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[rs7k]

Is there any chance of getting it back? I went out to the bar on Saturday night, and took out money from a nearby ATM. At the first machine, the transaction went just fine until the machine shut down right after it gave me my card back and before it was dispensing the money. The machine just said "Temporarily Out of Order", and then it went back up again.

Now I'm pissed because I realize the transaction went through although my money isn't there. My luck with ATMs was shit that night because it was the third time I tried to take out money (1st time, my card wouldn't read, 2nd time the machine said it was unable to give me money probably because it was empty). My buddy went to the ATM that was next to the bad one, asked for my code, and managed to take out $20 for me.

I looked at the transaction receipt, and yes, $40 was deducted from my account that night. I'm a TD customer, and the ATM in question is in Bank of Montreal territory. The transactions were made from my credit card account, so I've been waiting for the transactions to show up since cc transactions don't update in real-time; they take three days.

Now, when I call them or go to the branch to ask for my money back, will they look down on me and think I'm a liar? How likely is it that I'm gonna get that money back?

 

[galeninjapan]

There aren't any magazine racks?

 

[Folder]

All ATMs have auto-audit.
You should see a credit into your account, though it might take a few days/weeks as it's between banks and they like to hold onto money for as long as possible.
You should contest it with your bank and they'll query the ATM provider. $20's ony $20 but it's better in your pocket than that of a massive multinational eh? Don't walk away from it. That's what they hope you'll do and they make billions from consumer laziness every year!

 

[Ecrofirt]

Call the bank. You should have done this already.

 

[AirBrian]

Call your bank and explain what happened. ATMs do have an audit function, and they have most likely found it already while balancing the ATM.

This happens a lot more than one would think.

 

[spliced]

I tried to withdraw 600 bucks once and it got jammed up and only some of the money came out. Phoned the bank the next day, they checked their video and gave the account the credit for the missing funds.

 

[ghostface]

Go to your TD branch with you BoM receipt and explain what happened. They will fill out an investigation form and take copies of your receipt. 7-10 days later you should have an answer.

In almost all cases I've dealt with our customers got their money back.

But go asap.

 

[Unison]

I am an expert on this, actually. I got a temp job once at a major bank, where I worked in the department that specifically handled ATM malfunction calls*.

Calling them is the right thing to do, of course. You will definitely get a refund if this has never happened to you before and if you've had your account for more than a few months.


*The stories you would hear from people (e.g. The ATM ate my paycheck and my baby needs milk!) were horrible. I don't really trust ATMs as much these days.

 

[COCKLES]

Dont you hate the way banks take 5 days to clear cheques...a couple of days to update statements yet your money vanishes nano-seconds after you press the button when it's in their favour.

 

[Tabris]

Any cheques I've deposited have gone through right away. From both teller and ATM.

 

[cloudwalking]

People complain about checks taking so long to clear, yet they won't sign up for direct deposit. Bam, my paycheck is fully in the bank the morning of every payday. No waiting for me.

My coworkers bitch to no end about their money not being in the bank RIGHT away. But they say "oh, I don't trust direct deposit. I need to hold the check in my hands to be sure i'm being paid" ... WTF? They mail you a pay stub!

 

[ghostface]

Any cheques I've deposited have gone through right away. From both teller and ATM.

Depends on the cheque/your account. Your case is not the case everyone.

 

[Tabris]

Depends on the cheque/your account. Your case is not the case everyone.

What do you mean? I can cash in different cheques and they go through like right away. No clearing or anything. Why wouldn't someone have that?

 

[ghostface]

What do you mean? I can cash in different cheques and they go through like right away. No clearing or anything. Why wouldn't someone have that?

If an account is new, it will be subject to stricter guidelines when it comes to the cashing of personal/company cheques (up to a certain amount, banks here in Canada are obligated to cash government cheques right away, even to non-clients, providing the person has proper ID). Secondly, even if the account is not new, the bank may still decide to freeze the cheque if it is from an unkown company or if it is a personal cheque, or if the account in question is not in great use. But in 90% of cases, the decision to freeze a cheque or not depends mainly on a certain limit that the account is given in terms of cheque cashing/deposit. For example, if this limit is $500 for a certain account, all cheques of under $500 will be cashed/available right away, while cheques of over that will have $500 available right away, with the rest being frozen. This limit (refered to as "cashback" in certain institutions) depends on the guarentees the bank has from you (i.e how much money/credit you have with them). Atms will always go by the "cashback" amount, while a teller might decide to cash a cheque even if it is larger that amount. If your cheques always go through, I'm willing to bet that you either lots of money with your bank (at least enough to cover the cheque amounts), have a credit card/line with them, are a long-time customer with a good banking history, or they know you and you have been cashing the same cheques for a long time. (If none of this makes any sense to you, it's because I'm dead tired right now. Living at the library for a week will do that to you).

That's for Canada, so I don't know if it applies to where you live.

 

[Mr. Lemming]

People complain about checks taking so long to clear, yet they won't sign up for direct deposit. Bam, my paycheck is fully in the bank the morning of every payday. No waiting for me.

My coworkers bitch to no end about their money not being in the bank RIGHT away. But they say "oh, I don't trust direct deposit. I need to hold the check in my hands to be sure i'm being paid" ... WTF? They mail you a pay stub!

Direct deposit, AFT, and debit cards are the best things ever. Financially speaking.

Regarding holds placed on funds in the US. There are a number of regulations regarding that, mainly Reg CC. For no reason at all banks can hold funds on a local check (Within the same federal reserve district, check the routing number) for up to 2 days, and on nonlocal checks for 5 days. There are also a number of reasons a bank can place an exception hold on a deposited check for up to 7 (local) or 11 (nonlocal) days. Every bank has their own policies for cashing checks for customers and noncustomers, and it really is just a gigantic mess of regulations, rules and policies.