On 2/27, my adult son Daniel and I went to People's Bank Tellico Plains branch ATM where I used my Suntrust Bank card to request a withdrawal of $40.00. I gave my son $20.00 to pump gas in my vehicle at the Tellico Plains Valley Mart gas station and commented that I hoped we could eat lunch on the remaining $20.00.
My first mistake was not checking my ATM receipt at the time my cash was dispensed.
After getting the gas at Valley Mart, we left on a trip to Cleveland, Tennessee. Upon return to my home that evening, I checked my Suntrust account and found to my horror that the ATM had debited my Suntrust card $141.72 instead of $41.75. I immediately telephoned Suntrust Bank in Maryville and also sent them an email message that the ATM was in error. I was told by Suntrust that my account had to be debited before they could file a dispute against the other bank.
On 3/1 Suntrust debited my account $141.75. I filed a dispute with Suntrust and was given a $100.00 credit back to my account on 3/2 and I thought that the case was taken care of.
My second mistake was believing that Suntrust Bank could handle the problem with People's Bank, who probably doesn't even own the ATM in their parking lot. The automated ATM teller in fact has a very disturbing and distinct British accent...
Needless to say I was more than simply annoyed, when on 3/17 my Suntrust account was again debited $100.00, and in my mailbox was a letter dated 10 March from Suntrust that they that the "ATM owner" had denied my request for credit. "Because Visa Rules and Regulations specifically stipulate the qualifications considered appropriate for bankcard companies to intercede on behalf of their cardholders we have no further recourse."
When is it appropriate for a bank's ATM to erroneously debit a person's account? What is the recourse for that person to recoup their loss due to an electronic malfunction from the one-armed bandit (ATM) in the People's Bank parking lot?
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