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 26th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Thanks guys for your pieces of information shared here. All that really gave me lessons to keep. It was an eye opener as well. Thanks…
March 26th, 2008 at 9:55 am
I don’t use ATM machine anymore I had bad experiece, One day I withdraw $300.00 dollars I only receive $260.00 short change me of $40.00 dollar. I went to the bank and complaint about it but it takes 6 mos before I finally heard from the bank and even though I have proof I only receive $260.00 dollar’s and the bank told me that is because the machine run out of money I still didn’t get me money back. Thats BANK OF AMERICA FOR YOU! I didn’t get my money back but I claim it loss income in my income taxes reture when I file it. I don’t use ATM MACHINE anymore!
March 26th, 2008 at 9:52 am
hmmm…even if you don’t have the receipt they can trace your transaction by providing details of it, if they want to trace it.
many ATMs here are old and limited in functionality. Some are new ones with spanking idle screens and sounds.
btw, did you notice Expressnet and Megalink lowered their max transaction amount to P5k from P10k. extra cahrge there of you’re using an ATM not owned by your bank
March 26th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Noted po
and thanks for the lesson. Guys ha, don’t be like me. ALWAYS get a receipt. You’re right, sometimes I don’t get the receipt thinking that I am saving the environment :-). Now I know better.
March 26th, 2008 at 9:19 am
Banks don’t do QA on their ATMs. During cash retrieval, the bank cashier will have an idea if her machine needs servicing because of the internal receipt that the ATM produces. The internal of an ATM is composed of rubbers, tubes and other degradable materials which eventually breaks after it reaches it lifespan.
The lesson here I think is to always ask for a receipt when transacting to an ATM even if its only balance inquiry. A good practice is to always do balance inquiry first, with receipt of course, and then withdraw. Just don’t forget the receipt..,receipt,, receipt..
Salve,, lesson learn i hope. Cheers!