2004 Dennis Case

Key Facts

Amount stolen	£920
Number of Withdrawals	4
ATM Locations	Unknown - Bank refused to disclose locations (believed to be within Manchester)
Issuing Bank	Sainsbury's Bank
Acquiring Bank(s)	Unknown
Card Type	ATM card for Sainsbury's Bank Savings Account
Withdrawal time period	4 days
Days from theft to discovery	2 days
Card theft involved	No
Level of customer action	Telephone contact with bank, report to police, claim form and letter
PIN Status	Original PIN - approx 5 years old, no written record of PIN kept
Outcome	Resolved. Customer satisfied with refund, but seeks acknowledgement that he was not negligent, and evidence of proper investigation of thefts.

Customer made phone contact initially with bank to report the withdrawals
bank stated that money could only be withdrawn with card and PIN, and implied that PIN must have been disclosed and card used by third party.
Police were contacted, who gave an incident number but stated that the bank was the victim, thus gave customer no information as to whether the police had investigated the theft.
Customer completed Cash Dispenser Claim Form, with covering letter (15/3/04), as form was designed for card theft.
Cusomter received letter from bank (22/3/04) stating that the form had been "..passed to the appropriate department for investigation.".
Customer recevied second letter from bank (25/3/04) reiterating that "security measures in-built to the cash dispenser system ensure that transactions can only be effected when a cashcard is used in conjunction with the corresponding PIN.. ...bank stands by these features and therefore cannot accept any liability for the disputed withdrawals."
The bank later made an 'ex-gratia' payment for the full loss, £920.