Sorry about the length...Husband and I called at local supermarket on the way home from work (large national chain), at around 5:30pm; very busy time. I had bought some sherry for cooking and one or two other items, and we went through the self checkout bit. When you're ready to pay, it asks for the assistant to confirm your age; the lady who was looking after the self-service bit was obviously really busy, but she came over and signed in with her card, and approved the purchase. I stepped forward and presented my contactless card, but at that very moment, she darted in and took the bottle off the 'tray' bit to remove the security collar, before replacing it on the tray so we could pack our things, including this bottle. This must have confused the machine, because it began to say repeatedly "has something been removed from your bag? Please replace the item". I just ignored this, because the item had been replaced, the payment had gone through, and the till had generated a receipt; we left the shop. A few moments later, just as we got outside, we heard a commotion behind us; the cashier was running after us shouting "Your payment hasn't gone through, you haven't paid". As I said, very busy time, everyone turns round to look at us (and I should say that this is a small town, where everyone knows everyone else...). I was surprised, and said that the payment had gone through, and we had the receipt to prove it - I dug it out of the bag and showed her, but she insisted that we had to return to the shop "because that's not what the till says". We were marched back to the till we had used, with everybody staring at us - lots of people queueing and also waiting for the cashier on the self-service tills; she said very loudly "Sorry, everyone, I'm back now, just need to sort this out, so sorry..." She then scanned her staff card to sign in to the till, and it immediately resolved the issue and it was apparent that we were right and had actually paid. By this time, another assistant had arrived and they looked at each other, said "Oh it must have got stuck", shrugged and went on with what they were doing. We were free to leave, but no apology, and everyone still looking daggers at us.
I felt absolutely humiliated and angry; should I complain? What I would like the shop to consider: 1.) If you need to challenge someone about something like this, could you say "Excuse me, I think you've forgotten something" rather than yelling that the customer hasn't paid? 2.) Since we had a valid receipt (which the cashier didn't dispute), could we have been asked to wait at the customer services desk by the entrance while she nipped back to check the till, so we weren't being paraded in front of everyone? 3.) Am I being unreasonable to think that an apology would have been nice?
I spend a lot of time and money in this store, and have done for many years; I'm sure the cashier was just rushed and a bit thoughtless, but I don't feel I want to go back.