When Your Cash Was Stuck In An ATM

Posted on Jun 27 2014 - 6:32am by tweenselmom

bpi atm ayala terracesLast week, I had my grocery cash stuck in an ATM I used at Ayala Terraces. It was a BPI ATM beside Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. It wasn’t my first time to experience having my cash “eaten’ by an ATM but I was so furious because I felt I was too aggravated this time.

1. My budget was ruined. If you are a home maker cum budget keeper like me, you will know how budgeting has been so under rated.

2. I had to spend my precious time reporting the incident. The minute my cash didn’t appear, our instant reaction was to call using my mobile phone. But since I knew that this will take time, I thought going to the nearest BPI branch will be much helpful. But we were so wrong. When we got to the BPI branch, of course, we had to wait in line. It took a good 15 minutes before we were entertained by an officer. She got a form we had to fill up and asked us for the ATM’s TID. What the heck I didn’t know that they got that on ATMs these days! So my husband opted to go back to the machine we used and found nothing there! After all these troubles, the officer told us to just call their phone customer support and report the incident. I asked her if I can use their phone, and she said they don’t have one to spare!

I couldn’t use my phone since my bill was overdue and I don’t want my line severed by making more calls. I need to make a call free or else, I will feel that they already robbed me too much. Fortunately, Ayala Terraces’ lounge staff accommodated us to make our calls. My mood was a bit smoothed out because of that. We got comfortable chairs to make our call and they let us use the phone free for the longest time possible. Man, it took me an hour to be able to actually talk to BPI and Unionbank customer service representatives. I thought, is that the normal level of service these days, to wait for an hour to have your call answered?

3. They got my money for several days without any compensation. And so I thought, what if I didn’t have extra cash or any other money in another bank to get my cash from? What happens to people who are being paid too little, they depend their lives on their salary and the only happy day they got is their salary day? I had been an employee before and I know that feeling of “Yehey, it’s payday!”

What if your money was stuck in an ATM and you don’t have money left, even a single cent to pay for your fare to go back home? What if your money was supposed to be used for emergencies? Apparently, I don’t see any provisions here for “victims” like me. I just had to accept the fact that my money was lost till returned which fortunately for me, came back after 3 days. I’ve searched for similar incidences and saw that there are hundreds of stories out there who withdrew bigger amounts and never got their money back.

So, from my experiences, I took down some interesting reminders if you are withdrawing money from ATMs:

  • Before withdrawing, check if the machine has a TID number (terminal id). That way, it will be easy for you to report when you didn’t get a receipt for your undispensed cash.
  • As much as possible, withdraw from ATM of your bank, to avoid the hassle of reporting to 2 banks in case you didn’t get your money. Plus, you save from withdrawal charges too.
  • If you are withdrawing all your money from your card, don’t withdraw it all at once. Divide it in half or try to withdraw a small amount first before the bigger half, just to try if the machine is working and dispensing.
  • Try to inquire your balance first before withdrawing so you don’t get more than what your card has. Machine troubles start when they need to do more computation from the numbers you want to get from the numbers you have on your account.
  • Report your loss immediately, as in within that hour. Note the exact time and exact location of the ATM plus the TID number. Banks process undispensed cash reports 5-10 working days so if you report asap, that day will already be counted.
  • Don’t depend too much on your money from your ATM card. You always need to have that spare money stashed in your wallet to be able to go home or make calls if you don’t have a cellphone.
  • Take note that there were many incidents that the bank did not return the money because they were not able to see your reported transaction from their database history. So be cautious when letting other persons withdraw from your card, the cases where it will be the person’s words against the banks’.

What about you? Did you have similar or worse experiences? As for me, there should be a petition here asking the banks to pay their ATM victims. After all, we pay transaction charges whenever we withdraw.

Here’s a petition, sign it if you agree that banks should compensate a percentage of the amount that got stuck in the ATM. Feel free to share it and let these banks hear the voices of all the frustrated people who had been their machines’ victims.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

35 Comments so far. Feel free to join this conversation.

  1. Nerisa / Baby Neo's Mama June 27, 2014 at 6:41 am - Reply

    this happened to me too, Lani. it was so frustrating because 1) i tried to withdraw all the money in the atm, 2) its not the atm of my bank, and 3) i have to wait for more than 10days so they would give my money back kasi they will investigate and investigate and investigate pa. kaloka.

  2. tweenselmom June 27, 2014 at 6:44 am - Reply

    Nerisa, yes, correct. I tried to search for some adjustments or anything the banks did but I couldn’t find anything. There should at least some compensation di ba for all the hassle.

