Coles Self Service Machine Ate My $50, but Did Not Detect I Had Inserted It

Lantra on 21/07/2019 - 17:24
Last edited 23/07/2019 - 11:49 by 1 other user

I went to the self checkout at Cles, inserted a $50 bill and the machine ate the bill but it did not detect that I had inserted in.

The staff was not helpful. The manager on duty said if the money was put in then the machine would have detected it. I asked her to look at the cameras and she responded by saying that i was in a blind spot and the cameras cannot see me putting the money in.

I work in the shopping centre, I was in my uniform as I just finished work. The staff made it such a scene that other customers were looking and it made me feel very stressed and embarrassed. I was 33 weeks pregnant and the situation caused me to be very upset.

The situation was resolved following day as the store manager reviewed the security cameras. However I did not get a apology at all . Then I went in store to complain to another manager. He said he would follow up on the situation but he never actually got back to me. I then submitted an online feedback, where response was sorry, have contacted staff and trained them etc.

I noticed that Coles have a promise on price scanning where you can get a free product just because it is scanned wrong, yet Coles "stole" my $50 for the night and I have not been offered any compensation or reimbursement for my wasted time and emotional stress

Thoughts ?

Poll Options

  • 81
    I should be offered a compensation
  • 558
    I should accept the written apology and do nothing else
Food & Grocery

Related Stores

Coles
Coles

Comments

    • eloquentloser on 23/07/2019 - 08:19
      +2

      Yeah, maybe because it's a difficult/vulnerable/uncomfortable/expensive time and one doesn't see the beauty in making a special trip just to get one's money back. Fortunately she works there but it could have been different. Not to mention the possibility that she actually needed the money at that moment. It's no shame to have tight finances.

      Any sort of allegation of shortchanging by human or machine needs to be dealt with immediately, however inconvenient it is for staff. It's a serious matter.

      On first reading this thread I thought 'just get on with it', but on further reflection I realise that there is a slippery slope here. Companies will blame machines for any sort of incompetence, regardless of the inconvenience they can cause. The buck has to stop somewhere.

      • funnysht on 23/07/2019 - 09:45
        +1

        true but the OP already got the money back. but still wanting an "apology".

      • marieviv on 23/07/2019 - 12:23
        +1

        Yes we all got so used to being used and manipulated as sheeplike consumers…the first instinct for anyone is to bash the victim not the corporation…great mindset guys, in fake Ozbargain mode

  • marieviv on 23/07/2019 - 00:54
    -1

    Naahhh…keep on loving Coles and let the consumer rot…this forum has overwhelmingly voted that OP should have just donated her $50 to Coles

    • rambao9 on 23/07/2019 - 11:53
      +3

      If it wasn't clear enough in the last 200 posts and in the OP, she did get her money back.

  • topstuff on 23/07/2019 - 01:44
    +4

    I think because there have been so many dumb/stupid posts, the community have become cynical and defaulted to bashing the OP.
    This one needs to be called out in favour of the OP. In my experience, Coles fight hard at every step to be as anti-consumer as possible. Therefore you need to be firm (but not abusive). I don't know why most here would want Coles to keep the $50. By calling out Coles, and maybe punishing them with a deterrent (small compensation), they would make sure to do better.

  • moneyhungry on 23/07/2019 - 06:33
    +2

    This happened to me too, it ate my $50 note but they gave me my money back straight away with no questions asked.

    • Poolprouk on 23/07/2019 - 09:05
      +2

      Are you a Bandido or a Comanchero? (asking for a friend).

  • morse on 23/07/2019 - 07:34
    +4

    I don't think you're entitled to any compensation, but I think it would be a nice gesture on behalf of Coles to give you say a $50 voucher. It sounds like they're not particularly interested offering you a nice gesture so you probably just have to move on.

    There's a lot harsh comments here about OP. I think this would an inherently stressful situation and can understand how it would have been upsetting. I think most people would have liked to have it dealt it at the time as well. No one likes having their concerns disregarded and being treated rudely.

    • HighAndDry on 24/07/2019 - 11:03

      I think this would an inherently stressful situation

      I agree with the rest, but there's nothing about this that's inherently stressful. Talk to the manager, get the issue noted in writing, leave your contact details with them. Coles takes their cash very seriously since their business involves significant cash takings, there's as much risk of not getting your money back as if you were given wrong money from a bank's ATM (both very very low).

  • frostman on 23/07/2019 - 08:03

    Get over it, what you want a red-carpet apology and free items because of some inconvenience?
    You got reimbursed, build a bridge with it

  • berger on 23/07/2019 - 08:23
    +1

    Another first post user with no follow up comments. Generally the self entitled type of people do this!!!

