UK: My Cash Refused As Payment

OK i wanted a new tv. I searched online and found the lowest price and then went to a local electrical store to see if i could sweet talk the price down. I managed to get an extra thirty quid off and i was very happy. They took it to the counter, scanned it in and i went to pay, here is where the problem started.

I opened my wallet and brought out cash. I usually buy items on my credit card and then pay it off in full to get the cashback, but i had lost my card so cash it was. The conversation went like this.

"Whats that"

"It's cash"

"We can't accept that"

"Erm i'm sorry i don't understand. Why can't you take cash?"

"Because it's a large item, it's a tv"

"This is ridiculous, it's cash, it's money why can't i pay with it? I seem to remember the law states you have to accept cash as payment"

"No we don't we can refuse any customer"

"Yes but not if they just want to pay cash, that isn't a good reason. Can i see the manager please"

Ok so i got the manager after a lot more talking and staying calm. The guy wasn't very helpful saying that they have to refuse cash for tv's because i might be trying to avoid paying the license fee! The government apparently is making sure i pay my license fee by stopping me buying a damn television! I am happy to pay the license fee, i like the bbc's programs and the lack of adverts. Many great comedies wouldn't have come to our screens without the bbc.

It ended with me getting the tv by standing there for half an hour, arguing the legality of what they were doing and explaining that standing there arguing was making me very ill (i have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) and that it wouldn't be great publicity for their store if i collapsed on the floor. I guess there has to be some positives to being ill.

I really am fearing a cashless society.

I've seen this in the US, too. I prefer to handle cash because my ATM withdrawals hit well before my debit purchases do, and I have a terrible time keeping track of my spending just in general, so handling money seems to help me keep up with that.

It also keeps me from over-spending, but that's another story.

So, I tend to make purchases in cash whenever I'm given the option, and I've had some very strange reactions to this--including being asked if I was a drug dealer.

The most common response I get is a wary, half-fearful look, followed by having every single bill checked with a counterfeit-detection pen, a hard look, and a shake of the head as if I were doing something incomprehensible.

Never had my money refused yet, but... give it time...

[edit on 14-2-2009 by quitebored]

reply to post by quitebored


Thanks for that, interesting to know it's happening across the pond. Is this where it starts towards a cashless society so that everything we do can be tracked absolutely?

There are many reasons to use cash, i often use it so i won't get put on the mail list of advertising companies. When you use your credit card they often put you on a mailing list and when i buy things in stores i usually use cash, unless i'm buying something big then i use a credit card to get the caskback.

I think it is my right to avoid being placed on all these damn mailing lists and my sticking to cash for pretty much all real life purchases means i get very little junk mail.

The first step was debit cards, the second step was credit cards. The third step was implementing a system that often makes you have a credit card (car rental anyone?) and make it the preferred type of payment. The final step will be to demonise cash users as criminals who use cash to avoid tax and stuff.

Ahh yes, I've had a slight taste of this kind of thinking when buying TV equipment.

Basically a few years back I brought one of these digital set top boxes... Now as you know they are only about 20 quid, so of course I was able to pay by cash, but as I got to the front of the (quite long) Q at the checkout I was told that I could not pay for this item there I had to go to the customer service desk -

OK so I goes over there and waited again, the lady asks me for my postcode... I say why do you need that?? She gives a really bad line that she will just check to see if I can receive the digital signal where I live yet... I say well I KNOW I can, all my neighbors get it perfect (I lived in a student type area so spent a lot of time in different houses - usually regaining consciousness on some random sofa :lol

Now she is all but refusing to sell me this piece of junk unless I give her a postcode!! I felt like she was gonna ID me! So I give in, just give it to her... She says that's fine it will work there

About a week later we get a letter from the TV licensing nazis saying we don't have a licence it's a shared house and that stuff is pinned to a notice board... I ring in, give them the reference number - he trys to say each person in the house has to have their OWN license because the property has been split into FLATS!! No it aint I said... Just a normal house with 4 people splitting all the bills! I swear if I wasn't careful with what I'd said they would of slapped a 1,000 quid fine on each of us all because I wanted a set top box.

I needed to buy another one a while back... This time I knew what was coming, I made sure I had a random postcode and house number memorized!! I just hope whoever I set the nazi's on actually had a valid license! It's almost something you could do to your worst enemy (or your ex :lol

reply to post by ImaginaryReality1984


ok in all stores they take your Details if you Buy a TV
either electronicaly or on paper where you get a copy aswell.
what store was this?

reply to post by bodrul


I'm not sure i'm allowed to name the store on ATS so i think i'll avoid that. However i managed to buy my tv without giving names and details so i'm unaware as to the law that requires me to give my details.

