how would you have dealt with this?

Question

i was in a large supermarket chain shop near birmingham i handed over a scottish £20note to pay for my shopping the women on the till took it and turned to lady on till next to her and said in voice loud enough for other ppl to hear do we take this money i felt very offended by this as i am scottish and was down visiting friends i ended up sayingcan i have it back plzs i dont want my shopping now and askedto speak to manager and complained to him to be told well you are in england have now written to there head office but not hadreply yet

it was a£20 note not a£50 note plz read before answering and btw i am a bar manager for a large company with 15 years in the trade moved back to scotland 5 yearsago after running a large pub in england and i take staff training and manners when dealing with customers very highly and found that thewomen on the till had dealt with this wrong and so did the manager that is why i felt offended it was totally down to bad training on part of the managegment and told the manager that

btw i did not leave in a huff or start shouting i spoke in a calm voiceand did not raise my voice once

Answer 1

That has happened to me before with Northern Ireland Stirling notes - a tried to pay a taxi driver with it and he shouted and screamed and said that we shouldn't have got in the taxi if we couldn't afford to pay for it, which was very offensive. I'm not completely sure, but I think that as long as the notes are Stirling the shops are supposed to accept them.

Answer 2

As long as the note has Sterling written on it then it's legal tender anywhere in the UK - and should have been accepted. Unfortunately there aren't a lot of these notes in circulation outside of Scotland, so it isn't uncommon for this to happen - especially with new staff.

It should be in the training routine of all cashiers, and the manager should have been more helpful and offered an apology at the very least, not lashings of ignorance towards a customer!

I wouldn't get too offended if a cashier checks again - these notes really aren't that common in other parts. However, if you get treated with the same attitude - stand your ground and make an official complaint.

Answer 3

I'm sorry you received such dreadful treatment from the supermarket in Birmingham. It happens all too frequently all over England. I am English and when we came home from holidaying in Scotland we tried to buy goods with the Scottish pounds and were refused. The bank took the money without any fuss and changed it into English money. The bank staff said that it is legal tender and should not be refused. I have the same problem with £50 notes, there are hardly any shops that will take them these days. I think it is all down to educating the staff to recognise fake money from genuine.

Answer 4

I am a retail manager and i always train my staff to be polite when dealing with customers who use Scottish money .At the same time we have more counterfeit Scottish notes than any other so extra vigilance is required and because we are not used to how they should look and the brilliance of the counterfeiters it is sometimes easier to decline a sale rather than take the risk .
If it is a £50 note English or Scottish then it has to be checked with a light and another member of staff.

Answer 5

I agree with you, I think had I been in the same situation I'd have been very offended.

The problem is though, in London there have been a huge number of forgeries of Scottish notes and people in the south, being less familiar with them, accept them more readily than forged English notes. A lot of businesses around here have stopped accepting any Scottish notes for this reason.

My husband has chosen instead to install a note checking device and educate his staff, much better options in my view which don't result in offending our Scottish customers.

Answer 6

I think you did the right thing by asking for it back and then complaining to the manager and writing to the head office. Even if you dont receive a reply from the head office, at least you made your opinion heard. I have found that these days more and more people who work in customer service have become nothing but rude and inconsiderate! Even the managers are rude. More people like you need to complain about bad customer service experiences, maybe then they will behave properly.

Answer 7

Well, you very well know they have to take it! It's money like any other, right? I would've remained silent, smiling, waiting for them as they acted like the two scrooges and if they told me, "No, we can't take this," I would've politely asked "Why not?" saying that it was legal tender in the UK.

Look, it was THEIR ignorance, their mistake and you put the burden onto YOURSELF by asking for it back and leaving. I would've stood my ground. I would've have been very calm and if they refused to take it, I would've calmly asked to speak to the manager. At this point, if even the manager refused the £20 I would have kindly left and not made a scene, but I would've taken their names and written a letter.

I think it would have been better that you remained calm and "made" them take the money then leave in an angry huff (because I think you were right and they were wrong) but getting emotional always puts you at a disadvantage..... Oh, and I would've written several letters (official complaints) once home LOL

Btw, I'm sorry that you had this incident and yes, it sounds like "racism". Truly sorry.

Answer 8

Most people in England do not come into contact with Scottish notes so the girl was only checking.

This is no excuse though for the lack of training given to her by her employers.

I would not have asked for it back, the manager would have come to me on the checkout and I would have asked him about his ability to train staff in the same manor to which I had been subjected.

If the head office do not write back, write again and demand an apology.

Answer 9

I would have felt as you do, but if I am going down south to visit friends I change my notes for English ones, or wait until I get there and use a cash machine that will have them in it and not the Scottish ones. Its saves a lot of hassle and bad feeling.

Answer 10

Hi
I used to work in a shop - scottish money is legal tender - i.e. the shop must accept it, but depending on the area, you can very rarely see it, and if the person on the till had not seen it before - can you blame them for asking to check if it was ok - you get in big trouble if you make mistakes in money. I personally think you overreacted - if you let little things like that upset you that much you must live a very distressing life. Its right to complain if you feel you've genuinely been badly treated, but always stop to reconsider if you aren't overreacting, because they won't take any notice of your complaint anyway if it seems trivial.

Answer 11

Well how silly those people were. Just goes to show that segregation is in the mind. Common sense would have said (even if they didn't know it was legal tender) That we are supposed to be GB.

Never mind. I love the Scottish and I would have kept your twenty quid.

Demand an apology from them. Don't give up. Grrrrrr at em.