I am writing to bring to your attention an issue I recently encountered while using HBL Automated Teller Machines (ATM) in District Zhob Balochistan. It was a distressing experience that left me feeling humiliated, degraded and disrespected.
To my astonishment, upon completing a withdrawal transaction at the ATM as mentioned and having faith in the correct and original notes, like many people in the country, I didn’t check and count the notes. I proceeded to a local market to make some purchases, and when I attempted to pay, I was met with incredulity and suspicion from the shopkeeper when he said this was a fake note. The incident quickly escalated, leading to an embarrassing and degrading confrontation with the shopkeeper and other customers present. I assumed that ATMs were designed to dispense only genuine and valid currency and argued with the shopkeeper that this could not be a fake not as I had withdrawn it from ATM. But I was wrong as upon thorough inspection we came to know that the serial numbers on the lower left and upper right sides of the note are not similar and the note was splitting at the edges like tissue paper does. We need to change this widely accepted faith and trust in ATMs, as they can’t deduct fake notes.
The next day I visited the bank and shared the details of the incident with the Bank officials available at the bank branch. I asked them to investigate the issue, check the CC TV footage, match it with the record of the serial number notes loaded in the ATM, or investigate it in whatever way it is possible. Unfortunately, the bank branch staff refused to probe the issue and avoided registering the issue, since then I started to register my complaint with the head office. In the beginning, the head office, by making excuses, tried to avoid registering the complaint. However, after making multiple attempts I succeeded in registering the complaint but sadly after a few weeks the complaint was closed very unprofessionally and non-seriously by saying ”Customer should contact branch on the very same time, now this claim is unvalid and unjustified.” I wonder what if one withdraws cash at 9 p.m. and receives a fake note? How he is supposed to report it at the same time as the banks close at 5 pm?
I believe it is essential for the bank to uphold the highest standards of service and transparency, especially when it comes to the integrity of the currency it dispenses. However, this incident has shaken my confidence in the reliability and security of ATM services and has raised serious concerns about the quality control and maintenance of ATMs.
I hereby request that the officials investigate the incident thoroughly to determine the cause of the duplicate note issuance and hereby suggest the following recommendations to prevent any further incidents of this nature.
- Before loading the cash in an ATM all the cash needs to be passed through a currency counting machine with the capability of a fake note detector in the presence of surveillance camera recording.
- There should be a committee of at least three people who should load the cash into the ATM.
- ATMs need to be upgraded so that they can deduct fake currency and not disseminate it.
Whenever a person draws cash from the ATM it should get the serial numbers of all notes on the receipt, so that person can demand justice against the respective bank in case of a fake note.
Muneeb-Ur-Rahman, Quetta
