Ripped of by Bank Machine

[jydk]

I went inside a Shell Gas station and used the bank machine. I requested for $60 dollars, and was given two Twenty dollar bills and one five dollar bill, and the receipt showed $61.50 ($1.50 for fee).

So as you can see I am short $15

The bank machine is owned by Scotia Bank, so I called and spoke with a CS representative from Scotia; he told me that the machine should, by tomorrow, automatically credit my account for the shortage, as it will recognize the bill discrepancy.

Once in the past, I withdrew money from an ATM right inside a CIBC, the machine shorted me a twenty, when I went to the teller, my account was already credited. That I can understand, as I’m sure it must count the number of bills it dispenses, but the machine inside the Shell only dispenses in multiple of twenties, so I would assume that there would be no currency smaller then twenties. So I’m thinking the five was in the machine representing as a twenty. So I am sure the machine will think I got the right amount, and I will not get a credit.

I am posting this to see if anyone knows about ATM’s, and if there is something that reads the bills as they are dispensed, and would recognize the error.

If I don’t see any credit, is it worth my while to doing anything about it?

The way I see it is I lost $15, a small amount of money that’s not going to effect me, and if I try and get it back, I will probably be unsuccessful, as I can’t exactly prove it, and now be out bunch of my time.

Has anyone else had any problems with ATM’s?

[burn_this_city]

I doubt it would be that sophisticated... Especially the cheapo ATM's they put in Shell stations. It probably only counted the number of bills, not their value. Purely my speculation though. I did have Scotia machine run out of bills but my account never got dinged for the value it couldnt dispense.

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Scotiabank sucks. I'd rather eat at Asian restaurants then deal with them.

[HotHotHeat]

Do you bank with Scotia?

[Prototype]

Most ABMs do not have that function. If a $5 was put in, it would despense it as if it was a $20. If the bank that runs that machine has good customer service, they'd trade you a $20 for the $5.

But, you may be out $15 for their negligence. I've seen it happen both ways.

[flamesfever]

I once punched in $200.00 in a cash machine and ended up with $280.00 as a 100 dollar bill had been erroneously substituted for a 20. I returned it to the bank and received a special letter of commendation.

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by flamesfever

I once punched in $200.00 in a cash machine and ended up with $280.00 as a 100 dollar bill had been erroneously substituted for a 20. I returned it to the bank and received a special letter of commendation.

How much was the letter of commendation worth?

[schnee]

[my 2 cents]
If an ATM shorts you, I was always told you need to call your bank. (even if its a grey no-name ATM). If your bank is the same as the ATM, things are a bit easier.

Depending on your relation with the bank, you may be spotted the funds over the phone, or in a day, or a week, ... just depends.

Your bank will follow up with the ATM and other bank if applicable to investigate and recover the funds.

This may have changed, but I was also told only your bank can return funds missing from an ATM withdrawl back to your account.
[/my 2 cents]

[4X4]

Originally Posted by flamesfever

I once punched in $200.00 in a cash machine and ended up with $280.00 as a 100 dollar bill had been erroneously substituted for a 20. I returned it to the bank and received a special letter of commendation.

I once made a $1750 deposit at the teller at the bank and when it was all done, she gave me a receipt. I noticed that she accidentally put the deposit amount as $1780, so I pointed it out. I was rewarded by having to wait for ~10 minutes while she fumbled around trying to fix it before finally getting her manager to do it.
Next time I'm keeping the money.

[flamesfever]

Originally Posted by Daradon

How much was the letter of commendation worth?

a lot of good sleep.

[flip]

Originally Posted by schnee

[my 2 cents]
If an ATM shorts you, I was always told you need to call your bank. (even if its a grey no-name ATM). If your bank is the same as the ATM, things are a bit easier.

Depending on your relation with the bank, you may be spotted the funds over the phone, or in a day, or a week, ... just depends.

Your bank will follow up with the ATM and other bank if applicable to investigate and recover the funds.

