Using ATMs when overseas
It happened again! For the second time in less than a year an ATM timed out and cancelled a transaction but still deducted the amount I'd requested from my bank account. Both times it has happened I've been in Indonesia. The first time I waited until I returned to Australia, filled out a form that my bank gave me and many weeks later I received a refund from VISA. The second time it happened (quite recently) I contacted my bank via email and was directed to fill out an ATM Dispute Form which I've done. Again, it will probably be weeks or months until I get the money back.
I'm nervous now about using ATMs while overseas. It's like a lottery: most of the times I get the money I requested but occasionally I don't. When I don't, that money is simply gone until I can retrieve it at a much later date. I try to pay by card whenever possible but there are times when I need cash. When that cash doesn't arrive and the account is debited anyway, it's a financial shock because I typically don't have much money in the account to begin with and I'm in another country!
Anyway, I'm not asking for crowd-funding but I am curious as to how often this happens to people while travelling overseas. It seems to me that if the transaction is cancelled, then the money should not be deducted because it was never dispensed. The onus is fully on the user of the ATM to recover money that should never have been taken in the first place. No action means no money back. My Australan bank is sympathetic enough to what happened but I still have to follow the lengthy recovering procedure.
It seems that I'm being treated by my Australian bank in the same way that I would be if it happened in Australia. The situation is very different however, if I'm overseas. Is it unreasonable to expect that my bank should be more supportive in such a situation by perhaps fast tracking the recovery process. I'd be interested to hear people's views on this matter and to hear of their own experiences.
Have you tried Load&Go Travel card from australia Post ?