ATM did not dispense cash - Transferwise borderless account debited

OceanSound

Any experience using transferwise borderless while abroad where the ATM did not dispense cash?

Yesterday I used an ATM in Vietnam to try and withdraw 5,700,000 VND (about 194 GBP). The ATM displayed an error quickly, then returned card. I didn't even get a chance to read the error message. 

I attempted the transaction again, this time selected 5,000,000 VND. Again, the same error message, and card returned. I then tried Halifax clarity card and selected 5,000,000 VND for amount. The cash was dispensed immediately.

Returned home, and on my smartphone notifications noticed that there were two transferwise transactions. Opened the app, and lo and behold there were two transactions showing for 5,700,000 VND and 5,096,477 VND. 

Phoned transferwise support and reported it. Agent got back to me via email and has said if the two transactions remain as 'pending' without the action of the merchant by 9 May 2020, the funds will revert back to my account. However, I have a feeling that the merchant (bank in this case) will action it. I say this because the same thing happened, with the same ATM about 8 months ago, with my clarity card. Halifax support told me to wait 24 hours or so to see if the 'pending' state disappears. It didn't. Halifax had to dispute it. Since Halifax is a credit card they refunded the money to my account while it was disputed. The foreign bank then has 45 days to dispute it. If they dispute and it's found the money was issued it would be charged back to my account. It was never charged back.

In Transferwise's case, I've seen on their website that when a dispute is raised, it can take from 2 - 6 months. This of course means, I have no access to the money in the interim.

Transferwise in their email did mention that if I can get proof of decline alongwith confirmation that funds/transaction will not be captured or has been declined/rejected from their side (in this case merchant/bank), then transferwise can cancel the transactions before 09 May 2020.

Has anyone gone down the 'proof of decline' road? From what transferwise has said proof of decline is only available until 09 May 2020. I assume that if I don't go for the 'proof of decline' and the Vietnamese ATM bank action the transactions then I would need to raise a dispute? which can take 2-6 months?

Any experiences with cash not dispensed (Especially to do with transferwise)?

By the way, the ATM in question is the one mentioned in this post (the one which is 'widely available'):

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/74700200/#Comment_74700200

OceanSound

Good news. Funds for the two transactions became available again yesterday (7th day after mishap). On App it now says 'declined' for each of those transactions. 

I visited the ATM owning bank on Thursday (07 May) and spoke to staff about obtaining confirmation that funds will not be captured. She took photos of transactions displaying on Transferwise app with date/time of transaction, amount etc. She then sent photos via email to colleague. She took my email address and said colleague will be in touch next day (Friday). I never received any email from her colleague. 

Don't know if the colleague did anything. Doubt it. If it happens to you, it's something you can pursue, if you think it's worth it.

By the way, I emailed Transferswise earlier this week to ask about the 2-6 month time frame to resolve, if transactions were actioned. Received prompt reply saying it's actually 45 days. Anyway, no need to go down that route as the two transactions have dropped from 'pending' to 'declined' and balance of account back to square one.