On 2/27, my adult son Daniel and I went toPeople's Bank Tellico Plains branch ATM where I used my Suntrust Bank card torequest a withdrawal of $40.00. I gave my son $20.00 to pump gas in my vehicleat the Tellico Plains Valley Mart gas station and commented that I hoped wecould eat lunch on the remaining $20.00.
My first mistake was not checking my ATM receipt at the timemy cash was dispensed. After getting the gas at Valley Mart, we left on a trip to Cleveland, Tennessee. Upon return to my home thatevening, I checked my Suntrust account and found to my horror that the ATM haddebited my Suntrust card $141.72 instead of $41.75. I immediately telephonedSuntrust Bank in Maryville and alsosent them an email message that the ATM was in error. I was told by Suntrustthat my account had to be debited before they could file a dispute against theother bank. On 3/1Suntrust debited my account $141.75. I filed a dispute with Suntrust and was given a $100.00credit back to my account on 3/2and I thought that the case was taken care of. My second mistake was believing that Suntrust Bank couldhandle the problem with People's Bank, who probably doesn't even own the ATM intheir parking lot. The automated ATM teller in fact has a very disturbing anddistinct British accent... Needless to say I was more than simply annoyed, when on 3/17 my Suntrust account wasagain debited $100.00, and in my mailbox was a letter dated 10 March from Suntrust that they that the "ATMowner" had denied my request for credit. "Because Visa Rules andRegulations specifically stipulate the qualifications considered appropriatefor bankcard companies to intercede on behalf of their cardholders we have nofurther recourse." When is it appropriate for a bank's ATM to erroneously debita person's account? What is the recourse for that person to recoup their lossdue to an electronic malfunction from the one-armed bandit (ATM) in thePeople's Bank parking lot? What's interesting is that several years ago, there was a cardboardbox left on top of this same bank's sign located out front of their office andthat the local sheriff's SWAT team was sent out to investigate the suspicious box. Thinking the worst case scenario and lacking a bomb squad, the sheriff's men opened fire with their firearms on thebox. It was of course destroyed along with the printed AT envelopes located insidethe box. Unfortunately, they probably should have opened fire on the'suspicious' ATM machine located in the back of the bank that seems to berandomly pilfering extra funds from unsuspecting customers like myself, who use their very British sounding automated ATM service. Oh, and by the way I tried to file a BBB complaint with theKnoxville BBB office and their online form said it was supposed to be filedwith the Chattanooga BBB organization, who said that no, it should be filedwith the Knoxville BBB organization, who keeps referring me to the Chattanoogaoffice.
I'm happy that complaint doesn't care which town you live in. Justice will serve I hope as I am definitely considering a small claims law suit against them.
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