    I was in Cairns last week, the ATM didn't dispense $100 for my work colleague. He simply called the ATM company and let them know. They said wait 2-3 weeks and it will be sorted. Didn't expect more than that! and didn't go on Ozbargain to have a cry

  • myusername on 23/07/2019 - 09:33

    let it go

    • rambao9 on 23/07/2019 - 11:54
      +3

      Hakuna matata

  • funnysht on 23/07/2019 - 09:49
    +2

    Hey OP I realised, a lot of people (including me) are just bashing the OP….To be honest morese is right, we don't mean anything behind it but just move on. Remember free rent in someone's head is prob worse than receiving an apology or not…

  • marieviv on 23/07/2019 - 12:28
    +1

    I feel for the OP…she probably could have given birth already and I hope that she has not wasted her time reading the Coles trolls respond to her post. Great work guys…you all must be so proud of yourselves being pretend consumer advocates

  • RecklessMonkeys on 23/07/2019 - 13:02
    -1

    Some of the mental somersaults that posters are willing to engage in here are remarkable.

    Why repeatedly back the powerful over the vulnerable? And what's so terrible about acknowledging that someone is very pregnant and vulnerable?
    Are we so lacking in empathy that we can't put ourselves in her shoes? What if your wife came home, upset that she couldn't purchase ingredients for your evening meal and , by the way a machine took your money and the staff fobbed her off?
    Would that raise your ire?

    The fact is, any CEO reading this thread would not hesitate to give her a gift card as a form of compensation.
    Why? Because this is about emotion, something some of you seem to be devoid of.
    Upset customers might not come back, but more importantly, they talk to each other. They discover that they have similar experiences and the businesses appears not to have fixed the underlying issue – which is faulty gear and poor training.

    By the way – the so called blind spot turned out to be untrue.

    Is this a federal case? Of course not. That doesn't absolve a company with $40 billion in revenue from fixing the problem.

    You might be looking at this from the point of view that life wasn't meant to be easy.
    Well why make it harder? Stand up for yourselves. Be firm, but polite. The powerful don't need your help.

    • HighAndDry on 23/07/2019 - 14:35
      +1

      Because this is about emotion

      Is entitlement mentality an "emotion"?

      Stand up for yourselves.

      OP got her $50 back. What more are we "standing up" for?

      • RecklessMonkeys on 23/07/2019 - 15:53
        -2

        Here's a chief acrobat.
        Business routinely offer gift cards to smooth things over. Take it up with them.

        The right not to be fobbed off when reporting a problem with Coles' equipment.
        Had she caved the first time she'd be down a 50.

        Look, if you're happy to be subservient, that's your right too.

        • HighAndDry on 24/07/2019 - 11:05

          Business routinely offer gift cards to smooth things over.

          Doesn't make it an entitlement - lots of businesses give out freebies for all sorts of reasons, sometimes for no reason at all.

          Had she caved the first time she'd be down a 50.

          No one's saying she should've caved - the facts are that she's ALREADY gotten the $50, didn't need to kick up a fuss to get it back, and wants more.

          • RecklessMonkeys on 24/07/2019 - 14:04
            -2

            @HighAndDry:

            didn't need to kick up a fuss to get it back

            Well that's factually incorrect, so I think you should read the post more carefully.

            It is Coles' policy to give away an item that scans for a higher than advertised price.
            It's therefore entirely reasonable to ask if there is a similar mechanism for when one is given the run-around for similar contexts.
            It is in no way a sense of entitlement, as you are attempting to frame it.

            This being a bargain website, I would have thought people would be interested in that, rather than voting the OP down, not to mention the personal attacks.

            Or will you now argue that bargain-hunters also have a sense of entitlement?

            • HighAndDry on 24/07/2019 - 14:09
              +1

              @RecklessMonkeys: OP says:

              yet Coles "stole" my $50 for the night and I have not been offered any compensation or reimbursement for my wasted time and emotional stress

              That's not a question.

              Bargain hunters aren't forcing shops to give them discounts - even pricing errors we're generally pretty rational in that, yes, sometimes they're honoured but technically stores aren't required to and you'd be an ass if you insisted on a store honouring an obvious pricing error.

  • TheBird on 23/07/2019 - 13:05
    +4

    What did I just read?

    [New Thread]

    How do I get compensation from the OP for wasting my time and emotional stress?

    [/Close New Thread]

  • Grok on 23/07/2019 - 13:25
    +1

    The OP also doxed herself to her employer, how many pregnant employees complain about $50 at a machine and made a scene recently?

    She is not improving by the reputation of Coles on social media.

  • serpserpserp on 23/07/2019 - 13:49

    I have not been offered any compensation or reimbursement for my wasted time and emotional stress

    You will not get it.

    So OP can you tell us if you were actually in a blindspot or not?

