Consumer complaint received 2019-04-02
Company: FIFTH THIRD FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: OH
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Other banking product or service
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
I made a dispute on money lost to an ATM machine at the address XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX   XXXX. I made multiple deposits between XXXX XXXX  and XXXX XXXX  on XX/XX/XXXX. Shortly after the ATM malfunction I called customer service to begin my dispute. As stated above, I made multiple deposits. The machine has a bill deposit limit of 25 bills at a time. The first deposit of {$690.00} went through, and can been seen in my bank account as a transaction listed as : XX/XX/XXXX XXXX Deposit XXXX - XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Oh On XXXX19 From Card # : XXXX {$690.00}. 

I'm assuming the deposit says " On XXXX19 '' because I deposited on a Saturday, and it wasn't fully processed till the following business day of Monday XX/XX/XXXX. 

In the past when making multiple deposits in one sitting, because of the 25 bill cap, they have listed in my account as separate deposits. For example, if we look back to my account history on XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX, I have several deposits to the same machine, in the same time frame, on the same day ( for each of these days ). This is because they are listed as separate deposits, due to the 25 bills at a time bill cap. I'm sure you are well aware of how deposits are listed in the account when making separate deposits, I just want to make sure I provide examples of this. 

I actually have had issues with this exact ATM machine in the past ( note my only other dispute in late XX/XX/XXXX of this year, which was resolved for {$480.00} on XX/XX/XXXX ). However, last time I had money go missing in this ATM, the machine gave me the opportunity to type in how much money was taken, then printed out a receipt with instructions to consult a bank teller and begin my dispute that way. The difference here is that the machine did not do that. The machine accepted the money, then promptly broke. The machine froze for a decently long time period, while I waited, then began to shutdown and reboot repeatedly. I watched the machine reboot about four times. 

When I called customer service and began my dispute I was asked how much money was taken and unaccounted for by the machine. I didn't know an exact answer and I suggested it could be something like " {$300.00} or {$400.00} ''. The women helping me said " For this form I need an exact amount. '' I asked if the bills would be counted by hand, since I wasn't sure and she confirmed they would be. I said, I should play it safe and assume {$400.00}. She put me on hold for a moment, and in this time I counted the bills I still had in my wallet, checked my account to see a deposit of {$690.00} from the first batch of bills, and did the math. The actual amount I had put in to the machine with the second batch of bills was closer to {$600.00} or {$700.00}. When the women returned from placing me on hold I told her that the {$400.00} from before was off and she reassured me that the machine would be counted, and the deposit amount which was taken by the machine before it malfunctioned would be retrieved, counted, and returned to my account. I was happy with that response, and the dispute claim was already placed. I assume that while I was on hold she had placed the dispute claim, and changing the money amount was not possible for that dispute anymore. 

Later this week I opened a letter dated XX/XX/2019 from the dispute resolution department stating my claim has been denied. I want to assume the denial was based on the fact I gave the wrong amount of money when I was asked. I was under the impression that the 25 bill deposit just before the machines malfunction would be siphoned separately and could be counted by hand. This seems to not have been the case, and my assumption may have caused the denial in my dispute. I ask that this dispute is reopened and re-investigated. 

Upon re-investigation I wish to have the ATM video footage pulled, which will show multiple deposits were made. If possible I would like the footage from the cameras ( there are multiple ) in the room of the ATM also be pulled and examined. I ask these things because at the very least you will find an additional deposit was made. The {$690.00} deposit in my account was the first batch of bills, and we will see that a second batch of bills were taken shortly after the first, yet there is no second deposit in my account. As stated above, in the past separate batches of 25 bills have shown up as separate deposits, and I want it to be clear the {$690.00} was not for multiple deposits, it was just the first deposit. 

The only issue I see that may arise with pulling video footage, and I will leave this at your discretion to analyze, is that I vaguely remember a single XXXX dollar bill being returned because it couldn't be read by the machine. For the life of me, I can't recall if this XXXX dollar bill was returned after the 1st batch of bills, or after the 2nd batch of bills. I want to make sure that it doesn't look like dispute fraud when reviewing the videos.

Any other information you may need from me in order to make an informed decision on this I have no issue with discussing. I have been asked not to include any personal information in this email, and I've tried to do that. I'm sure my account can be found from your end based on the claim number I included as the subject. 




Above is the exact email I have sent to the dispute team at the Fifth Third financial group 's  dispute team.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation