ICICI ATM Issues – 1 Aug 08

This post is not about making money online or offline. Its about losing money offline and how I think I might have lost my money along with lot others in India who tried to use a non ICICI debit card in an ICICI ATM machines today.

I am not sure how many of you know but you can use your bank debit card in any ATM provided its a VISA or Mater Card etc. The ATM machine should allow these and you can use your card regardless of what bank it is. I always use my HDFC bank debit card to withdraw money from ICICI ATMs? Why would I do this? Because ICICI ATMs are almost everywhere, there is one just next to my house. HDFC does charge me a small amount for this but that amount gets credited back after a few days.

Coming back to the problem that happened today. I tried to withdraw Rs 12,000 from this ICICI ATM using my HDFC card and it said the transaction has been declined. I tried once again and same thing, transcation declined. I left the ATM and went back home. After a couple of hours I got an SMS saying that Rs 12,000 have been debited from my HDFC account. I checked my account immediately using netbanking and indeed the money is gone. I got this message 3 hours after visiting the ATM. I immediately checked my wallet and my card is still in there. I cannot call HDFC call center as they work only from 8AM to 8PM (One of Indias biggest banks and no 24/7 helpline. #@$#@$!$F#G). I called up ICICI and this lady called Manisha tells me that this is happening everywhere in India where people have tried to use ICICI ATMs with non ICICI debit cards. WOW! so its a known problem and not a theft or something. I ask Manisha if my money will be credited back, to which she says we CANNOT assure you that. Lol! She has agreed to the fact that this is a problem from ICICI but she CANNOT assure if I will get my money back. She said I need to contact HDFC. So I have to wait till tommorow to contact these guys.

I have worked in banking IT department myself and issues do come but not something weird like this. I hope tommorow when I call HDFC in the morning, they shouldn’t say its ICICI’s mistake go talk to them. On a positive note, I am expecting one more debit of Rs 12,000 from my account (remember I tried twice) and a two times credit back of Rs 12,000 each. People who have not subscribed to SMS alerts and/or do not use netbanking are going to get shock of their lives when they see their account balance later. This is really bad because lot of cheques might get dishonoured due to insufficient cash balance and I am sure there are many such cases that happened today. Last and the first day of any month are the days when ATM machines are used the most as these are paydays for most of them. If you been a victim of this issue please post your story in comments below. Others just pray so that I get my money back