When an ATM wrongly debited my account

Posted by Felix Okoli on Monday September 7, 2015 at 14:38:52:

What do you do when an ATM wrongly debits your account without paying you cash? Well, I think I've had the experience on many occasions and at times, it may require you contacting your bank sooner rather than later so that the money doesn't go amiss.

It's a major problem with Nigerian banks but thank God that there are now CCTV cameras at ATMs to prove that you didn't collect any cash in case they claim you did.

I recently had the issue today when I tried withdrawing money from a bank's ATM using a different bank's ATM card. I inserted the card and chose to withdraw, provided my PIN but after the machine approved the transaction and was counting the money to pay me, I automatically received SMS from my bank that a debit has occurred on my account. The next thing that happened was that the ATM went haywire by refusing to open the money box but responded back saying "Temporarily unable to dispense cash".

I was a bit confused as to what just happened and whether this machines have not started stealing from many Nigerians. I went into the bank to make a complaint an they told me that it would be reversed later on within 24 hrs but that if it did not happen, I should visit my bank and make the complaint so that they can do it manually.

I know that it was quite possible to reverse the transaction but I would have to officially make a complaint first at my bank and since I didn't want to have to visit my bank physically, I just decided to send an email to them from the email address I registered with them, I guess that's official enough and I also included a snapshot of the response I received from the ATM after the transaction was lost in transit.

I guess there are many other ways to complain to your bank when wrongly debited such as doing a physical visit, sending a mail from internet banking, making a phone call from your phone and so on. I just chose to send them an email because I don't like physically visiting Nigerian banks since they waste people's time. One thing you should not do is keep quiet because I've heard stories of people saying that their bank did not reverse the transaction and their money just went missing like that.

Update: I've received an SMS credit alert from my bank showing that the transaction has been reversed. I don't know if it's because of the email I sent or it was automatic. Anyway, best is to wait for 24 hrs and if no credit has been put back, then you complain.