  3. Joeydragonlady June 27, 2014 at 6:44 am - Reply

    That happened to me! BDO and Landbank. It took a month before I got my money back. Yep a month. It was the Christmas Holidays when it happened. Its a good thing that was just my work ATM and I still had my other account for expenses. We must do something about this because it is so unfair that we have to wait while they process everything. And duh, they don’t really care about their clients coz they are not more helpful.

    • tweenselmom June 27, 2014 at 6:47 am - Reply

      Yes, i was thinking of maybe there can be some kind of petition to push these banks to pay some money to their victims or some offenses brought by their machines.

  4. Shari Jane Jansen June 27, 2014 at 8:33 am - Reply

    I agree with that. Dapat magkameron ng batas regarding this issue kasi kawawa talaga lalo na yung mababa ang sahod at sa ATM lang talaga yung way para makuha yung “natatanging” panggastos nila for their family. Sana may way yung mga banks na maibigay yung money agad once reported and not to wait for how many days. They should improve their system para madaling madetect din yung incident na ganun (like it’s the machine’s fault).

  5. Camille Aguila June 27, 2014 at 8:39 am - Reply

    Oh gosh. Katakot naman to! Bihira pa naman ako magwithdraw sa bank ko since I’m with UnionBank and their atm machines will eat up more diesel if I will get to the nearest branch. Oh gosh! Now I have to be more careful!!!

    • tweenselmom June 27, 2014 at 9:39 am - Reply

      Camille, yes, with all these scams on PIN robbing, cash magnets, etc, dagdag pa itong mga problematic ATM na ito!

  6. Steve Grayson June 27, 2014 at 8:42 am - Reply

    I give most of the credit to the receptionist of Ayala Terraces Lounge who allowed to use their phone for non-members to report such incident to BPI when the nearest BPI branch should have lend you the phone in the first place.

    • tweenselmom June 27, 2014 at 9:41 am - Reply

      True. I love Ayala Terraces lounge 🙂

  7. Marie San Luis June 27, 2014 at 9:11 am - Reply

    I once got debited paying online using the BDO online portal, good thing they actually credit you back the amount within 24 hours. I also avoid withdrawing from other banks ATM’s to avoid the heartache of getting debited and I also learned the hard way. I agree with you that these banks should provide compensation for the inconvenience they cause.

    • tweenselmom June 27, 2014 at 9:54 am - Reply

      Yes Marie, let’s start a petition na!

  8. Lai Gamboa June 27, 2014 at 10:42 am - Reply

    It happened to me with my Unionbank ATM in PS Bank’s ATM Machine. good thing I still have 20pesos left para makauwi. Worst, napakapaimportante ng mga staff ng PS Bank. Kung di mo pa papakitang galit ka di pa nila aasikasuhin kaya I got my money back after three hours lang.

  9. Didai Derilo-Dosal June 27, 2014 at 2:44 pm - Reply

    The same thing happened to my husband, the machine was just actually outside BDO EDSA ( near tapa king and a gas station )

    We reported the incident agad inside the bank, but of course as what usually happens, we got so frustrated! There was a system reset daw and that it was on the actual time of our transaction and that we need to report, wait for the management to investigate and check on the incident, and wait for at least a week to get the money back.

    My husband was kind of furiuous already since we also had an appointment with omreh’s pedia yet we were stuck there for more than an hour. What’s more was that, a lady employee who overhears us was making faces of disbelief and looking at us in a very condescending manner when my husband said that ” we will be sending a complaint letter via net ”

    Back at home, i told my husband about the lady’s inconsiderate acts, he called That BDO Branch right away and talked to the manager. We were given feedback on the lady employee’s explanation and the management’s disciplinary actions on her.

    We got the cash after 3 days, my husband insisted that he should receive the money in 2-3 days only. Such inconveniences when you are in dire need 🙁

    • tweenselmom June 27, 2014 at 7:40 pm - Reply

      Hi, Didai. I can totally relate with you. Most of us won’t resort to withdrawing when we don’t really need it 🙁

  10. Icah June 28, 2014 at 1:50 am - Reply

    That sucks! What’s wrong with banks these days. Kung di tampered yung ATM faulty naman. I had a problem once with the yellow deposit machine, where of course to save time I opted that for deposit instead of falling in line sa bank. I deposited 10,000 pesos to only to find out to my horror na hindi na credit sa atm ko yung pera. and It was a 4 day weekend. We had to wait 4 days para magstart yung processing and another 3 days for the money to be credited back. Grabe lang talaga sa Pinas.

