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 27th, 2008 at 1:53 am
@ Alex
LBP ATM na kung pwede ay maglagay naman sila ng ATM booth sa loob ng mga SM mall o Robinson mall
*******
I remember there’s LBP ATM at Robinson’s Galleria and even in some SM malls although kaunti talaga unlike other banks, they have ATM for every mall.
March 27th, 2008 at 1:47 am
I also don’t get receipt from my atm so this is a lesson learned. But for online banking, I always print transaction advice for reference and to save paper, I print PDF.
March 26th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
FYI… ATMs does not always spit out receipts and banks will never guarantee it will issue one 100% of the time. BTW, did you know that some ATM would even prompt you if you require a receipt.
In fact, even if you don’t have a receipt, the bank/s (if you’re withdrawing from another banks ATM) will have a record of transaction made from their machine. In other words, its not the end of the world if you don’t get to keep your receipt, having one will just speed the closure of your issue. When you don’t have a receipt then you simply call up or write to your bank (it’s likely the bank will require an affidavit from you) with all the details and they will look into it but they will likely commit to get bak to you in no less than 5 working days.
With regards to reporting the incident after the fact (after a couple of days), you have to accept the fact that this will make resolution of your complaint a bit difficult to go the way you.
So my advise is:
1. Before leaving the ATM, ensure that your transaction is in proper order.
2. Get and keep receipts for deposits, payments and withdrawal until after verifying the ATM transction has been well executed
3. If you encounter ATM issues (especially if it relates to cash transaction), report it to bank/s immediately and make sure you keep you receipt as it contains info like ATM ID and transaction no. If the ATM did not spit out a receipt, take note of the ATM location, exact time and your transaction details.
Hope this helps.
March 26th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
sometimes it also pays to go to a DECENT bank. in my experience BDO isn’t exactly one to provide good service. first of all, their machines should have been checked to make sure they don’t dispense money in bits and pieces. After one disappointment after another, bank after bank, i finally got some peace of mind with BPI. no, i’m not promoting the bank, they do have their moments (rude tellers, etc) as in any other bank. but BPIs ATMs are reliable and with the 8 years that i have banked with them, i haven’t been debited or have gotten my money in halves. their ATM machines are usually new and well-maintained.
March 26th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
What if there were no transaction receipts issued (it happens a lot with my bank’s ATM)?
They do keep electronic logs of each transaction, which is how they generate our bank statements.
Wait, why don’t you just request a bank statement and it will show the date and time of each withdrawal.