This may have changed, but I was also told only your bank can return funds missing from an ATM withdrawl back to your account.
[/my 2 cents]

If it is the no name kind, I believe this is incorrect. If say a machine at the dome, or at the French Maid, screws you, it is the no name company who you need to go after, and they will likely tell you to piss off.

My father is a banker and often warns me not to withdraw large amounts from those machines.

[mac_gurl]

A couple christmas' ago, I withdrew $800 cash for my mortgage from RBC, drove directly to ATB and deposited to their ATM. I got my slip showing I deposited the money. A few days later I had a debit memo on my account, saying they took out the $800 from my account. I called and asked for and explanation, and it took forever to get one. Finally they said the envelope was empty. I was livid. Especially at xmas where money is tight. We went directly down to the bank, showed them both my slips, and made them put the money in my bank to cover us. After for calling for months to get it all straightened out, I finally gave up. I never heard about what happened, but will NEVER use an ATM for big amounts of cash again.

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by flamesfever

a lot of good sleep.

Fair enough, perhaps I am just super bitter with banks.

I've chased down people that have left money in an ATM or returned it up front, knowing people would be looking for it. I'm extremely generous and helpful for people who are in need or in trouble.

But if it was truly a bank only error, I don't think I'd have any trouble chalking it up to good karma on my part and taking the extra 80 bucks.

[T@T]

Originally Posted by flip

If it is the no name kind, I believe this is incorrect. If say a machine at the dome, or at the French Maid, screws you, it is the no name company who you need to go after, and they will likely tell you to piss off.

My father is a banker and often warns me not to withdraw large amounts from those machines.

I own a small ATM company and believe me the machine cannot "screw" you, Simply,white label machines are triple checked to insure the proper amount of notes are dispensed. Now If I get 10,000 from the bank to cash load and don't check the bills properly (which i always do) and someone says they got a 5 instead of a twenty I would pay it immediately rather than risk losing my licence with the server switch. If you ever have a "real" problem with a machine the service number is (should) be on the bottom of the receipt. But be advised that their is zero chance of a machine giving the improper amount of notes and still operating.After almost a million transactions I have yet to see it happen on my machines. If the machine happens to run out of money you only get charged for that money you received.

Here's a beauty for ya!
I got a call from a guy in a bar where I have a machine one time, He was all upset that my machine ripped him off for $200.00 and he couldn't pay his bar tab because of it, since the pub was close to my house I decided to go and settle this in person, I get there and ask him did he get a receipt? he says yes and shows me a receipt for $200.00 but swears he didn't get the money, so I ask him for his bank card (I point out the last 4 digits are shown on receipt) He says..the machine didn't give it back to me! I said really? he says yes..and I want my money now!
I said Buddy..before you get charged with fraud do you want to change your story? He looks at me right stupid like and then I tell him the ATM has a "swipe" card reader please explain how it kept your card.

Moral of the story is goofs like this try to give white label ATM's a bad name. I bet he told 20 people in the bar that the ATM ripped him off before I got there.

[AvsJerk]

This is probably a little off topic, but as it applies to gas stations and swipe cards I thought I would chime in. Maybe T@T can clarify. Anyhow, a couple of months ago, I purchased about $35 worth of gas and paid via debit card at the pump. I happened to check my account online the next day and it informed me that $75 had been debited from account by the gas station. I was livid (i didn't have the receipt) and contacted my bank right away and they told me this is common procedure...something about gas stations having to insure transactions for this amount or something. Regardless, in the wash I wasn't charged the $75 but the proper amount...what's up with this?

[Gravitykillr]

Originally Posted by jydk

I went inside a Shell Gas station and used the bank machine. I requested for $60 dollars, and was given two Twenty dollar bills and one five dollar bill, and the receipt showed $61.50 ($1.50 for fee).

So as you can see I am short $15

The bank machine is owned by Scotia Bank, so I called and spoke with a CS representative from Scotia; he told me that the machine should, by tomorrow, automatically credit my account for the shortage, as it will recognize the bill discrepancy.