  11. Lady Lilith July 4, 2014 at 3:52 pm - Reply

    Ouch. I hate wasting time for no reason. I am glad to hear the issue was resolved.

  12. Rea July 6, 2014 at 7:30 pm - Reply

    This happened to me once with Chinabank and it’s my payroll account. Fortunately, I only withdrew a small amount and I have extra money to spare even though I had to travel that time. I wasn’t quite sure how long I got refunded, I guess within the day. For others, it took up to 3 days. The ATM in our office that time was always acting up so I made it a habit to not get a big amount just in case. I totally think that banks should at least give a provisional credit while waiting for the incident to be resolved by their team.

    • tweenselmom July 7, 2014 at 8:12 pm - Reply

      Rea, my hubby always tell me to do that, to withdraw a small amount muna. But I guess usually, you won’t think that way lalo na kung nagmamadali ka. Sino ba ang gustong tumambay ng matagal sa ATM. Yes, with all these hassle, banks should at least give back to their atm users.

  13. Kyong July 7, 2014 at 2:49 pm - Reply

    The same thing happened to me, Lani. It was the day before my son’s birthday, I withdrew from my bank’s ATM which was just outside the bank itself and the money was “eaten” by the machine. I entered the bank and complained about what happened. Sabi ng customer service, bakit daw kasi 10 thousand agad sa isang transaction lang, dapat daw konting amount muna. Uminit din kaagad ang ulo ng lola mo, sabi ko eh anung klaseng universal bank ba kayo, 10 thousand lang kinain na agad ng machine nyo?

    They asked me to call the customer service sa head office nila there in Manila(using their landline phone). I was told the 3 days pa daw, uminit na naman ang ulo ng lola mo. Buti na lang, I was a bank employee din before and I know very well na kung gugustuhin eh hindi na aabot ng 3 days lalo na if you did the transaction with your bank’s ATM. Sabi ko, bakit 3 days pa eh dito lang naman sa sarili nyong ATM nangyari? After a few discussion, they credited back my money agad..I waited only 5 minutes.

    • tweenselmom July 7, 2014 at 8:10 pm - Reply

      Kyong, that was awkward naman they told you dapat hindi 10 thousand agad, I haven’t heard that kind of answer before. And my, with that amount, iinit talaga ang ulo mo 🙂 Really, it was good you got your money back that fast. Pano kung di ka employee or you know nothing about their system.

  14. M July 10, 2014 at 1:55 am - Reply

    I’m sorry about what happened, this hasn’t happened to me yet so thanks for sharing ;(

    I nominated you for an award on my blog

    http://theflowerduet.blogspot.com/2014/07/you-are-my-sunshine-blogger-award.html

    Have a blessed day!
    M

  15. rejiina April 13, 2015 at 1:06 pm - Reply

    hello po! I had a similar experience po, actually I am a student, so it was easier for my parents to send me money through the bank and I also get to experience withdrawing and depositing before college in the city. But nagpanic po talaga ako nung nagwithdraw ako ng money for emergency, and since walang atm machine ng BPI sa loob ng campus, I opted to withdraw from the Landbank machines. Of course, hindi ito ang first time na nagwithdraw ako sa ibang atm machines, and I sometimes withdraw money from that certain machine ng Landbank from inside naman ng school campus. Yung nakakainis lang po that day kinailangan ko talagang magwithdraw and yung una ko munang ginagawa before withdrawing was to check my balance. Tapos nagtype na po ako ng amount na kailangan kong iwithdraw. But laking gulat ko ng hindi na inilabas ng machine ang atm card ko at pera! yung resibo na lang. Tinanong ko agad yung guard na nagbabantay. Sabi nya puntahan ko raw yung main office somewhere in Katipunan, and then call the bank’s no. Itago ko raw ang receipt. Ang sama po kasi kailangan ko talaga yung pera and it was an emergency. :'(

    • TweenselMom April 13, 2015 at 7:37 pm - Reply

      hi rejina, totally can relate with your disappointment diba? mga ilang beses na ding nangyari ito to me. lesson is if possible, don’t withdraw kaagad ang malaking amount. like siguro you withdraw muna half kung talagang nagmamadali.

      • rejiina April 14, 2015 at 5:38 am - Reply

        Oo nga po, mabuti na lang naibalik naman agad sa akin yung card ko, but they said it would take about 8-10 banking days para malaman kung saan napunta yung money na winithdraw. 🙁 kinda disappointing, but I’ll keep your suggestions po in mind para kung sakali hindi na ito maulit.

