Santander ATM swallowed my cash – now I feel I’m being accused of lying about the amount deposited: CRANE ON THE CASE

I recently deposited £1,100 in the cash machine at my local Santander branch. 

The machine took the money, but after a few seconds a message popped up saying ‘a hardware error has occurred’. It then rebooted and didn’t give me a receipt.

When I checked my account, the £1,100 wasn’t in it.  

After several calls to Santander, my account was credited a few days later but only with £890 – £210 short of what I paid in. 

I complained, but Santander concluded that I must have paid in only £890 and said it wouldn’t investigate further.

I’ve banked with Santander for 20 years and am upset that I’m effectively being accused of lying to get free cash. H.M, Cheltenham

Missing money: H.M paid in funds at a Santander cash machine, but it didn’t all appear in her bank account (stock image, posed by model)

Helen Crane, This is Money’s consumer champion, replies: Depositing money into a self-service deposit machine can feel a bit risky. 

There is the obvious theft danger of getting out a stack of notes, but I think feeding money into the cavernous mouth of a machine also goes against our better instincts. 

Many would prefer to pay in cash at the counter with the help of a real human.  

But with some bank branches closing and others shortening their opening hours – resulting in bigger queues at the ones that remain – it is sometimes the only option.

When the machine swallowed your cash, the branch it was attached to was closed so you telephoned Santander.  

It said not to worry, that your account would be credited with the £1,100 in the next day or two, and that someone would phone you back to explain what had happened. 

They didn’t, so you called Santander again to simply be told it was investigating. This happened again the next day. 

That evening, your account was credited – but only with £890 which left you £210 short.  

You phoned Santander again, but were told to go to the branch which you did the next day. You also lodged a complaint. 

You say the manager told you that, when the cash machine was emptied on the day your cash was swallowed up, it was only £50 over what it should have been. 

So where had your money gone, you asked? 

You were promised a call from the branch the next day after it had investigated further, but it didn’t come. 

It’s possible that other transactions went wrong that day too, which could explain why the numbers didn’t add up. 

I wonder if someone taking out cash could have been overpaid using your lost funds – quietly pocketing them and not reporting it. 

A few days later, Santander head office called you with a response to your original complaint. It said it could not find the money and insisted that you must have paid in only £890. 

The matter, as far as the bank was concerned, was closed and it wouldn’t look into it any further. 

I thought this was unfair. Santander’s cash machine malfunctioned through no fault of yours, yet you were being accused of being dishonest and deprived of your cash.

I contacted Santander to ask why it had taken this stance.

I’m pleased to say that it reversed its decision and agreed to pay you the disputed £210. 

A Santander spokesman said: ‘We have informed the customer that we’ll be giving her an additional £210 as a goodwill gesture as a consequence of the inconvenience caused by this matter.’ 

When staff called you to confirm the transfer, you mentioned that you had lost interest on the money and wasted time on sorting the problem out. 

After that, it agreed to give you a further £75 in compensation. 

I’m glad you have your money – but I suspect you’ll stick to taking cash out at the counter for a while.