Cash machine didn't give out £50 but bank says it did

boots_babe

Hi,

A friend of mine recently withdrew £50 at a cash machine, but although it whirred away for a bit, no money came out. The branch was closed so he couldn't go in and ask about it.

When he contacted his bank to sort it out, they won't believe him - he is a student and maybe they just don't trust him. According to their records £50 was withdrawn and they don't believe that the machine didn't dispense it.

Surely their accounts would have mismatched that day by £50, is there anything he can do to get his money reimbursed?

Thanks.

Ems!

the exact same thing happened to me and when i called the internet banking line straight away,, they said that they couldn't tell on the system yet what had happened but it would rectify itself within 3 working days - ie show a credit coming back into my account. It seemed a fairly automated process - the woman I spoke to didn't seem surprised - as if it happens a lot. This was with Halifax ( though it wasn't a halifax machine I drew the money out of - don't know if this makes a difference). I would just suggest he persevered - if he has just been into the branch at the moment then ring customer services - I then got put through to a special department - mayvbe similar to fraud department? Sorry can't be much more use but just to say I think its not uncommon and I think they will sort it if he puts pressure on.

jonesMUFCforever

Fill in a claim form at your bank.
If the withdrawal was made at a different bank it may take 2 to 3 weeks to collate the information and find out if the ATM was wrong when next balanced.
If it took place at your own bank I would have though it would take 1 week max for the machine to be balanced.

oldwiring

ejones999 wrote:

Fill in a claim form at your bank.
If the withdrawal was made at a different bank it may take 2 to 3 weeks to collate the information and find out if the ATM was wrong when next balanced.
If it took place at your own bank I would have though it would take 1 week max for the machine to be balanced.

How often are the machines, and for that matter tills, balanced these days? In my long afgo time it was daily.

boots_babe

Thanks for all the replies. Just spoken to him and unfortunately the ATM has already been balanced, and the bank says that it DOES balance which is why they don't believe him.

It would seem that he doesn't have a leg to stand on - is there anythign else he can do? If he has really been the victim of some kind of scam - like the one suggested by Al Mac - then how on earth could he go about finding out and proving it? I can't see how he can get anywhere seeing as the ATM supposedly balances

MPH80

About the only thing I could suggest, given it did balance, then he could see if there was a CCTV camera looking at the ATM and try to request the footage from the time of the withdrawl to prove no money was ejected.

M.

Moonbeam

If the ATM balances there's nothing he can do - could be that it was a scam....The bank have to go by what the ATM figures show otherwise they would be giving out money every five minutes..... annoying I know....

I'd suggest that he ask to fill in a claim form anyway - just to make sure the bank have looked into it - who told him the ATM balances?

jonesMUFCforever

If the ATM has balanced I don't see any way forward.
Was there anybody nearby who may have taken the money?? If so report it to police. You may choose to do it anyway as this may sway bank to rethink.

CFC

Been through this with my OH. He took out twenty pounds I think it was, anyway the machine only delivered half. ATM balanced, so say. I rang up and pointed out that I knew of people who had had more cash than requested delivered by ATM, so I wasn't going to accept that the machines were infallible. Told them I would be moving my account if it was not dealt with satisfactorily and were they accusing my OH of fraud?

Got my money back. I suggest that your mate writes a letter of complaint (I assume he's already filled out the form, if not he needs to do that too.) On the whole, I think that the bank will pay up if they think he's a customer worth keeping and has never raised a query before. It's just that the frontline staff, if the ATM balances (I bet it NEVER not balances!!!) will tell you, tough luck matie.

boots_babe

I will get him to check the cameras as suggested. The idea of reporting to police seems a good one as well. Sounds like it might just be a case of being persistent in the hope that they take him seriously. £50 is a fair bit to anyone, but especially for a student so hope he manages to get it sorted out.

Thanks for all the help.