OAP short changed by machine

Harry Crosslands took £70 in 20 pence pieces to the Coinstar machine in Jarrow’s Morrisons store on Friday, May 20.

The 74–year–old has been saving the coins after quitting smoking and wanted them changed into notes.

He was aware the machine takes a small percentage for sorting the money - but was left shocked when his receipt said he was owed just £25.23.

Mr Crosslands said: “I had all the 20 pence pieces bagged up, with quitting smoking I have been collecting them and saving them up.

“This was the second time I’ve used the machine and thought I’d go and get all the loose change sorted.

“But after I fed all the coins in and received the receipt to say I was only owed £25 I knew that wasn’t right.

“None of the coins had fallen out into the tray below, so then I thought maybe somehow they had fallen over the sides and were inside the machine so I went and found a member of staff.”

Although the machine is on Morrisons’ property - it is not the supermarket’s responsibility.

Store employees did call a Coinstar engineer out but Mr Crosslands said he was told it would take four weeks before the machine would be audited to see if it had been overpaid.

The retired builder said: “I only have the receipt saying I was owed £25.23 and now I’ve been told it will take four weeks to see if there’s a chance I might get the rest of my money back.

“People can still use it and I’d hate to think they were being affected this way too. It’s very unfair and it needs to be fixed.”

A Coinstar spokesman said: “Our goal at Coinstar is to provide consumers with a convenient, reliable and accurate coin counting solution. We own, operate and maintain our entire fleet of kiosks, which have processed more than onebillion transactions over the last 25 years. If a consumer has questions or concerns, our customer service staff is available at 800-928-2274, seven days a week, from 5am to 9 pm.”