What will happen to post office worker who topped up my electric key with more than I paid for?

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tmstms@reddit

They will be prosecuted and given a long jail sentence.

Some years alter, ITV will make a drama called The Faulty Key- Chanson_Riders versus the Post Office and they will be freed and given lots of compo and a medal.

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DukeOfDevon@reddit

No doubt Sheridan Smith will have the lead woman’s role

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aje0200@reddit

Jason Statham - you have to fight off all the hired killers sent by the post office.

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theDR1ve@reddit

Not only fighting them off but you'll have to do this while defending your child....who'll be played by danny devito

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pointlesstips@reddit

I hope James Spader will play OP's Lawyer.

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ilovesteakpie@reddit

I look forward to giving it a "Delightful action romp but maybe not worth full cinema admission, wait for it on the telly," Review

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Icy_Preparation6792@reddit

Chat GPT has just written the script...

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Littletap27@reddit

"Favourite cafe, bean there" made me laugh more than It should

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Icy_Preparation6792@reddit

Seems it's more an 'Enid Blyton' than 'David vs Goliath' affair.

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AnnaN666@reddit

They saved it for when the Epstein papers came out, so nobody would see the number of respected UK people on the list.

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powpow198@reddit

Thank you for this...i could feel the thoughts bubbling but no more

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ramxquake@reddit

In ten years they'll make a documentary about her.

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ActualWheel6703@reddit

Can someone explain this scenario to me please? I'm an American so we pay for utilities differently.

Either I have automatic payments taken out of my account, or I pay it online. The Post Office wouldn't be a part of this picture.

How does this work on your side of the pond?

Thank you in advance!

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There are a few ways of paying for utilities, most popular are Direct Debit, which takes money out of an account at pre agreed frequency, normally monthly. Next would be having a pre-pay meter, the older type use a key that you need to take to a shop for them to put credit on to it, the modern ones use an app to make it easier to top up.

You can request a pre-pay meter to help budget but a lot of people are forced to have one installed due to non-payment.

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ActualWheel6703@reddit

Interesting! Thank you for explaining that.

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MuntyCatt@reddit

Do you not have pre-pay meters over there? What happens if someone doesn't pay?

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ActualWheel6703@reddit

They might. I've never heard of it though. I've seen something similar in old movies where they put coins in a radiator, so they were around at some point, if not still.

We own our home, but when we rented back in the day, we had to connect our services and have our own account with the utility company. I'll look it up.

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MuntyCatt@reddit

Oh man, you've just reminded me of when I was young and living in a bedsit, it had a 50 pence electric meter, I hated having to always have change for it.

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ActualWheel6703@reddit

Per Google

"Pay-as-you-go plans are available in states with deregulated energy markets, such as Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut, New York, Maine, Illinois, Washington D.C., Delaware, Oregon, and New Hampshire"

I had no idea!

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ActualWheel6703@reddit

Wow, so like in the movies!

I like the concept, seems rather equitable.

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throwaway_t6788@reddit

if i was her i would have at least said thank you (if she didnt) for your honesty

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CranberryWizard@reddit

Nothing if no one is a grass

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vmeldrew2001@reddit

My knowledge is a bit out of date, but it used to be that the postmaster/sub postmaster had to personally make up any shortfalls.

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Whisperedbedlam@reddit

I'm a sub postmaster, mistakes are few and far between but none of the staff in our location have had to personally pay out any shortfall.

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Ancient-Marzipan-402@reddit

This is the correct answer.

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Pale_Slide_3463@reddit

Someone paid for my petrol which was cheaper than his and drove off. When I went I said £20.01 I always add a penny because of nonsense like this. They were like but you paid. I said no there’s my car at the pump lol. Manager came down and sorted it basically giving off to the staff that this happens way too much and it’s needs to stop 😅

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FirstAndOnly1996@reddit

I work in a petrol station and this is actually something that really fucks me off day to day. When someone tells us the pump number, we repeat the price back to them to confirm. The amount of people who will just say "yeah fine whatever" or not even know their pump number at all and say "it's about £20" is infuriating.