  16. Barry Kin July 13, 2015 at 12:50 am - Reply

    OMG!! This is certainly a shocking and a genuine Testimony i have ever
    seen..I visited a forum here on the internet on the 20TH OF JUNE 2014,
    after my husband separated me and my marriage of 8 years was broken down
    and i was totally inconsolable and without hope because i have tried all
    means to get my husband back after much pleading and did everything
    possible to make sure that he comes back, but nothing worked out for me….
    And i saw a marvelous testimony with this email adress
    [email protected] of this powerful and great spell caster called
    Dr Omoze on the forum.. And i saw how Dr Omoze reunited a family and
    brought the Husband of a woman back to her in just 24 hours..I never
    believed it, because i never heard nor learnt anything about magic before..
    Not a soul would have been able to influence me about magical spells, not
    until Dr omoze did it for me and restored my marriage of 8 years back to me
    and brought my spouse back to me in the same 24 hours just as i read on the
    internet..i was truly astonished and shocked when my husband came to my
    house and knelt down begging for forgiveness and for me to accept him
    back.. I am really short of expressions, and i don’t know how much to
    convey my appreciation to you Dr omoze.. you are certainly a God sent to me
    and my entire life and family.. he did his work just as he guaranteed me in
    24 hours and it yielded an optimistic result to me and i was able to get my
    Husband back. right now my Husband has falling so much in love with me and
    my kids like never before. This spell casting isn’t brain washing but he
    opened up his eyes to see how much i love and wanted him, i really don’t
    know how best to be grateful to you Dr omoze for bringing happiness into
    my life and family, and now i am a joyful woman once again.. here is his
    Email: [email protected], or connect him with these number +2348036640164

  17. Barry Kin July 13, 2015 at 12:50 am - Reply

    OMG!! This is certainly a shocking and a genuine Testimony i have ever
    seen..I visited a forum here on the internet on the 20TH OF JUNE 2014,
    after my husband separated me and my marriage of 8 years was broken down
    and i was totally inconsolable and without hope because i have tried all
    means to get my husband back after much pleading and did everything
    possible to make sure that he comes back, but nothing worked out for me….
    And i saw a marvelous testimony with this email adress
    [email protected] of this powerful and great spell caster called
    Dr Omoze on the forum.. And i saw how Dr Omoze reunited a family and
    brought the Husband of a woman back to her in just 24 hours..I never
    believed it, because i never heard nor learnt anything about magic before..
    Not a soul would have been able to influence me about magical spells, not
    until Dr omoze did it for me and restored my marriage of 8 years back to me
    and brought my spouse back to me in the same 24 hours just as i read on the
    internet..i was truly astonished and shocked when my husband came to my
    house and knelt down begging for forgiveness and for me to accept him
    back.. I am really short of expressions, and i don’t know how much to
    convey my appreciation to you Dr omoze.. you are certainly a God sent to me
    and my entire life and family.. he did his work just as he guaranteed me in
    24 hours and it yielded an optimistic result to me and i was able to get my
    Husband back. right now my Husband has falling so much in love with me and
    my kids like never before. This spell casting isn’t brain washing but he
    opened up his eyes to see how much i love and wanted him, i really don’t
    know how best to be grateful to you Dr omoze for bringing happiness into
    my life and family, and now i am a joyful woman once again.. here is his
    Email: [email protected], or connect him with these number +2348036640164
    ……

  18. Barry Kin July 13, 2015 at 12:51 am - Reply

    OMG!! This is certainly a shocking and a genuine Testimony i have ever
    seen..I visited a forum here on the internet on the 20TH OF JUNE 2014,
    after my husband separated me and my marriage of 8 years was broken down
    and i was totally inconsolable and without hope because i have tried all
    means to get my husband back after much pleading and did everything
    possible to make sure that he comes back, but nothing worked out for me….
    And i saw a marvelous testimony with this email adress
    [email protected] of this powerful and great spell caster called
    Dr Omoze on the forum.. And i saw how Dr Omoze reunited a family and
    brought the Husband of a woman back to her in just 24 hours..I never
    believed it, because i never heard nor learnt anything about magic before..
    Not a soul would have been able to influence me about magical spells, not
    until Dr omoze did it for me and restored my marriage of 8 years back to me
    and brought my spouse back to me in the same 24 hours just as i read on the
    internet..i was truly astonished and shocked when my husband came to my
    house and knelt down begging for forgiveness and for me to accept him
    back.. I am really short of expressions, and i don’t know how much to
    convey my appreciation to you Dr omoze.. you are certainly a God sent to me
    and my entire life and family.. he did his work just as he guaranteed me in
    24 hours and it yielded an optimistic result to me and i was able to get my
    Husband back. right now my Husband has falling so much in love with me and
    my kids like never before. This spell casting isn’t brain washing but he
    opened up his eyes to see how much i love and wanted him, i really don’t
    know how best to be grateful to you Dr omoze for bringing happiness into
    my life and family, and now i am a joyful woman once again.. here is his
    Email: [email protected], or connect him with these number +2348036640164,,

