Cheated?????

[RBM]

Really hope some feed back here.

Sunday was caught short of funds, went to the BPI ATM as usual. Unfortunately no money, not new. Around the corner is BDO, after waiting what seemed like an eternity for about 4 people my turn. Punched in the digits requesting P10k. Said transaction complete, but.....no money came out. Oh well a quiet afternoon.

Monday going back to BPI, another long wait as around 10 people before me, had no problem how ever......yes you guessed.........

Additional P10k had vanished from my account. Inside bank was chaos no chance to talk staff, totally full. Off down to BDO whose machine had deducted and not given me funds day before.

Very polite and helpful young girl, could not of asked for better service. She called BPI help desk, took around 10 minutes to get through, their patience amazes me. My complaint was heard by a fluent English speaker whom gave me a number. We will investigate sir, call back in a week.

Guys I would love to hear from others whom have experienced same, and comments on what the chances are of receiving my money back.

Never again shall I use any ATM other than BPI for this card.

[MikeB]

I have heard of this happening. I try to only make withdrawals at banks during business hours so if there's a problem I can address it immediately inside. I had a drive-thru ATM in the US eat my card once maybe 20 years ago so I not only got no money but lost my card. Got it back next day. That can happen too.  

[Call me bubba]

About 9months ago, i took out a w/d at BPI,was distracted by my(then 3yo) child,

didnt hear the money being dispensed,so it was retrieved 

 went to the Branch office (100meters away) explained the story

, they did a report and 3-5days later the money was redeposited.

 YES these incidents do happen, and it may take a few days to resolve the problem, as they must, wait til the ATM is restocked and do an "inventory" or balance...(dont know the exact name)

Just be polite, tack and "charm" this will work in YOUR (our) favor,

 

OHH..make sure you have a receipt, this tremendously helps the process

[Dave Hounddriver]

I did not have that exactly happen, but I can relate.  I used a 'stand alone' ATM at one of the local hotels and it 'ate' my card.  I waited around for what seemed an eternity to get my 'almost impossible to replace' Canadian card to come back to me.

 

 

After about 15 minutes it came back and the machine posted "transaction timed out"

 

Whewwww!!!!!

[not so old china hand]

have heard of this happening. I try to only make withdrawals at banks during business hours so if there's a problem I can address it immediately inside.

 

An excellent piece of advice. I can't always make withdrawals during the day, however I always use an ATM attached to a bank branch. On more than one occaision I have been distracted and taken the money but not the card (unlike most ATMs I have used in the Philippines those in China return the card at the end of the transaction). Pop into the bank in the morning with my passport, they search through a drawer full of cards and produce mine. Quick and easy.

 

Loosing a card in Beijing is a pain. The banks take 10 days to replace the card, and without a card one can't withdraw money from the account.

 

AFAICR I have never had an ATM fail to give out money but I have had one "steal" money that I have deposited. Many ATMs in China can be used to deposit cash into one's account (they are often labled "Cash Recycling Machine". On one occaision I had been paid a large sum in cash. I was travelling to the UK in a few days and so instead of going through the hassel of changing the money into Sterling I decided to deposit the money onto my account and withdraw cash in the UK. The ATM happily took my money, checked and counted it succesfully, then displayed "Unable to complete transaction". The cash drawer remained firmly locked. I phoned the hotline number for the bank and finaly spoke to a person at their help desk a couple of thousand miles away ("Press one for Chinese. Press two for Cantonese, Press 3 for English, Press 1 for an enquiry .... Press 99 to pay us a compliment.)

 

The person on the the other end of the line assured me that my money was safe, every transaction being reorded and the money being reconciled. My money would be credited to my account in ten working days. I was not a happy bunny, but they held my money. To cut a long story short a week or so later I attempted to withdraw money from my Chinese account through an ATM in London and, to my great relief, the money was there.

 

I hope it turns out as well for you.

 

Cheers Terry

[Methersgate]

ha ha bloody ha Terry - in my day, young whippersnapper, there were no ATMs that would dispense cash to foreigners!

 

I can in fact recall making a special trek to Pudong in February 1997 for the sole purpose of putting my HSBC card into the very first Foreign Bank ATM in China ! 

 

 

Being serious for a moment, I have heard of the "cashless withdrawal" problem but so far it has not happend to me.

Edited July 29, 2014 by Methersgate

[i am bob]

Often the ATMs will be short a bill or two...  When you take your money from the machine, always hold it in front of you and quickly check - if you are missing any, spread them out so that the camera can see.  This will aid in recovering the missing money. Of course this also depends on if there is a camera and that there is nobody pressing up behind you about to reach over your shoulder!

 

:mocking:

[RBM]

Often the ATMs will be short a bill or two...  When you take your money from the machine, always hold it in front of you and quickly check - if you are missing any, spread them out so that the camera can see.  This will aid in recovering the missing money. Of course this also depends on if there is a camera and that there is nobody pressing up behind you about to reach over your shoulder!

 

:mocking:[/quote

Good tip Bob,

As I have on line banking with BPI went on line and also lodged a complaint there. Wow they make it difficult. Would of been impossible to complete without GF. One part that stumped me was when entering time of attempted withdrawal. Must be 10:30am not 10.30am

Will follow up with bank manager tomorrow and post progress if get some.

[Americano]

Hasn't happened to me yet but if your cash doesn't come out wait around for the next ATM customer to complete their transaction. Your money could come out then or you may learn that the machine is out of cash or doesn't have the amount you requested.

 

A BPI ATM card is an international card. My wife and I both have BPI accounts with ATM cards. When we went to Hong Kong on our Honeymoon it was a little scary to put our cards in the ATM machines to get Hong Kong Dollars but they worked every time without a problem.

[earthdome]

A BPI ATM card is an international card. My wife and I both have BPI accounts with ATM cards. When we went to Hong Kong on our Honeymoon it was a little scary to put our cards in the ATM machines to get Hong Kong Dollars but they worked every time without a problem.

 

Hmm, when I traveled to Thailand my BPI ATM card for my peso account was not accepted in any ATM's I tried. Did you notify BPI in advance of your travel plans? Was that a BPI USD account? How was the exchange rate?

Edited July 30, 2014 by earthdome