Sorry, We're Not Perfect Every Time.

[GolfCart34]

This didn't happen to me (it was another teller's mistake), but I was standing nearby when the head teller was explaining this to the customer.

Ok, here's what happened. One of the other tellers in the bank cashed three checks, two were for "x" amount and one for "y" amount. Well, said teller ended up cashing all three checks for x amount, meaning he was short in his drawer. And keep in mind, this transaction happened at the drive up, which will come into play later. Anyway, the head teller and the teller in question caught the mistake and called the customer to see if said customer would either come in and hand in the extra money or we could just take the money out of her account and save her the hassle. This happens on occasion and 99.99% of our customers understand that and forgive us since, surprise, we're humans too.

Well, this person didn't understand that we sometimes make mistakes. They kept going on about how we shouldn't make mistakes ever and that they didn't understand how a teller could do such a thing. That person was also very reluctant to give the money back and basically wanted disciplinary action taken against the teller since it was his fault and he should get in trouble for being short. That person also said that they don't have time to count her money when they go to the drive up and that it is the teller's responsibility to make sure the money is right.

Ok, back the truck up a second here. Common, non sucky customer sense dictates that when you cash a check or get money back on your deposit at the drive up of the bank, you count the money before you leave to make sure it is correct, especially since the teller doesn't count it back to you like they do in the bank lobby. You can sit in the line, pull off to the side, or do whatever, but you count your money to make sure it's right. That way you don't have this hassle happen in the first place.

Well, customer goes on and on about how the teller should get in trouble, then she pulls the, "If this happens again I'm going to go to a different bank" card out on us. This has happened to this lady all of once in her lifetime and she thinks it's the end of the world.

Seriously, I think we'd all be upset if a mistake happened at the bank. If we got too much money, we'd go back and return it. If we got shorted by mistake we'd go and have the problem corrected right away. And it's certainly not the end of the world if a mistake happens. Besides, we're all human, right (well, not always to the sucky customer, but you know what I mean)? I guess what angered me about overhearing this conversation was the way the customer handled the situation. Head teller was reasonable and explained everything, but this lady just would not listen and kept asking the same questions over and over.

Boy am I glad today was an early day. And it only gets worse from here since the holiday "spend money like it's going out of style" season is upon us... Well, until January when they're broke and can't get any more money out.

[Sylvia727]

That person was also very reluctant to give the money back and basically wanted disciplinary action taken against the teller since it was his fault and he should get in trouble for being short.

Alright, from the beginning I expected the SC to want to keep the money--that makes sense in SCville. They don't feel that way when they get shortchanged, of course But seriously, she wanted to get the teller disciplined for his actions? If a worker cusses at me (has happened) or says horrible things about my disabled neice (has happened) then I will talk to the manager, since that is a violation of my human decency. But really, what the damage done to her, besides inconvenience? None. Not even inconvenience, really, since they were willing to take it out of her account. She has no room to be bitchin', even by entitlement standards.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Alright, from the beginning I expected the SC to want to keep the money--that makes sense in SCville. They don't feel that way when they get shortchanged, of course But seriously, she wanted to get the teller disciplined for his actions? If a worker cusses at me (has happened) or says horrible things about my disabled neice (has happened) then I will talk to the manager, since that is a violation of my human decency. But really, what the damage done to her, besides inconvenience? None. Not even inconvenience, really, since they were willing to take it out of her account. She has no room to be bitchin', even by entitlement standards.

True, but keep in mind that in SC-ville logic is nonexistent.

Besides, this customer sounds like the type whose perspective would be somewhere along the lines of "I wouldn't have to bitch if people wouldn't give me reasons to bitch."

Oh wait . . that would be Moi.

[Primer]

How is the teller positive that this was the person who received too much money (besides the person admitting it after being contacted)? Would it have been possible that the checks really were cashed correctly and somebody else got the wrong amount?

[csdrone]

We got a notice from our bank that a deposit was adjusted by proof. The teller screwed up. It happens. Primer the process is supposed to go like this: The transactions are colleceted and sent to Proof. The proof department checks to see if there are discrepancies (if there is a shortage or overage over a certain amount they would double check all transactions done by the teller). When proof finds the discrepancy, they send a notice to the branch. The branch calls the customer OR a computer generated notice is sent to the customer.

[matty]

A while ago, my mother, when looking over recent transactions on Internet Banking, noticed that a "mystery" $300 had been deposited into her account. She couldn't figure out what this money could possibly be, and so she called her bank's customer service number.

They told her that the payer had meant to deposit the money into a different account, with a different bank, no less, but had made a mistake with the BSB and Account number. So, the money ended up in my mother's account.

However, apparently there is some sort of regulation that means they can't chase after this until the person who was actually meant to receive the money calls their bank to ask about it. So, in the meantime, the money continues to sit in Mum's account - but she has to remember that she does not actually have this $300.

While typing this, I just realised that Mum told me this story perhaps two or three weeks ago, so I'm not sure if it has resolved itself yet or not.

[GolfCart34]

How is the teller positive that this was the person who received too much money (besides the person admitting it after being contacted)? Would it have been possible that the checks really were cashed correctly and somebody else got the wrong amount?

The checks are printed on the back with the amount of money given out from them. The checks were printed "$" "$" "$" instead of "$" "$" "$$." In this case it was pretty obvious what happened.

We also have ways of going back and reconstructing all of the transactions done. Don't ask me how they do it (we don't reconstruct at the branch) 99.9% of the time they'll find out where we went wrong and, like I said before, most customers also realize the mistake and are really willing to work with us to sort it out. This person happened to be the exception rather than the rule.

[Bright_Star]

I would have told her "Then go to another fucking bank then, we don't need stupid assholes like you doing business with us anyway!"