saw an interesting thing happen the other day at the check out of a bunnings store. while i was waiting in line the cashier next to my queue seemed to have a problem, a customer handed over a $20 note that had a large section missing from one corner. not a small piece, at least a sixth of the note was missing! the cashier wasn't sure whether to accept it or not and asked her supervisor who said without a second thought, "yes, that's ok". i was quite suprised! i certainly wouldn't have accepted it if it was offered to me as change. what level of damage is legally acceptable for it to remain legal tender? would i be within my rights to refuse to accept it as change? anyone seen anything similar happen?
i had an experience with something like this. a friends kid had a damaged $50 note and the shop wouldn't accept it, i can't remember how much was missing.. a lot. more than 1/6th.. more like a thrid, i took him to the bank and they pulled out this little thing and put the note on top of it, and figured out exactly how much of the note was still there, and he had the % of the note that was still there refunded to him.. so assuming it was 1/3rd he had $16 or so returned.. from memory he had about 17 bucks returned.. so i would say it is always legal tender... but still the question stands, what % of a note can be missing before shops have to accept it. cos our kooks koalas and lunars are legal tender, but just because they are doesn't mean that a shop has to accept them, they can, but it's at their discretion...
Damaged notes can be accepted safely only where there is less than 20 per cent of the note missing: http://banknotes.rba.gov.au/damagedbanknotes.html The RBA has an assessment grid for each note denomination, see: http://banknotes.rba.gov.au/assets/pdf/grids-polymer.pdf [PDF] The claim policy is: * If less than 20 per cent of the banknote is missing: Full face value is paid. * If between 20 and 80 per cent of the banknote is missing: Value is paid in proportion with the percentage remaining, e.g. $5 value for half of a $10 banknote. * If more than 80 per cent of the banknote is missing: No value is paid.
I was always told (chinese whispers) that it was legal tender to the full value of the note as long as the serial no. Was intact. Is that wrong?
Yes (that's wrong), the serial number isn't important. The link SilverPete posted from the RBA's website has all the details of what is and isn't acceptable.
