25,000 Cash Didn't Dispense From ATM, SBI Says Can't Return The Money As Customer Shared The PIN

Did you ever go to the ATM to get cash and were disappointed when the cash did not come out, but the amount was deducted from your account?

Well, in a scenario like this, the money is usually credited by the bank upon lodging the complaint. But a Bengaluru couple is in a fix. They did not get their refund as the court ruled in the favour of the State Bank of India.

Vandana and Rajesh fought a three-year-long battle with SBI bank to get a refund of Rs 25,000 that was deducted from their account but the cash was not dispensed from the ATM.

The twist? On November 14, 2013, it was her husband who went to the ATM to do the transaction because she was pregnant. According to banks, no other person, other than the cardholder can withdraw cash using the particular card.

Customer’s struggle to get their money

Vandana’s husband Rajesh Kumar claimed that only a slip came out of the ATM and no cash was dispensed. Immediately after the failed transaction, Rajesh contacted the SBI customer care and he was told that the fault was with the ATM and the money would be reverted to the account within 24 hours, reported DNA.

When the money did not come in 24 hours, he filed another complaint with the SBI bank. SBI then closed the matter in a few days saying that the transaction was correct and the money was dispensed.

Meanwhile, Vandana, through an RTI, obtained a cash verification report of the ATM for November 16, 2013, which showed excess cash of Rs 25,000 in the machine. The report submitted in the court was later countered by the SBI counsel who produced a report showing no excess cash.

When the couple approached the bank with the CCTV footage of the ATM cabin showing no cash being dispensed, a probe committee ruled that the cardholder was not making the transaction, neither was she in the footage. Before approaching the consumer forum, the couple made a final plea to the bank ombudsman who ruled against them saying ‘PIN shared, case closed.’

SBI said that the cardholder violated rules by sharing the pin with another person. They said that the transaction was successful and hence no refund can be made. On May 29, 2018, the court said that the pin should not have been shared with the husband. She could have given a cheque for the transaction.

The Logical Indian Take

While it is true that banks are very particular about sharing PIN with anyone other than the cardholder, but it is also true that the money was not dispensed even though it was deducted from the account. A woman on her maternity leave asked her husband to withdraw cash and that too the amount was not meager.

As claimed, it seems from the CCTV footage that money was not dispensed. So, what about the money? How is it that SBI was not held accountable for the fault? Rs 25,000 is a huge amount, and a bank not returning the amount on a pretext that customer shared the PIN with another person seems to be absurd.