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.
August 29th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
The BDO atm at SM Lucena asked my partner by screen message to take the money, nothing was dispensed and printed the ticket. she was en- route and could not stop the jackliner transport to file a complaint out of hours.
Later BDO claimed the transaction was completed successfully. Net result BDO up 20000 peso Me down 20000.
BDO twenty thousand shames on you.
August 26th, 2008 at 9:23 am
I have same complaint which i thought just happened to me.. One time, I tried to withdraw from an ATM machine in MOA. The screen says to get the money and receipt but to my surprise, I had the receipt but the machine did not dispense the money. I was with my cousins as I told them that I will treat them. It’s good that they have money that time but I was really disappointed with what happened. I filed a complaint,had the receipt with me just in case they will ask for it, looked for a security guard and they referred me to Customer assistance. They tried to fix the problem but.. since no one was answering, they just gave me the BPI Hotline number. Kept on following up for days, but had difficulty to speak with staff as the line was always busy. They should think of ways that transaction like this should not happen again. We’re talking about money here which we know is hard to earn. Put yourself in my shoes for you to know how it feels. Will keep on following up to the bank and I still hope it will be credited back to my account. Cheers and God bless!
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.