Dubai: A 28-year-old Dubai resident has run into a bizarre dispute with a leading bank over an alleged Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) cash withdrawal.
Pervez Sajjad Abdul Rahim, an Indian sales executive, told XPRESS that he went to an ATM in the Al Quoz Mall on February 3 to withdraw Dh9,000 from his Mashreq card. He said he needed the money to send to his family back home in the Indian state of Maharashtra.
“I inserted my card in the machine and keyed in the amount. I waited for a couple of minutes but the money did not come out. The transaction did not materialise as the machine flashed a message saying the amount had exceeded the limit. So I waited for the card to come out, took it and left. I also received a receipt but I threw it away,” he said.
Rahim said a month later he went to another ATM in Bur Dubai to check his balance. “But I was shocked to find that it was short of Dh9,000. I was wondering what happened when I remembered the February 3 incident. So I called customer service at Mashreq, lodged a complaint and demanded a refund.”
He said he received an immediate response saying the bank would get back to him in three or four days. “But it was not until March 20 that the bank gave me its feedback. It said my request had been ‘declined’ since its records showed the transaction was successful. The bank told me that it could not refund the amount.”
Rahim approached his seniors in his office who took up the matter with Mashreq. “The bank told us they would look into CCTV footage. I lodged a fresh complaint as my earlier complaint was rejected.”
Rahim claimed the bank subsequently informed him the CCTV footage confirmed he withdrew cash. “I asked them to show me the footage but they refused on the ground that it was confidential and that I was free to file a police complaint or go to court.”
Mashreq on its part maintains the transaction was successful. A spokesperson told XPRESS: “We have initiated an investigation based on Pervez Sajjad Abdul Rahim’s concern and we would like to confirm that the transaction of Dh9,000 initiated by the customer was successful. The ATM dispensed the required funds and it was collected by the customer at the same time. This is post-checking all aspects related to this incident.”
