What to do if the ATM has chewed money

Imagine a situation: you inserted an impressive stack of bills into an ATM, he “ate” them, buzzed for a couple of minutes and asked for more. Or he counted incorrectly and did not give the remainder. Or the money was credited normally, but it doesn't come to the account. And here you are standing in front of a soulless machine in absolute shock: with no money and no evidence. What to do?

Do not panic

Problems in the operation of the machine may arise due to a short-term failure in the system. Sometimes you just need to wait a few hours for the deposited money to be credited to the account.

This advice does not work if the ATM has chewed your bills or counted them incorrectly when depositing them. He can give out the remainder after a certain period of time. If you are not around at that moment, and a random passer-by will take the money, it will be much more difficult to return the cash.

Fix all details

A faulty ATM can not only fail to give you money, but also leave you without a receipt. In order to further prove the fact of withholding cash from you by a malicious device, be sure to remember or write down the following data:

the exact time of the banking operation (date, hours and minutes);
ATM location address and its number, if it is indicated on the front side of the device;
the amount of funds deposited by you and withheld by the device;
the presence or absence of video surveillance cameras at the ATM (records can confirm all your actions).

Contact the bank

If the device that chewed your money is in a bank branch, then you need to contact the employees. But where to go in controversial situations?

If the card was issued by one bank, and you worked with it with an ATM of another organization, contact the bank that owns the ATM.
If problems arise in another country, and you have neither the time nor sufficient knowledge of the language, contact the bank that issued you the card. But remember that it can take up to two months to verify a cross-border transaction.

Call the bank's hotline (the phone number can be indicated on the ATM or your card) without leaving the scene. You will be instructed on how to deal with this situation. Some organizations may even accept a request for withholding directly over the phone.

If your application was not registered by phone, leave a written claim to the bank. It states:

information about you (full name and passport data);
information about the card;
information about the ATM (its number and location address);
information about the incident (date and time of work with the ATM, the type of operation performed, the amount of money deposited and withheld);
request for the return of your funds.

The application for "chewed" money must be submitted no later than the next day after the ATM failure.

At the bank branch, your application will be accepted and registered. By the call number, you can further monitor the solution to your problem. For reliability, make a copy of the claim and keep it for yourself. Or make an appeal in two copies and ask the operator to sign the acceptance on his own.

The bank will investigate the claim. When collecting money, they will check whether there is extra money in the ATM, then, if necessary, they can view the recordings from CCTV cameras and track money transfers on the account.

The formal term for investigating such situations is up to 45 days, so you will have to wait pretty well.

Go to court

Alas, sometimes bank employees may not accept the application, delay the investigation or deny that you have lost money. In such cases, you can defend your rights through the courts.

For this, a statement of claim is drawn up describing the problems with the ATM and the inaction of bank employees. It will be useful to attach written evidence - a copy of your claim to the bank. Moreover, in addition to a refund, you can demand:

interest for the use of other people's funds - since, in fact, the bank illegally kept your savings in its accounts;
compensation for moral damage - in cases of incorrect behavior of bank employees.

Unfortunately, the time frame for a trial is even longer than for a bank investigation. However, it can become a real tool for getting your own money back.

How to protect yourself from ATM crashes

To reduce the risk of problems when working with ATMs, it is enough to follow some simple recommendations:

Do not deposit wrinkled, folded, or torn bills.
Remove all rubber bands and clamps from the stack of banknotes before depositing.
Do not deposit more than 40 notes at a time.
If it is freezing outside (below –10–15 ° C), use ATM machines located in heated rooms. In the cold, there is a high probability of technical failures in the apparatus.