THIS week the Helpdesk deals with a thorny issue. Mr CT of Edinburgh is convinced he was given the wrong change in a city centre pub. But the pub management insists that this cannot be.
Q: I have a type of consumer problem which is maybe too small for you to deal with, but I’ll explain it to you and if you can’t help, perhaps you can advise what I should do, if anything.
A group of former work colleagues meet most Fridays for a lunchtime drink in the Abbotsford Bar in Rose Street and have been doing so for over 20 years. On buying a round of drinks recently, I paid with a £20 note but was given change of £10. (I know that I didn’t have any £10 notes in my wallet that day). I immediately queried it, but the barman said I had given him £10. However, a witness immediately confirmed to the barman that he had seen me hand over a £20 note.
The barman ignored the witness and refused to do anything, but said that if there was a surplus at the end of the shift three hours later he would refund the £10. He eventually telephoned me to say that the till balanced to within £1.
I then wrote to the area supervisor, who merely said that the barman had handled it in line with company policy and that there was nothing that he was prepared to do as the till did not show a surplus of £10.
I then wrote to the managing director of DM Stewart, the holding company, which also ignored the fact that I have no doubt that I handed over a £20 note and that a witness confirmed this at the time. The company’s only argument was that the till did not show a £10 surplus. The till wasn’t balanced till three hours after I bought my drinks, during which time there could have been further errors There was no suspicion that the barman was “at it” and, I assure you, nor am I.
CT Edinburgh
Managing director David Stewart replies
I have been a publican for 20 years and I have never had a letter like this before. We have a procedure we follow in cases like this – and, in this instance, the procedure was followed correctly.
The manager cashed up the till and it was not out by £10. He rang Mr CT to inform him of this fact and I also sent the customer a letter to confirm that this was so.
I wish the till had been out so we could have sorted this out and had a happy customer – but it wasn’t.
We have done our best, but without proof that Mr CT is right, then there is nothing more we can do.
• If you have a consumer issue that you would like tackling, contact Claire Smith on 0131 620 8432 or e-mail csmith@scotsman.com