But it’s obviously not fine for the retailer to lose out

Mark Buttress rang from Jaybee’s Convenience Store in Basingstoke to say that his ATM had dispensed extra money on four occasions. He blamed YourCash’s faulty software. When he contacted me YourCash had accepted liability for three of these transactions (£40, £70 and £130), but was denying a fault for a transaction on 2 January amounting to a loss of £480.

Mark said that the first three faults were all on the £10 cassette. When he discussed this with YourCash he says the company admitted to problems affecting 180 stores. So he suggested using just the £20 cassette over the Christmas/New Year period. This was when fault number four occurred.

YourCash had apparently told him that, as the cassette was removed overnight (as per recommendation), and it was not empty, someone could have tampered with it. As Mark carried out this removal himself, he knows no one tampered with it.

I contacted YourCash and a spokesperson replied: “With the retailer concerned, we can confirm that there were three non-software (dispenser) related instances where we demonstrated the activity and transactions on the ATM, ensuring funds were returned to the retailer.

“Concerning the latest occasion, the investigation is still ongoing but, to clarify, it is not due to a software issue or a dispenser fault.

“As this incident is still active, we are unable to provide any further information. However, the retailer did advise our customer service team that he did not follow our recommended ATM processes.”

Mark pointed out a number of discrepancies with this, including the fact they made no official mention of how many other stores have been affected and there had been a lack of communication from YourCash to their network about machines not working correctly.

He added: “If it wasn’t a software issue, why did it take almost five hours for their engineer to download new software? Not even touching the insides of the machine!

“As for myself not following correct procedures, I am only doing what I was told by their installer! If I was incorrectly operating the machine, why haven’t YourCash been in contact? Why no errors previously? This sounds like a get-out-of-jail clause from YourCash!”

There was more of the same but then, finally, Mark had a face-to-face with somebody senior who went through the data sheets and agreed to take it up with his director.

Then a phone call. “YourCash are going to reimburse me the £500 with the condition we start doing end-of-day reports every night to double-check the cash, which is fair enough.

“So good news for me at least for reclaiming my lost money, but how many other shops have lost out?”