    This is why I don't shop at supermarkets with cash tbh. I find the experience pretty cumbersome even when things go right.

    • Forfiet on 23/07/2019 - 15:59

      "The situation was resolved following day as the store manager reviewed the security cameras" Apparently wasn't a blind spot by the response OP received the next day…

      • serpserpserp on 23/07/2019 - 19:19

        Well we don't know that, the store manager could have given her the benefit of the doubt. That was what I really wanted to check on.

      • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 23/07/2019 - 19:52
        +1

        The machine count would have been off. Thus proving the extra $50. They don't rely on cameras for this. Reviewing cameras was OPs suggestion.

        • Forfiet on 23/07/2019 - 22:08

          I could only go by what OP said, never worked in a coles… Although, I was under the impression they have camera facing them due to the large amount of theft at self-serve checked reported in the news awhile ago…..

          • rtsanarchist on 24/07/2019 - 00:45

            @Forfiet: I don't work for Coles but working for other retailers I can guess the cameras are aimed to see people doing walk outs and skipping products, not at the note slot (the machine would be able to tell if there was a fake note), and those machines would only be able to counted before or after trade (depending on whatever Coles' policy is) meaning they wouldn't have been able to find out until that night or the next day on a variance report.

            Could have been better handled by the sound of it in terms of customer service, but the way the post is written saying they want compensation for it could also be the OP over-reacting. (This comes from watching my parents react in similar way to OP over my life time, it's not the end of the world, it has been resolved and in a reasonable amount of time)

  • OzDayZee on 23/07/2019 - 23:01
    -1

    Please post the story on FB with the store name, dates and all store people names.
    Coles should make sure that no one else is put though the stress you have been through.

  • porkupine888 on 24/07/2019 - 12:45
    +2

    it would be no different to an atm not recognizing a note / ingesting it and you're stuck there without it or short… what difference does it make? do customers ask the bank for the token of apology?

    • RecklessMonkeys on 25/07/2019 - 10:25

      Maybe they should, instead of blindly accepting that big business doesn't want to spend money fixing a problem.

  • luffyex2010 on 24/07/2019 - 14:59
    +3

    Quick summary

    Pregnant OP's money got swallowed
    Pregnant OP only got money back next day
    Pregnant OP not happy and ask Ozb to double check if her mental state is still normal.

    But poll suggest it's otherwise and so…
    Life goes on after this

  • superuser on 24/07/2019 - 16:57
    +1

    First world problem, machine has errors, people make mistakes.
    You have your money back? Then move on

  • Godric on 24/07/2019 - 17:38

    As if this thread needed any other response other than 'no', how did this become too thread lool

  • luffyex2010 on 24/07/2019 - 18:22
    +1

    We should have a new topic that starts…..

    Dear Nintendo,

    Thanks for your awesome released game Marvel ultimate alliance 3.

    Now ME2 have drift issue and it feels that you have swallowed my money twice as it's $120 for a pair and I have two pairs.

    I would like to settle it out of court, perhaps you could mail me a pro controller as I am not greedy and for the sake of preventing a class action lawsuit.

    From a devoted Nintendo Fan
    OzBnintendo

  • Hirolol on 24/07/2019 - 18:26

    you didnt put /end rant at the end

  • h4zey on 24/07/2019 - 18:57

    imagine the wasted time and emotional stress of the staff member that had to deal with this situation

    • idonotknowwhy on 25/07/2019 - 13:56

      Yeah, that's what they're paid for…

      • h4zey on 25/07/2019 - 18:27

        Username checks out

  • megamilinda on 24/07/2019 - 22:04
    +2

    I had this happen with a $20 note in the self serve machine, they took 20 minutes to review the video & then returned the money. It was late at night, not busy and they apologise for taking so long, but they need to be sure as they have had incidents where people pretended that they put money in.

  • [Deactivated] on 24/07/2019 - 22:32
    +2

    It sucks but it happens. Move on with your life. You got your money back.

  • DemocracyManifest on 24/07/2019 - 22:38
    +2

    If the looked at CCTV, and you got your money back, good. People lie all the time to try to get money out of stores, slip over, all that stuff.

  • DemocracyManifest on 24/07/2019 - 22:39

    But you shouldn't use self serve

  • Iangh on 25/07/2019 - 06:57

    Definitely worth a goodwill gesture due to the way staff handled the situation.

  • berger on 25/07/2019 - 09:10

    still no reply from the entitled OP

  • Fizzydrink on 25/07/2019 - 10:56
    +1

    Obvious solution is a gofundme!

  • Viospeed on 25/07/2019 - 12:53
    +1

    You got your money back after one day so end of story. Have a look at the hardships other people are facing in the world and then look at yourself.

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