the time, they can get inaccurate if they aren't serviced properly as they get extremely dusty and dirty. But they are rarely wrong otherwise.

 

[Theophany]

I just use the self-service paying in machine at Barclays, always been spot on for me

 

[WillyNelson]

Just ask them to hand count it when you pass the money over. Let them know you don't like the machine being used as there have been mistakes in the past.

Can't see it being much of an issue beyond you becoming know as 'that guy'.

 

[Martynt74]

I've used the note counting machines at HSBC, Santander and Halifax and never experienced a problem so far

 

[dfarrall]

Used one of these at HSBC and it was spot on, would use it again.

 

[V4NT0M]

So they put the money in the machine and it just sticks in there, if you dispute it the teller cannot then manually count it?

Seems a bit strange, especially if you have a dispute.

 

[Antar Bolaeisk]

If they refuse to manually count it just lodge the money note by note

 

[maggeeee]

I think the OP is referring to note counters. I dont' think that they are as accurate as people are led to believe. I have only had to deal with one once, it counted differently so I asked for all the money to be returned.

Yes. I found out today that they're called TCR (teller cash recycler).

I would really like to know how they work, because from what I can observe is that money goes in, and some of it is stored, and whatever the TCR cannot count comes back out which is then checked manually. So it appears that money is stored before I can even have a say. But i cannot be sure. What i can be sure of is that it does jam.

On another occasion, less than half of the money that i handed over came back out of the TCR. On that 1 occasion they agreed to open it up to find lots of money jammed within different compartments. So my point is that they should manually count it before loading the machine such that any discrepancies can be solved before the money disappears. Even though I have been reassured that everything is stored in the 1st compartment to start off with, I cannot trust them on that.

Also, an update, they phoned me to say that the till had the correct amount to the penny. The manager also told me that she does not lie. How reassuring

 

[maggeeee]

Just ask them to hand count it when you pass the money over. Let them know you don't like the machine being used as there have been mistakes in the past.

Can't see it being much of an issue beyond you becoming know as 'that guy'.

Yes I have tried that. The cashier told me that the TCR is accurate and anything missing can be located by opening up the machine. So that was a lie

 

[maggeeee]

So they put the money in the machine and it just sticks in there, if you dispute it the teller cannot then manually count it?

Seems a bit strange, especially if you have a dispute.

if it is stuck in the there. The cashier will manually count whatever comes back out. they're not interested in what is stuck because they don't believe anything will be stuck

 

[daz]

Have you thought about the possibility that you might be wrong?

 

[SilverTongue]

Have you thought about the possibility that you might be wrong?

this now seems to be the most obvious answer tbh