The Detective’s DeskMira Shaw
Hire clerk
What happened from your point of view?
I refunded booking H18 yesterday.
What should I check to test that account?
A reprint changes the header date but not the original transaction number.
MEDIUM · CASE FILE
The Refund That Happened Tomorrow
Medium · A bicycle hire kiosk
A customer presents a real receipt for a cancelled booking. Question the staff and determine whether the same payment has already been returned.
Read the case file below, or open the interactive desk to examine records, keep notes and submit your reasoning. These are the case materials, without the solution.
The scene
The receipt is genuine. Hire and refund entries share booking numbers, while the printer shows the date of reprinting.
People and accounts
Asha Cole
Queue marshal
What happened from your point of view?
I saw Tariq collect a receipt today.
What should I check to test that account?
I did not see him make a new payment.
Tariq Vale
Customer
What happened from your point of view?
This receipt proves I am still owed a refund.
What should I check to test that account?
The date at the top is today.
Jo Moss
Cashier
What happened from your point of view?
I handed Tariq the refund against voucher R9.
What should I check to test that account?
He signed its received box.
Case records
Read each record on its own terms. A claim made by a person is different from a fact established by an independent record.
Case record · Cash desk
Refund ledger
R9 is posted once against H18; the cash reconciliation confirms that payment left the till.
Case record · Hire desk
Printer help card
A reprint header records printing time, not a new booking or an unpaid balance.
Case record · Hire desk
Customer’s new declaration
Today Tariq signs “no refund received for H18” after asking for the reprint.
Case record · Cash desk
Refund voucher R9
Yesterday Tariq signs receipt of the complete H18 refund. Its original payment reference matches the presented receipt.
Case record · Hire desk
Hire receipt
Today’s header says “reprint”. The transaction remains H18, paid two days earlier.
Case record · Queue entrance
Marshal’s observation
Asha records only collection of a printout. She makes no claim to have seen payment or nonpayment.
Questions to resolve
Who submitted a second claim despite the recorded payout?
What does today’s header date identify?
What is the supported balance on H18?
Use the interactive case desk to select your finding and cite the records that support it. The answer is checked there, and your progress stays in your browser.
Build your finding
Compare the records with each account. Work out what the evidence establishes, then separate that finding from anything it does not prove.