Post office gave wrong amount for currency exchange
- Thread starter Nerusy
- Start date
Thing is, the consumer is protected by retail laws for this sort of thing, with exchanging of money and banking then not so much. Cash machines that are filled incorrectly for example, the banks could pursue the cash people took extra as money for nothing, but most don't because of the scale of claims and the costs that would incur makes it uneconomical. In this case it's only one customer and one claim so it will be pursued.
If its not the same as buying another retail item then how would it differ from a fat finger error made by some trader at a bank? A bank trading FX doesn't get to reverse a mistaken trade/mis-pricing, a shop selling a mis-priced TV doesn't get to reverse a mis-pricing... why does a post office selling currency get to do so?
I'm still not seeing why she (legally rather than morally) was obliged to reverse the transaction. (obviously I can see why someone would feel morally obliged to do so)
We all know that bankers are completely barren of any sense of morality 
Money has a set worth, and its value can be proven, whereas the value of a TV is what someone is willing to pay for it really, applying the same principle to money ends up with people getting a bit angry when you are ripped off and down by an obvious amount.
Money has a set worth, and its value can be proven, whereas the value of a TV is what someone is willing to pay for it really, applying the same principle to money ends up with people getting a bit angry when you are ripped off and down by an obvious amount.
Really? Why should the girl be out of pocket because of someone else's mistake?
It's not quite as clear as that when it comes to foreign exchange though.
Whilst obviously £10 is worth £10 and that can't really be argued, is (US) $15.5737 worth £10? According to XE it is at the precise moment I'm typing this post. In 5 minutes when you read this it might not be. If you check with a different vendor it might not be. So it really isn't that clear cut.
(In fact I just checked again and in the time it's taken me to write this post it's changed to $15.5813)
But the difference between buy back rates and sell rates usually have a set ratio that change relatively as the rate changes up and down.
This whole thing is just a highlight of how us humans are so unforgiving when it comes to errors and how we like to benefit from other peoples mistakes, but then when the shoe is on the other foot not like it so much.
This whole thing is just a highlight of how us humans are so unforgiving when it comes to errors and how we like to benefit from other peoples mistakes, but then when the shoe is on the other foot not like it so much.
It wasn't directed at you Nerusy.
More that people are willing to be very harsh on people that make an honest mistake when in all likeliness would be horrified if the same happened to them.
You did what you could and was met with a less than helpful Post Office manager with an attitude problem.
Soldato
- Joined
- 22 Feb 2008
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- 11,114
My bad! I meant four and five figures, respectively.
Couldn't even think of a reason I'd want to withdraw five or six in cash short of some kind of kidnap/murder scenario or something, LOL.
Yeah, most I've ever pulled in cash was around £6k, via HSBC. Funnily enough, for currency exchange elsewhere.
Genuinely interested in how withdrawing large sums of your own money from a bank can affect your credit rating. Do you have any info/sources on that?
We all know that bankers are completely barren of any sense of morality
Money has a set worth, and its value can be proven, whereas the value of a TV is what someone is willing to pay for it really, applying the same principle to money ends up with people getting a bit angry when you are ripped off and down by an obvious amount.
they might well do but I'm interested in the legal grounds for her having to reverse the transaction
I'm pretty sure that if someone buys a mispriced TV then they're not under any obligation to return said TV after they've bought it, taken it home etc... and some trader making a fat finger error can't necessaurly undo his trade.... what makes the post office a special case?
It's nothing to do with wanting to benefit from other people's mistakes - it's not wanting to lose out due to other people's mistakes, a subtle but important difference.
I didn't say "want" to, just that we like to, we don't mind it, after all if you're on the good side of the mistake who gives one right?
In this case an agreement could have been devised so that no one lost out, but it didn't for various reasons.
Ideally both parties should seek to sort the situation so that both are in the same situation before the event took place, so no loss has come to the customer in this case, but the PO didn't really help themselves or the customer by facilitating it.
Soldato
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- 20 Feb 2010
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- Darkest Worcestershire
You dont lose any credit score when you take out money
I moved out over £130k when we moved house from my account to my solicitors account, my credit score was and still is A1.
I moved out over £130k when we moved house from my account to my solicitors account, my credit score was and still is A1.
This.
Drawing out money has NOTHING to do with credit score, nor does any savings balance you hold feed into credit reference agencies.
Banks may take into consideration your savings held into account when making any lending decisions (like an internal scoring system), but a large withdraw of cash isn't going to have detriment in isolation. In terms of your "credit score" in the common sense, there is zero impact.