ATM short-changes unsuspecting Nomsa

7 October 2004 - Daily Sun

Nomsa Matjila went to a Standard bank ATM to withdraw R1 000. The ATM only coughed up R300 and gave out a slip that said R1 000 had been withdrawn.

Nomsa told me there were no suspicious people around and so she didn't suspect anything. She went to her branch and explained what happened and they checked it out.

The branch manager asked her to fill in a claim form and said she would get her money once the matter had been properly investigated, but when she called the bank to find out if her claim had been successful, she was told that they could not refund her.

I asked Erik Larsen at Standard Bank's head office to investigate. He reported back to me as follows:

• The bank's investigations showed that Nomsa withdrew different amounts on the same day.
• The bank checked that the ATM was working properly
• There was no evidence to show that anyone had tampered with her card.
• Which all added up to suggest that Nomsa herself had withdrawn the R1 000.

Nomsa was not at all happy. She said," I have been a client at the bank for over 10 years and I've never encountered problems."

I can sympathise with her feelings but unfortunately I can't argue with the bank's report. That would be the job of the Banking Ombudsman.

The Banking Ombudsman helps clients who have complaints against any bank.