At times when one uses an ATM to withdraw cash, the transaction doesn’t happen but still the fund gets deducted and one receives a confirmation of that through an SMS. Even though it is not an unauthorised transaction done on your debit card or the ATM card, as a customer one feels cheated.
If one goes by the RBI’s recently-released report of the Banking Ombudsman (BO), the 21 Offices of the Banking Ombudsman received 1,63,590 complaints in the year 2017-18, of which non-payment of cash or account debited but cash not dispensed by ATMs accounted for nearly 14,691 (9%).Where to report a failed transaction
Such a failed transaction can happen in an ATM of one’s own bank or in an ATM of another bank. A resolution is supposedly quicker if it happens in one’s own bank’s ATM. But, irrespective of which bank the ATM belongs to, the first step should be to intimate any such disputed transaction to the issuing bank through a call centre or email.
In practice, it could be different but as per RBI rules, the banks are supposed to display the names and the contact numbers of concerned officers and the toll-free numbers or help desk numbers in the ATM premises.
Sometimes the amount dispensed by the ATM machine is not the same while at times the account gets debited twice. For any such disputed transaction, one needs to submit the complaint in writing to the bank. It’s better to keep the transaction slip safe till the matter is resolved. The slip also carries the date and time of the transaction which one will need to fill the complaint form.
Maximum days for the reversal
As per the RBI instructions in case of a failed ATM transaction, the card issuing bank has been mandated to resolve the customer complaint by re-crediting the customer’s account within 7 working days from the date of complaint. Generally, any such transaction gets reversed within 24 hours after the bank’s reconciliation exercise.
Compensation
But, if the bank fails to resolve the disputed transaction early and delays it beyond 7 working days, the account holder can even claim a compensation. As per the RBI rules, the card issuing bank has to pay compensation of Rs. 100 per day for delay in re-crediting the customer’s amount beyond 7 working days from the date of receipt of a complaint regarding failed ATM transactions. To receive such compensation, the account holder need not have to ask for it as the bank is mandated to credit the same into the account on its own.
However, in order to become eligible for compensation, the customer is required to lodge the complaint within 30 days of the disputed transaction. In case of non-receipt of a reply from the bank within 30 days of lodging the complaint, one can approach the Banking Ombudsman.