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MobileSquirrel1488@reddit

Why is it infuriating? I don’t give a fuck. If I know I put 20 quid in and you say it’s 80 I’ll say something. If you say it’s 23 quid I don’t care

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Jolly_Constant_4913@reddit

I worked in one too. Interesting experience, poor training, high chance of something going wrong. Good thing they paid less than nmw 🤣

It's awful at peak times .

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Kronenburg_1664@reddit

I've been on the other hand of this - told the person my pump number and he just handed me the thing to tap so I tapped it, noticed the number was wrong as it was beeping for a succesful transaction. Had to do so much awkward back and forth refunding and double charging and double refunding cause the cashier didn't really know what they were doing. Queue was out the door and the forecourt was backing up lol, it was so awkward

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Welsh-Niner@reddit

If you don’t want her to get in trouble, then why are you asking a question that has such an obvious answer? Obviously you go back and pay for it.

That’s enough Reddit for me for one day. People are unbelievable at times.. Jesus wept.

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rezonansmagnetyczny@reddit

When I worked in retail and fast food, any discrepancy more than a couple of quid was docked from our wages.

We were allowed 3 significant cash mistakes in 3 months before we got in serious trouble.

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itsamberleafable@reddit

If that isn’t illegal it fucking should be

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likesrabbitstbf@reddit

It is illegal to make unlawfuld deducations from wages, recovery is through an employment tribunal though and they have very steep time limits. But if the deduction puts the employee below minimum wage that's a criminal offence and HMRC would prosecute

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rezonansmagnetyczny@reddit

Mate i worked in KFC when I was 18.

If you didn't have black socks on they'd dock your pay 50p

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Jolly_Constant_4913@reddit

What year

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rezonansmagnetyczny@reddit

Mid 2000s

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Jolly_Constant_4913@reddit

So backwards petty management. No wonder these places are stagnant

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Jolly_Constant_4913@reddit

I used to work in rail. Didn't make many mistakes but one of them caused a train to be grounded and the penalty was about £150k. Id have been so indebted I'd have been like an indentured labourer 🤣

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lkdomiplhomie@reddit

Firing squad would be formed as the response to this crime

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Soggy_Cabbage@reddit

Many years ago when I worked in a supermarket I my till was once short by £50, I guess I didn't input £50 cashback correctly. I got a verbal warning from my supervisor about it and that was that. So long as they're not making a habbit out of it and it's a once off mistake they're unlikely to be in any real trouble unless their boss is a lunatic.

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Shakis87@reddit

Worked in a biggish home and clothing shop years ago over Christmas. They had one experienced person on the tills and about 7 or 8 Christmas temps on with her.

The new starts constantly needed help with stuff, the experience one turned around for no more than 10 seconds to put a code into the temp behind her's till.

In those 10 seconds, someone with a master IBM key opened the experienced one's till, took all the high notes and left.

She got a final warning (this was her first warning too) and lost her Christmas bonus.

Absolutely undeserved. She had absolutely no support.

No one in the company even had these IBM keys.

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Jolly_Constant_4913@reddit

Awful. I'd have left. Glad things have changed. Dud they go bankrupt

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Shakis87@reddit

I don't think anything has changed there, they are also a branch of supermarket

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Jolly_Constant_4913@reddit

Don't think this would fly today. Sounds like a manager overriding the rules to make an example and cause someone hardship

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Shakis87@reddit

Actually perhaps. It was like 20 years ago, fuck... I was just trying to work out how long ago it was and was in denial that it could be as much as 20 :o

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GlassHalfSmashed@reddit

No, they'll be in just as much trouble if their tills have been balanced since the visit.

If they haven't been balanced yet and the transaction only just happened, the error can be corrected and mitigated with no consequences to the teller.

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ScallionOk6420@reddit

Sadly electrocution on Christmas Day is the mandatory penatly. It's such a shame, as I heard she was a wonderful mum.

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Nuo_Vibro@reddit

She'll get a 4-part ITV show about her life in the New Year

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abw@reddit

Edit: well, this is embarrassing. I went in and explained what I thought had happened

Good for you. Don't be embarrassed. You not only cleared your own conscience but you probably also restored her faith in humanity.

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Giddyup_1998@reddit

I'm flummoxed, why do you need to top up electricity & gas?