Originally posted by Now_Then
I needed to buy another one a while back... This time I knew what was coming, I made sure I had a random postcode and house number memorized!! I just hope whoever I set the nazi's on actually had a valid license! It's almost something you could do to your worst enemy (or your ex :lol

Isn't that the great flaw in that system. That you can use anyones postcode lol. Anyway it still is strange i was unable to pay cash. I can see they want you to pay by card so they have your address details but what right do they really have to ask for personal details to sell an item?

I mean if i were buying an air rifle i can understand their taking these details and i would give them happily, but a tv?

[edit on 14-2-2009 by ImaginaryReality1984]

thank god i live in Canada.
walk in with cash, walk out with purchase.
no ID required either.
WTF?:shk:

reply to post by AccessDenied


That's the point, what is next? Will i be banned from buying a dvd player with cash? What about buying diy materials, after all we all know that a diy store is a terrorists dream palace! I use the terrorist point because that's how i think this will be put across to people. Either that terrorists use cash or identity thieves do. Maybe they'll just use the old line "nothing to hide, nothing to fear" and say anyone who uses cash is trying to hide something.

reply to post by ImaginaryReality1984


Kudos for standing your ground there.

I think I too would be "miffed" if that happened to me.

Their excuse of the TV licence is cr*p! What if the TV was a present for someone else and you don't watch TV.

I'd be interested to know if they would try the same stunt with a different large object....like a cooker or washing machine. No licence needed for those.

reply to post by nerbot


I was thinking that, maybe they are scared of being defrauded by fake notes on large items. They have every right to refuse a note they think is fraudulant but i'm concerned they may start using that as an excuse to make you use your card as well.

I just like to stay off certain mailing lists, that's my big reason for using cash on some items. It wasn't the case here i just happened to be using cash, but i want the option of using it and not being refused.

reply to post by ImaginaryReality1984


last time i checked there wasnt a rule saying you can mention names of stores so what store is it?

when i worked in woolworths i took cash payment for TVs and i done it electronicaly,
and now i am in Sainsburys they do it by paper

i will be frank the person was BS on they cant take cash payment.

cool u did get it sorted

Originally posted by bodrul
reply to post by ImaginaryReality1984

 

last time i checked there wasnt a rule saying you can mention names of stores

so what store is it?

when i worked in woolworths i took cash payment for TVs and i done it electronicaly,
and now i am in Sainsburys they do it by paper

i will be frank the person was BS on they cant take cash payment.

cool u did get it sorted

Hmm i thought it was against the rules to mention retailers, guess i'm wrong Well then i'm worried to mention which store just becuase of legal action. I know that's slightly paranoid but i have no proof to back all of this up in a court and i don't even want to risk being sued. Maybe i'm being overly careful but i just don't like risking things. If it sounds stupid then sorry.

I have to ask what you meant by doing it electronically and by paper? Do you mean payment or taking down details? In the end i didn't have to give any details and i paid cash so it seems to be something they put across like it's a law but really they're relying on the customers gullibility.

aaah the good ol "opt out" system.

glad we still use common sense in australia with the "opt in" system.

you lot go to buy something, and get involuntarily stuck on lists and what not, and have to "opt out" of these lists to not get spammed with their garbage.

in Oz, we have to choose to "opt in" to spam mail systems before that # starts coming our way.

you get stuck in those systems regardless, and have to opt out.
they cant stick us in those systems unless we choose to "opt in".

big difference indeed.

reply to post by ImaginaryReality1984


when A TV was bought up a screen came up for customer details which is later given to the licenig people,
Paper is when its done by hand

and yes you are parinoid as there is nothing to be sued about lol

[edit on 15-2-2009 by bodrul]

Originally posted by bodrul
reply to post by ImaginaryReality1984

 

when A TV was bought up a screen came up for customer details which is later given to the licenig people,
Paper is when its done by hand

and yes you are parinoid as there is nothing to be sued about lol

[edit on 15-2-2009 by bodrul]

Ahh well the paranoid tend to not get sued Although i doubt i could be anyway but i guess it's my word against the shop peoples. Anyway point being i didn't give my details in the end so it can't be a law and as such i don't see how they can enforce it. They're a privat company and therefore can refuse anyones custom but if the government is stepping in and asking for these details then they have absolutely no right to do so.

The real worry though was my cash being refused. It's like they're trying to kill anonymity. I have every right to use cash and stay off of mailing lists in certain shops. Like a local health food store. I use cash there because i know how much junk they send people once they have their address.

Originally posted by ImaginaryReality1984
They're a privat company and therefore can refuse anyones custom but if the government is stepping in and asking for these details then they have absolutely no right to do so.

Or a legal obligation to inform all customers of that law "before" the payment transaction starts.