Fifteen days ago, I tried to withdraw Rs10,000 from an ATM near my place of work, but the machine did not dispense cash. However, I got a message on my mobile phone saying that I have withdrawn Rs10,000 from the ATM. Subsequently, I noticed that the amount had been debited to my account also. I have been complaining to my bank, but the bank is claiming that the transaction was successful and that I have taken the money! How do I go about proving my case?
I would suggest that you complain to the nodal officer of the bank; you can get the e-mail address from the bank itself or from its website. Explain the problem and demand to see the CCTV footage of the ATM on that day and at the time you visited it. It should clearly show you returning without getting your money and that would be good evidence. You can also ask for the transaction recorded in the ‘Electronic Journal Log’ and the ‘Switch Centre Report’. These will again show you whether the cash was really dispensed by the ATM or not and if it has, at what time. In other words, crucial evidence from these sources should nail the bank’s lie. If the nodal officer fails to respond positively to your complaint, you can approach the banking ombudsman for relief.
I must also mention here that according to RBI mandate, banks are supposed to resolve complaints about wrong debits caused by failed ATM transactions and re-credit the amount wrongly debited within seven working days of receiving the complaint. If a bank fails to do so, it will have to pay the consumer compensation at the rate of Rs 100 per day for every day’s delay. And this amount has to be credited to the customer’s account without the customer demanding it.
Can you quote a case similar to mine handled by the ombudsman?
Well, one such complaint handled by the banking ombudsman (and reported in the annual report of the Banking Ombudsman Scheme 2014-2015) gives an insight into how investigations should be conducted in cases such as these.
Here, the complaint was similar to yours. The consumer had tried to withdraw Rs 10,000 from the ATM of a bank. Though he never got the money, his account showed a debit of Rs 10,000. However, the bank argued, like in your case, that the transaction was successful and the machine had released the cash and the consumer had taken it. Eventually, the consumer lodged a complaint with the banking ombudsman.
Documents submitted by both the issuing and the acquiring bank to the ombudsman did show that the disputed ‘transaction was successful’. However, the ombudsman found that the time of the disputed transaction recorded in the ‘Electronic Journal Log’ and the ‘Switch Centre Report’ were different. And even more interesting was the fact that the time of the disputed transaction mentioned in the CCTV footage of the ATM also varied with the EJ log and the SC report.
The CCTV footage also provided another important piece of evidence: At the time of dispensation of cash, there was no one in the ATM room and no one was seen collecting the money from the ATM at that moment.
On probing further, the ombudsman was told by the acquirer bank that the ATM had dispensed the cash one minute, 28 seconds after access. In other words, there was a delay in the ATM releasing the cash. The complainant, believing that the ATM had failed to deliver, had left and the cash was probably collected by someone else.
The ombudsman concluded from these pieces of evidence that there was clearly a delay in dispensation of cash from the machine, which might be due to a technical fault. According to the regulatory guidelines as well as the code of practice drawn up by the Banking Codes and Standards Board of India and adopted by the banks, the customer was not liable for any loss caused by faults in machines, cards or systems used, the ombudsman pointed out. So, the bank should refund the disputed amount to the customer, the ombudsman said.
I would suggest that you visit RBI website and check the annual report of the banking ombudsman to see more such cases decided by the ombudsman.
