SBI ATM service irksome!

GUWAHATI, Nov 25: Cashless transaction is far from being a reality in the market. There are still modes of transaction which cannot be accomplished without making the payment in hard cash. The instant way to get hard cash is ATM. However, SBI customers have to face innumerable hurdles as the ATMs of the premier bank are not at all user-friendly.

Most of SBI ATMs installed in Guwahati have gone conked up. The few ATMs that work, as often as not, have no notes in smaller denomitions like that of 100-rupee and 500-rupee. They mostly have 2000-rupee notes. Customers who want to withdraw hard cash amounting to Rs 1,500 cannot get from most of SBI ATMs. If a customer opts to take the service of ATMs of other banks, he/she will have to cough up an extra amount in the form of commission. Does not he/she spend the amount for no fault of his/hers? Is not the price he/she has to pay just for being an SBI customer?

Speaking to The Sentinel, an SBI customer said: “Most of SBI ATMs in Guwahati are out of service. When they work, more often than not, they run dry of cash. A few days’ back I went to the SBI ATM at Paltan Bazar in the city. I withdrew Rs 10,000. The amount came out in 2,000-rupee notes, and one of them was torn. As a tiolized bank, they should be well aware of all such problems. They’ve also introduced some unnecessary rules of having fixed amounts in the account, and these are not possible for middle class people.”