Ask Wendy: When ATMs behave badly - what to do when you don't get your money

What do you do if you go to draw money from an ATM, and it spits out a statement showing that the money has come off your account, but nothing else?

You tell your bank, of course. You say “Hey! I didn't get my money..!”

When that happened to Mike Loewe at a Standard Bank ATM inside an East London pharmacy, a pharmacy employee told him the same thing had happened to a previous customer, and the manager confirmed that the machine was problematic.

Loewe immediately went to a nearby branch of Standard Bank to report it. A bank employee said it was up to Loewe’s bank, Capitec, to authorise a Saswitch reversal of the cash amount - R500 - into his account.

So he contacted Capitec, and was given a reference number. Nine days later he was told that Capitec must follow protocol and get Standard Bank to do the refund.

“Capitec has given itself 30 days to investigate my ‘dispute’, he told me.

I took up the case with Capitec, which came back to me with this:

“Standard Bank has confirmed that the withdrawal in the amount of R500 on 21 October 2016 was successful, according to their records.

“We cannot share the detail of this journal as it contains confidential client information.  Further to this, the client’s bank statement also confirms that the withdrawal of the above-mentioned amount was processed successfully.

“Capitec Bank cannot be held responsible for the client’s loss in this instance, as the withdrawal was not made at a Capitec Bank ATM.

“If Mr Loewe is unhappy with the feedback provided he may refer the case to the Ombudsman of Banking Services.”

Take that!

About that time Loewe mentioned that the pharmacy had security footage of his withdrawal attempt, so I asked him to send it to me, which he did.

It proves Loewe’s claim - his distress at the ATM’s failure to spit out the banknotes is clearly visible; a point I made in my e-mail to Standard Bank.

That plus the written statements of those pharmacy employees about the problematic ATM, and a photo of it with an “Out of Order” sign on it, were pretty conclusive.

“Surely justice can be done without having to burden the Banking Ombudsman with the case?” I asked.

Happily, the bank agreed. Loewe’s R500 popped up as a Capitec deposit a few days later, and the bank apologised for the “horrible error”, blaming a “back end system error”.

WHAT TO DO

• Try to use your own bank’s ATM, rather than that of another bank. You’ll not only save on fees but aggravation if the machine doesn't dispense your money.
• Not all ATMs are covered by security cameras. If you have a choice, choose one that is.
• If an ATM doesn’t dispense cash, despite your statement showing a successful withdrawal, call the bank’s contact number which appears on the ATM. The sooner you report it, the better.
• In the event of a dispute, escalate your case within the bank, and insist that the security footage be viewed.