Warning.....(maybe)

[Kju&2]

Today was the 3rd. time that I have been ripped off by a BDO hole in the wall machine in Manila(Mall of Asia)....when I told the Bank official, he just said he could not do anything about it, just get in touch with my Bank over there in the UK. Yes, right..as if they can do anything about it....I was warned by two other ex-pats to be wary of the hole in the wall machines here...so maybe I can pass on this little warning..now we use my wife's card and it seems to be ok.. I just use the Internet to pass over cash to her account and we take it out then together (I trust her implicitly) Hope this helps someone, just check your account afterwards to see if all is OK.

Unfortunately banks everywhere in the world work differently. If that happened here in the UK, although your account is for example with Natwest and you used a Lloyds ATM machine - Lloyds will open up the cashpoint, do a report and then find your missing money. In the Philippines, it doesn't work that way. My auntie had some money stolen from her account at BDO and nothing ever happened to it. She didn't get her money back at all. I've never known banks in the Philippines to open up their cash machines if you report that the money didn't come out when you tried to withdraw some cash. They always tell you to go report it to your bank as your bank should be able to see your attempt to withdraw some money and if it was successful or not. That happened to me when I went to the Philippines in May. I was asked to contact my bank here in the UK as I couldn't get any cash from the cashpoint and I've been told by my bank that they can see that I've tried to use the card in the Phils but that I keep putting in the wrong pin! But the ATM in the Philippines didn't tell me that - it only says "this service is unavailable right now" so if I hadn't contacted my bank in the UK I wouldn't have known that it was my fault! LOL

[fred]

Unfortunately banks everywhere in the world work differently. If that happened here in the UK, although your account is for example with Natwest and you used a Lloyds ATM machine - Lloyds will open up the cashpoint, do a report and then find your missing money. In the Philippines, it doesn't work that way. My auntie had some money stolen from her account at BDO and nothing ever happened to it. She didn't get her money back at all. I've never known banks in the Philippines to open up their cash machines if you report that the money didn't come out when you tried to withdraw some cash. They always tell you to go report it to your bank as your bank should be able to see your attempt to withdraw some money and if it was successful or not. That happened to me when I went to the Philippines in May. I was asked to contact my bank here in the UK as I couldn't get any cash from the cashpoint and I've been told by my bank that they can see that I've tried to use the card in the Phils but that I keep putting in the wrong pin! But the ATM in the Philippines didn't tell me that - it only says "this service is unavailable right now" so if I hadn't contacted my bank in the UK I wouldn't have known that it was my fault! LOL

Another problem is that somtimes after giving a good pin the money is still unavailable,,We checked this in the branch and the amount had checked as being withdrawn.. The staff say that this amount will be credited within a week and so far it has!! Had it been an emergency then we may have been in trouble!!

[Kju&2]

Another problem is that somtimes after giving a good pin the money is still unavailable,,We checked this in the branch and the amount had checked as being withdrawn.. The staff say that this amount will be credited within a week and so far it has!! Had it been an emergency then we may have been in trouble!!

Yeah, I agree that's a bit of a bugger. I used to work at a bank and I'm trying to remember if we open cash points for people who have used their credit cards or cards from abroad on our ATM. I think we only do if their card had been eaten by the machine - as long as they got all the required ID we will give it back to them, otherwise we cut it up . If they're disputing that money hasn't come out when they tried to withdraw - I think we just ask them to fill out a claim form and contact their banks as well 'cos we got no way of telling if they were telling the truth or not as we can't look into their accounts.. hence probably why in the Philippines they don't bother with all that hassle and just say report it to your bank.

[Pepe n Pilar]

Yeah, I agree that's a bit of a bugger. I used to work at a bank and I'm trying to remember if we open cash points for people who have used their credit cards or cards from abroad on our ATM. I think we only do if their card had been eaten by the machine - as long as they got all the required ID we will give it back to them, otherwise we cut it up . If they're disputing that money hasn't come out when they tried to withdraw - I think we just ask them to fill out a claim form and contact their banks as well 'cos we got no way of telling if they were telling the truth or not as we can't look into their accounts.. hence probably why in the Philippines they don't bother with all that hassle and just say report it to your bank.

Hi, as far as i can remember bank personnels know if the client is telling the truth or not. In case there is a complain like machine didn't dispense the cash, they have to make complaints right there and then and fill up a form. Then the Cashier or Cash Custodian or any authorized bank personnel who does the refill of cash on trays does the balancing of the same at the end of the day. There is a receipt that indicates the cash in and out. Amount on the balance should tally with the actual cash. They will know if there is excess cash.

[Kju&2]

Hi, as far as i can remember bank personnels know if the client is telling the truth or not. In case there is a complain like machine didn't dispense the cash, they have to make complaints right there and then and fill up a form. Then the Cashier or Cash Custodian or any authorized bank personnel who does the refill of cash on trays does the balancing of the same at the end of the day. There is a receipt that indicates the cash in and out. Amount on the balance should tally with the actual cash. They will know if there is excess cash.

Hi. Sorry I phrased my reply wrong as I was in a rush. What I meant to say by we can't tell if they were telling the truth or not if they bank elsewhere was that we can't just take their word for it if they say that the cashpoint didn't dispense any money without doing a further investigation on the cashpoint at the end of the day by balancing it out. We can't just hand out the money to them as soon as they have notified us that they didn't get their cash as unfortunately - there are people out there who's out to scam and steal. If they happen to bank with the same bank that they used the atm on - the tellers could look into their accounts straight away to see if the money had been debited or not as sometimes it could just be a fault on the atm and their account wasn't debited anyway. What I actually meant to say was that if at the end of the day - the cashpoints were checked and we've found that the cashpoint's balanced and not in credit or debit - then we just advice the customers to fill out the dispute form and also contact their banks. I read what I said and it did come out wrong so my apologies!!