Don't you just get a bill monthly / every quarter?

What happens if you don't top up & your credit runs out?

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qlkzy@reddit

That relies on a certain level of trust between the utility company and the consumer. "Pay as you go" meters are used when that trust isn't there, for whatever reason.

The cases I am familiar with are from people not paying their bills — if you rack up too much debt to the electricity company, they can show up and install a pay-as-you-go meter so that you are forced to pay your bills in advance.

Haven't seen one recently, but years ago I briefly lived with someone whose prior housemate had messed around with the bills until the electricity company gave up and swapped out the meter. At the time at least, we had a key that looked a bit like a USB flash drive. Normally we kept it topped up, but if it ran out then we went down the road to the Co-Op and had the power back on in a few minutes. If it had run out overnight, we'd have been without power until the shops opened. The tech may be different now.

I'm sure there are reasons other than "not paying your bills" that get you on a meter like that, that's just the reason I've seen.

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Jolly_Constant_4913@reddit

It's good for rentals too. I had one and I liked it. It means no nasty suprise after I moved out

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AwayAd7332@reddit

What do you think happens my friend?? 😂

Well my one I had in a rented place let you go into credit for of a few pounds if I remember rightly, it cut out and you had to go and turn it on by the front door and accept that and it gave me a kick up the arse to top it up! Might have be only on the electric tho.

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StuartHunt@reddit

My mum once asked me to put some money on her gas card for her , so I popped to shop came back and went to put the card in and the display said she £790 on the meter. I told her and she said she thought it was running out. Needless to say she had a few extra quid in her purse for the next 6 months.

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Jolly_Constant_4913@reddit

I used to like top up system when I lived on rent

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Gullflyinghigh@reddit

I worked for an energy company for over a decade and can confirm that when they come for her they'll make it look like an accident, so no need for guilt on your part as you won't know either, their hit squads are very good at their job.

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MrTechRelated@reddit

She may fall from her high rise apartment window…

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transmorphix@reddit

This happened to me (not including your edit) when they did those cost of living electric vouchers. He somehow put double the amount into my key. I never said anything, nothing ever came of it, the same guy still works there

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K1ng0fThePotatoes@reddit

If you paid by card, definitely check your transaction because there's no way the till wouldn't want the full £60.

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ElectricalActivity@reddit

Can you even pay by card? I used to have one of these key meters and they insisted on cash.

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K1ng0fThePotatoes@reddit

Yeah, these days, of course. Most of them are PayPoint terminals incorporated into the store's POS. Very common.

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Slavir_Nabru@reddit

I can use a card at Co-Op for PayPoint, but at the Post Office I have to withdraw cash which they then physically transfer from one float to another.

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ElectricalActivity@reddit

Ah fair enough. I had one until about a year ago and no shops around me would accept card to top up. Only cash. I tried a few different places too.

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K1ng0fThePotatoes@reddit

Small businesses? It probably cost them more than it was worth to do it by card I guess.

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ElectricalActivity@reddit

Yeah these were all small shops, so probably why. Was a bit weird in this day and age having to go to an ATM to pay for something legal 😂

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K1ng0fThePotatoes@reddit

Hahaha. "Yeah, might as well have three for a hundred while I'm here Mush. Ta." 🤣

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glasgowgeg@reddit

Yep, I was in a flat about 4-5 years ago which was a top up key when we first moved in, as long as the shop accepted card, you could pay with card.

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TwistedzTwisterz@reddit

Life imprisonment

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Johnsie408@reddit

Prison, don’t you watch TV?

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OkIndependent1667@reddit

100 years hard labour, when he dies the remaining years are passed on to next of kin is one option

But he will likely have it taken out of his wages as that’s the quickest and easiest way of resolving it

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vctrmldrw@reddit

Just do the right thing. You know that money isn't yours, go sort it out.

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Polz34@reddit

I wouldn't go back, I used to work in a local shop and the key/card top up for gas and electric was super temperamental so sometimes you really had to push the keys to get it to work, I'd say at least one in twenty people either got more or less what they asked for!

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RadiantCrow8070@reddit

Unless them machines have changed drastically in about 6 years then they nor the shop will even notice

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