CONSUMER RIGHTS
ATM hazards
Puspha Girmaji

Automated Teller Machines (ATM) have revolutionised banking and made life easier. Bank customers can now withdraw money from their account anytime and anywhere in the country or even in the world.

However, like any electronic gadget, they can also malfunction when not serviced properly. Besides software and hardware glitches, factors like operator errors, power failure, voltage variations can result in ATM malfunctioning. And when that happens, consumers can be in for frustrating experiences.

Imagine this scenario: you are travelling in another city and dependent on your ATM card for your cash requirements. You insert the card, but the machine just gobbles it up, leaving you high and dry—with no cash and no hope of recovering the card in the immediate future.

Or you are urgently in need of money and you insert your card, only to get messages such as "transaction timed out" or "Your transaction has been cancelled" or "Bank communication failed. Please try after some time" or "Temporarily unable to process". You then hunt for another ATM and for all you know, that may also be out of service or short of cash. In fact consumers complain that on Sundays, ATMs have been found to have no cash. Long queues in front of ATMs are also a common sight, particularly when the cash is being refilled or the machine is being repaired.

Most consumer complaints refer to the machine refusing to give them any money, even though the transaction slip indicates that the money has been withdrawn. Needless to say that in all such cases, the consumer has to spend sleepless nights till the mater is sorted out.

In fact after a particularly trying experience with an ATM, a consumer coined a new term for the acronym ATM: Any Time Malfunctioning machine.

There are also cases of transaction slips showing more than what has been withdrawn—in one particular case, the transaction slip invariably showed Rs 200 more than the amount withdrawn. There are also complaints of illegal withdrawal—passbooks showing withdrawal from ATMs, without the
consumer having done so. And invariably, rectifying these faults can be frustrating for the consumer. It’s time banks improved ATMs, ensured that there are no cash dispensing errors and that they gave consumers trouble-free service. Or else they may well be hauled up before the consumer courts.

There is another related issue—fraud and robbery. As criminal gangs acquire sophisticated gadgets to get at card numbers and personal identification numbers (PIN), banks and manufacturers are thinking of ways and means of making ATMs more secure. In fact, in September last year, a conference of ATM manufacturers in the US concentrated on two main issues: ATM security and fraud. It is estimated that in the United States about $ 50 million are lost annually on account of ATM-related frauds.

In India, robberies outside ATMs are on the rise. In cities like Bangalore, consumers have been waylaid outside ATMs and forced to withdraw large amounts of money at gunpoint. In the case of Col D. S. Sachar Vs Punjab and Sind Bank (RP no 1046 of 2003), the apex consumer court made it clear that not providing adequate security to customers constituted deficiency in the service rendered by banks and where such deficiency caused the consumer any loss or suffering, banks were liable to pay. So it’s time banks tightened security near ATMs.

HOME