Once in the past, I withdrew money from an ATM right inside a CIBC, the machine shorted me a twenty, when I went to the teller, my account was already credited. That I can understand, as I’m sure it must count the number of bills it dispenses, but the machine inside the Shell only dispenses in multiple of twenties, so I would assume that there would be no currency smaller then twenties. So I’m thinking the five was in the machine representing as a twenty. So I am sure the machine will think I got the right amount, and I will not get a credit.

I am posting this to see if anyone knows about ATM’s, and if there is something that reads the bills as they are dispensed, and would recognize the error.

If I don’t see any credit, is it worth my while to doing anything about it?

The way I see it is I lost $15, a small amount of money that’s not going to effect me, and if I try and get it back, I will probably be unsuccessful, as I can’t exactly prove it, and now be out bunch of my time.

Has anyone else had any problems with ATM’s?

As a bank employee first step is to talk to Scotia and see if they'll give you the $15, if not call/or go into your branch and have them initiate a trace request, don't expect it to happen quickly because Scotia then gets 90 days just to tell your Branch if they are going to look at it. Scotia will Audit the machine to make sure the money was right if their systems check out not missing any money you never use a Scotia ABM machine again, if you get your money back 3 months later you'll wonder what it's for until you get the letter of your trace results, the only real downside of this is that most Banks that I've heard of (including the one I work for and no it's not Scotia) charge a nominal fee to have the trace done.

[Ice]

Originally Posted by AvsJerk

This is probably a little off topic, but as it applies to gas stations and swipe cards I thought I would chime in. Maybe T@T can clarify. Anyhow, a couple of months ago, I purchased about $35 worth of gas and paid via debit card at the pump. I happened to check my account online the next day and it informed me that $75 had been debited from account by the gas station. I was livid (i didn't have the receipt) and contacted my bank right away and they told me this is common procedure...something about gas stations having to insure transactions for this amount or something. Regardless, in the wash I wasn't charged the $75 but the proper amount...what's up with this?

The gas stations put a hold on your account for a specified amount, usually 50, 75 or even 100 dollars. Those funds are on hold pending the electronic transaction hitting your account. The reason for this is because at a pump, you are essentially being approved in advance for a transaction. They are ensuring that there's enough money in your bank account to cover what they predict is a safe bet for what a full tank of gas costs. Once the debit gets to your bank, the hold for the 75 will drop off and you will only be charged what you actually spent.

As for the ATM machines. They certainly triple count the number of bills being dispensed prior to you seeing the cash exit the machine. However, it is possible for a five dollar bill to be in the middle of the 2500 to 4000 bills in the cash cassettes in the machine. There's really no way for your bank to prove or disprove that you got a five dollar bill. It will be a judgement call based on your relationship with them. One of my ATM's was stocked with money straight from the Bank of America cash vault and had LOTS of 50's in it. I had numerous customers coming in and I'm sure several who didn't. But it can happen.

[T@T]

Originally Posted by AvsJerk

This is probably a little off topic, but as it applies to gas stations and swipe cards I thought I would chime in. Maybe T@T can clarify. Anyhow, a couple of months ago, I purchased about $35 worth of gas and paid via debit card at the pump. I happened to check my account online the next day and it informed me that $75 had been debited from account by the gas station. I was livid (i didn't have the receipt) and contacted my bank right away and they told me this is common procedure...something about gas stations having to insure transactions for this amount or something. Regardless, in the wash I wasn't charged the $75 but the proper amount...what's up with this?

As Ice stated they put a hold on an amount but you should have had to press the OK button for up to $75.00.

And Ice, It must be a nightmare in the States making sure the bills are correct going into an ATM..at least up here we have colors!

[Biff]

I stopped using ATM machines when I realized all the money was coming out of MY account!

[nfotiu]

I have to rebut T@T's claims here and go along with flip. About 7-8 years ago, I was dropping off a friend at the Calgary grey hound terminal. I withdrew $400 while I was in there. It made a sound like it was dispensing money, but no bills came out. i got a receipt stating I got my money. No one at the terminal could help. I had to deal with the no-name atm company. Took calling lawyers and police and finally after 4 weeks I got my money back.