Consumer complaint received 2022-09-12
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: MA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
On XX/XX/22 I attempted to make a cash deposit of {$170.00} to a Citizens Bank ATM located within XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX, MA. I deposited the cash and the machine began counting the money. This process seemed to be taking a little longer than usual and than the ATM popped a command prompt error message and than shut down. The ATM hung there for a moment and than seemed to go into a booting screen/animation of some sort. I waited for several moments but it didn't seem to be coming back on. I went to the XXXX XXXX XXXX customer service XXXX ( it was Sunday and the Citizens Bank within the XXXX XXXX XXXX was closed ). I told someone at the desk what had happened and he responded that the XXXX XXXX XXXX didn't have anything to do with the bank and I would have to call the hotline. So i dialed the Citizens Bank phone number and after several prompts was told by the automated response that the current wait time was over an hour long. I went back to the ATM and the screen still showed the same booting animation. So i went back to the customer service desk and asked for a XXXX XXXX XXXX manager. They told me the same thing the employee told me, id have to call the hotline. So i went back to the ATM checked one last time and there had been no change to the screen. Frustrated I unfortunately had to leave as I had no way of knowing how long it would take for the ATM to come back online or what had happened to my funds. I went home and called the Citizens Bank phone number and waited for over an hour for someone to answer. When they finally did, I explained the situation to them and gave them my info. At that time the {$170.00} was not shown to have been deposited into my account. They filed a claim for me, told me I would most likely get a credit put into my account, and should see it in a few days. A few days later a credit for {$170.00} showed up in my account. I assumed the problem was resolved. Than on XX/XX/22 I got a letter from Citizens stating the investigation had been completed, they found no error, and the credit of {$170.00} would be taken out of my account on XX/XX/22. I called the Citizens Bank phone number again right away. After another hour long wait I got a representative on the line who couldn't hear me over the phone and hung up on me. So at my wits end, the next monday I was forced to take my morning off of work losing valuable hours/pay and go into the Citizens Bank XXXX XXXX XXXX & XXXX where the incident had taken place. I talked to a manager who told me there was nothing he could do and i would have to call Citizens again. I refused telling him what had happened when i tried and eventually he took me into his office. He called through a employee line and while he was waiting to connect he checked the ATM logs. He told me he didnt see the bank being out of balance that week that the incident took place. The manager mentioned that what might have happened was when the ATM came back online the {$170.00} was spit back out and someone probably took it. Of course at the time I had no way of knowing that would happen or when the ATM would come back online if at all. When he got through to Citizens he explained what was going on and they told me they had sent out a letter requesting more info, which i never received, and that he would fax over the form for me to fill out there. I filed out the info, which honestly didnt make sense as it was the same exact info i had already given during the initial complaint. The manager faxed over the form saying the claim would be escalated and relooked at. On XX/XX/22 I got another letter stating Citizens had conducted an additional review of my claim and the original decision stands and that my claim would remain denied. This makes very little sense to me as if they had looked at the security cameras it would clearly show me there that day making a deposit as well as some indication in their system that the ATM encountered an error that day and shut down. Which i would have no way of knowing unless i was there at that time making a deposit ... which never showed up in my account. Thus leading me hear to file this complaint.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief