Santander cash withdrawals

Hoglets

My elderly mum went to a Santander 6th Dec to withdraw £100 for her bills from a cash machine inside the bank.  She left the bank and went to another shop and quickly realised she had left her bank card inside the machine. She went straight back and spoke to a member of staff in the bank to ask for her card and after checking her bank account they realised an additional £200 had also been withdrawn. My mum showed the bank what money she had in her purse and the bag she was carrying.  They checked CCTV and they could see that another women had used the same machine just 6 mins after my mum left (the bank doesn’t know how there was two cards in the machine at the same time and have said they have raised the issue of the faulty machines before) and can be seen on the CCTV withdrawing the money.  This lady had also asked a member of staff inside the bank for assistance so knew she had taken the money out. The bank called Head Office, and they said they would treat the case as fraud and would be in contact with my mum.  My mum went back to Santander today to speak to them about the £200 that has been taken from her account as she only has her pension money to live off, the Santander staff member phoned Head Office and came off the call and informed my mum they have said they aren’t treating it as fraud and won’t be reimbursing her the money.  The bank has two witnesses, but they have declined this evidence.  Is there anything else she can do or speak to anyone for advice?  I would help but I live across the water from my mum and not close by.

Veteransaver

Normally the cashpoint gives you the card back before it gives you the money, doesn't it?
So did your mum walk off without either the cash or the money? In which case someone else would have needed to come along very soon after and take her card and money. If no one went near the cash machine for 6 minutes then it should have retained the card and not dispensed the money.
Is the withdrawal showing on her account?  If the money wasn't dispensed then the withdrawal should be added back when the machine performs it's reconciliation, maybe overnight?

35har1old

Veteransaver said:

Normally the cashpoint gives you the card back before it gives you the money, doesn't it?
So did your mum walk off without either the cash or the money? In which case someone else would have needed to come along very soon after and take her card and money. If no one went near the cash machine for 6 minutes then it should have retained the card and not dispensed the money.
Is the withdrawal showing on her account?  If the money wasn't dispensed then the withdrawal should be added back when the machine performs it's reconciliation, maybe overnight?

No it doesn't in branch
It will ask do you want another service  and if you answer no it will ask you select return  card
As OP received  what she asked for she then left the bank without answering these questions 
It was shortly after she realised that she had left the card in the machine 
I find it strange that the bank could not understand the machine having 2 cards in machine there are designed to retain cards if you enter the pin wrongly several times and if you fail to answer the questions after a set time period the same thing should occur preventing a third party obtaining your card

xylophone

Did the staff find the OP's mother's card retained in the machine?

Or the staff members are saying that the card was taken by the other woman?

Rob5342

They should be able to cross reference the CCTV against the transactions and machine logs and see exactly what happened.

If the branch won't refund her then all I can think of is to make an official complaint in writing and escalate it to the FOS if she doesn't get the resolution she wants.

Hoglets

Veteransaver said:

Normally the cashpoint gives you the card back before it gives you the money, doesn't it?
So did your mum walk off without either the cash or the money? In which case someone else would have needed to come along very soon after and take her card and money. If no one went near the cash machine for 6 minutes then it should have retained the card and not dispensed the money.
Is the withdrawal showing on her account?  If the money wasn't dispensed then the withdrawal should be added back when the machine performs it's reconciliation, maybe overnight?

Yes, I think it gives card back first but the branch thought there was a fault with the machine.  My mum got her money and walked away without taking her card but a lady came behind her and withdrew £200 pounds, what I'm not sure about is how the bank had my mums card when she returned to the branch as she realised she left it behind. She thinks the man in the branch said that my mums card and the lady's card came out of the machine at the same time, which is very unusual. There are two withdrawals showing on her account one for £100 which she took and the other for £200 which the lady that came after her managed to take. They said they are doing an investigation.

Hoglets

xylophone said:

Did the staff find the OP's mother's card retained in the machine?

Or the staff members are saying that the card was taken by the other woman?

When my mum returned to the bank after realising she left her card behind the man in the bank notified her that the woman that withdrew money after my mum said that her own card and my mums card came out of the machine at the same time and she returned my mum's card to the bank. 

retiredbanker1

IMO no ATM will leave a card in its mechanism for 6 minutes. At the very least the machine would have timed out and this other lady would not have been able to use your mum's card with out a PIN.

I have seen it before that some people write the PIN on the signature strip - did she do this at all?
If so I suspect that she will be liable for the second transaction.

A lot of caveats here but I don't think we have the full story.