A CIBC ATM in Moncton spit out Canadian Tire Money to customers yesterday.
You have to be Canadian to appreciate humour of a bank ATM dispensing the coupon, given by the large Canadian hardware chain with a purchase. The coupons, started in 1958 as customer rewards are redeemable in any Canadian Tire store in the country. Those not familar with our currency have no doubt been handed their fair share of these in other countries.
I’d be boggled if a Canadian ATM dispensed these coupons on a withdrawal.
Kayla Peters, 16, said she was shocked when she withdrew $60 on Nov. 29. She received two $20 bills and two $2 bills in Canadian Tire money.
“I just stood there for a second wondering what I should do, but then I heard some other people talking about it and it turned out I wasn’t the only one.”
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce officials say four people have been reimbursed for the mistake.
“It clearly must have come in from maybe some of our business customers who package up their own cash,” said Rob McLeod, spokesperson for the bank. “We’re still tracking down exactly what the source was.”
McLeod says CIBC has confiscated the fake money as part of its investigation.
Canadian tire Money coupons are great stuff and add up for that extra purchase in no time.
Canada doesn’t have 1 or 2 dollar bills. We have loonies and toonies which ATM’s don’t spit out.
Our paper currency is a different colour for each denomination.
If I receive a counterfeit bill from a bank and discover it, the bank does not reimburse me.
The CIBC plans to send out letters of apology to the customers and gave them real money for their withdrawal. ATM’s in Canada dispense 10’s, 20’s and 50’s.
Change your bank, people.
The bank has been sending faxes with customer confidential information to a junk yard dealer in Virginia since 2002. He reported it. Nothing was done, and the bank revealed last week the junk yard dealer was still receiving these faxes with personal customer infomation on them. It is under investigation and faxes have been stopped.
Being honest, the Virginian reported and reported to the bank. - and putting himself in customers shoes and realizing how angry he’d be at a bank mistake of this level, locked the faxes in a safe.
A letter of apology is better than nothing for the ATM booboo, but this is ridiculous. Better business practices and care by this national bank would be appreciated.
Published 3 years, 11 months ago
What I don’t get about this story is how anyone could not notice that there were Canadian Tire coupons in with the regular bills. Aren’t they roughly half the size of legal tender? I’m surprised they actually got into and out of the currency cassettes without causing some sort of malfunction.
We once asked for duplicates of several bank statements and received those and some for a totally different person. Not related to us at all, not even close in suburb,name or numerically by account number. They just said, “Return them.”
The bank seemed so unconcerned that we actually traced the person and I spoke to him on the phone. Understandably he was furious. Full statements, bank account details etc. He picked the statements up and was grateful to us for having acted as we did. I don’t know how he got on with bank. We changed banks. We were concerned not only with the inefficiency they had displayed but also with their attitude.
Shalom,
Jan
Wow, 1958. I never would have suspected that Canadian Tire money has been around for that long!
Is it CIBC that sent faxes with confidential information out? I wonder which banks would be the most secure in Canada.
Yeah, it was the CIBC. Since 2002.
I know as Jan pointed out honest people receive a bank mistake and do the right thing. I don’t blame the person for their anger at all. I’d be furious.
Millions of transactions are done every day by a bank the size of CIBC. Why don’t they have a specific department that follows through on security complaints?
A bank person says it was probably a mechanical bill counter that missed the Canadian Tire coupons? That stretches credibility. I don’t buy that mechanical bill counters can’t sort paper that isn’t the same size as as currency. More speculation. Disgrundled or distracted employee?
A bank has to be able to operate on trust. They are key institutions that have our money. They need to step forward, admit their mistakes promptly and tell the public what they will do in the future to prevent errors.
Was it the CIBC that gave loans to Enron?
People who are in a hurry and can’t be bothered with service charges and long line-ups can use ING direct or President’s Choice banking. I recently closed an account at a mainstream bank that charged me $14.00 to process two cheques under $200.00. I think CIBC and other big banks need to take a look at their mandates. The tellers are poorly paid, often part-time workers who take a lot of flak from disgruntled individuals. Meanwhile banks are reporting record profits? With the CIBC snafu’s in the past few weeks, keeping money under the mattress is becoming an option again. It’s not like you earn enough interest to put up with the nonsense.