  19. Diane Syson June 28, 2017 at 4:26 pm - Reply

    True..napaka hassle po talaga ng ganitong incident..Today lng po nangyari ung sakin before kami umuwi na Mom q nagwithdraw po muna aq s Chinabank Atm machine and then nagulat nalang kami lumbas resibo but totally wala talgang cash n nailabas 8k p nmn din ok lng sana kung small amount lng pero syempre magrereklamo k p din khit small amt.pero 8k din malaki n..Since s hubby q po ung Atm which his atm payroll account sana nmn magawan nila agad ng aksyon ndi ung sari saring imbestigasyon p..wish me luck po tom..since gabi n nga po nangyari no choice kung di bukas n mkkpgreklamo..I really hope that all banks regarding this issue will resolved on time!!

  20. kimbery November 2, 2017 at 3:53 am - Reply

    skin po nalabas ng atm ung cash kaso d q po nkuha agad so sabi po ay 2 to 3 weeks pa daw po subrang tagal

    • tweenselmom November 4, 2017 at 11:18 pm - Reply

      Hi Kimberly, thank you for reading. Tama po, mga 2 to 3 weeks talaga ang processing ng mga banks, pero eventually, nababalik naman ang money.

  21. nellie March 14, 2018 at 9:05 am - Reply

    This Incidence happened to me Wednesday at Feb.14, 2018 around 11:46am. I withdraw 5,300 but the machine didn’t dispense cash so I withdraw again lowest amount of 5000,3000,2000,1000, until 500 but didn’t dispense money or receipt so I wait for 2-3 minutes for possible the money release. I withdraw to other machine w/c BDO, BPI kasi magkatabi na man ang machine sa damosa pero wala rin Nag wonder Lang talaga ako baka wala lang pundo iyong rcbc machine? when I withraw the other bank ang naka lagay sa monitor that malaki daw ang enter ko na amount as usual doon sa RCBC” I am sure of that time because the facts the machine not release any money or receipts at RCBC Market Basket, Damosa Land, Inc.This is the first time I experience with this bank. Going back to the undispense withdrawal because I was in rush? Because I want to be solved to the undispense withdrawal immediately as the money supposed to be payment for my rent and salary. I reported immediately that day at Metro Bank Damosa Branch office since that is my bank, (Mr. Metro bank customer service give a form to sign for complain which I’m waiting for 2 weeks for the official survey transaction and then I’m back on Feb.27, 2018 . Unfortunely, I was shocked that according to the transaction was released “CASH TAKEN”. The advice of Metro bank customer service that I should coordinate with RCBC. By 12 Noon I was there but entertain by 1PM at RCBC Damosa branch office regarding on the incidence happened I told Mr. RCBC what happened. If ever that cash taken by other’s? You may showed the proof ?;where is the proof? Account # na sumunod sa akin or CCTV proof na nakuha talaga ng iba? Kasi in the first place the system/machine didn’t dispense cash. I’m begging for the proof or I want the Proof pero wla silang maibigay. Kahit maliit lang na pera po iyon pinag paguran ko po iyon.

    • tweenselmom March 14, 2018 at 11:08 am - Reply

      I agree with you. Banks should impose better programs or security para sa mga nagwi-withraw right? Kahit 100 pesos lang, pinaghirapan pa din yon.

  22. Marjun Buendia February 5, 2019 at 3:27 am - Reply

    Nag withdraw ako ng 3k kagabi sa Chinabank Sakto 8:30 tapos may lumabas po na Pera then nung kukunin ko na biglang kinain pabalik. Wala pong guard don dahil sarado na po yung branch ng Chinabank. And ngayon po Hindi po ako makapag file ng complaint kasi po holiday. I just want to ask po kung mababalik pa po ba yung Pera o Hindi kasi kailangan na kailangan ko po talaga.

    • tweenselmom February 7, 2019 at 6:07 am - Reply

      Hi Marjun, I am pretty sure mababalik ang pera mo sa iyo kung kinain ng atm machine when you withdraw. If I am not mistaken, their customer support is 24 hours and if ever wala kang makausap, you should leave at least a voice mail. If hindi ka nakapag report for any other reason, just report and call the bank immediately para they can log the day and time you reported and hindi masyado matagalan bago bumalik yung money mo.

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