It was an ordinary Saturday for me last March 22, except for the mangled P500 bill I took out of the BDO automated teller machine. Nope, it definitely doesn’t look like something the girl at SM would take from a customer. After a dismayed sigh, I shrugged it off. A few moments after, I was already contemplating my wet market list and forgot about it.
This morning, I saw the mangled bill again. I must admit I was tempted to forget about it but I could smell a MoneySmart moment, so off I went to the BDO branch near the ATM machine to ask if they can replace the bill.
“I have a sort of weird request,” I told the lady in blue behind a desk. “This is one of the bills I got out of the ATM machine near this branch…” I let my voice trail into a sweet silence.
She wasn’t really surprised, come to think of it. “Wait here, let me ask them if they got the other half,” she said.
After a few minutes, she came back and told me they didn’t find the other half. She wants me to show her the ATM receipt. ATM receipt? It was probably lying down in my sorry excuse for a filing system, or rolled up with all the plastic bags that I came home with after my market day.
“You can also ask your bank to give you a report that will prove that you withdrew from our ATM machine on that day,” she said.
Errr.. sounds pretty complicated. I told the lady with a smile that perhaps I would come back. As I type this blog post however, I’m thinking what if that was my last money and I needed to buy medicine for an ailing baby? What if my son’s graduation depended on that money? Even if I had the receipt today, the faulty ATM would have already caused me grief over the weekend. Shouldn’t the bank be held accountable for that? The lady, in fact, added that they had a similar incident the previous week, showing that their machine was indeed faulty.
Glad that it didn’t caused me much grief, though. Perhaps I should frame it to remind me that money is just money. Attitude towards it is the one that causes either grief or happiness.
March 31st, 2008 at 6:35 pm
@ logan
duhhh???
March 29th, 2008 at 7:31 am
@ alex.., pls read the article carefully and you’ll find out that it’s not from a BDO account that she withdraw her money.
Yes all transactions are listed, but what the bank is trying to avoid here is for them not to be flooded with bogus ATM complaints. You see, if they don’t ask for a proof of your transaction with their ATM, anyone can barge in to their branch and file a complaint and there’s no way of knowing if their claims are valid or not…
For your information, ATMs cannot just be opened anytime you want to.. These machines were being closely monitored by their HO. What I’m trying to say is that THERE ARE PROCEDURES TO BE FOLLOWED… we are talking about money…
@ C_A.
ATMs that doesn’t dispense receipt is a different story..
ATM problems cannot be avoided..it will happen to anyone..The point is we,, have to do our part in securing and taking care of our hard earned money..even most of us says ” Tao lang ” what more an ATM ” makina lang “…IMHO
March 28th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
I had an experience with an ATM machine of BPI that did not dispense the cash I was supposed to withdraw. I didnt noticed it until I was able to withdraw in another machine and saw the discrepancy in the balance. I really went back to the branch and took my receipt from the trash can.
Its a good thing that the customer service was really ok. They asked me to file a report and to follow up within 2 banking days. The phone hotline was also able to give a quick update in the reversal. The money was credited back to my account on the second day.
March 27th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
15
mikoy Says:
March 26th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
hello salve,
if you do online banking, you can still check the details of the transaction (atm withdrawals, deposit etc) in your account’s transaction history.
i also don’t get the receipt…
…………………..
Yes, Makoy: There is lots of people banking online, But I don’t trust computer just one mistake can cost your life time saving. For instance a long time ago some computer hacker, Hack the bank computer and stole lots of money when they time the customer find out about it most of their money gone already.
I don’t have ATM, CARD. Anymore its give me sakit ng ulo. I don’t have credit card wala ako sakit ng ulo sa ka bayad ng bills. No problem ika nga.
March 27th, 2008 at 10:35 am
I don’t agree with some opinions below that the bank employee handled the situation in an adequate manner.
It is not said directly but I presume the writer drew money from her BDO bank account.
All transactions are listed. The employee of the bank could easily call the customer branch or if she doesn’t have enough permissions she could elevate the matter to the manager, since it is clearly unacceptable a BDO customer performs ATM withdrawal from her BDO bank account, the sum is deduced but she doesn’t get the amount.
If the customer is in a good standing (it appears to be the case) it is even more unlikely she is inventing a story just to replace a damaged bill.
She doesn’t need a receipt since the operation can be easily tracked down and withdrawal clearly appears on the account statement accessible from any branch and even ATM details can be retrieved through elevating the matter if they are not seen directly by any employee.
When customers are not any more important to the bank the question is what is the sense to trust the bank your hardly earned savings.