Customer’s Outrage at Bank’s $43,000 Error Sparks TikTok Debate

It can be pretty frightening to think that your bank isn't handling your money correctly and if you ever spot any inconsistencies with your balances, it's hard to rest until the problem is sussed out.

While major financial institutions might not think much about the amount of money in a singular customer's account, we obviously have a much more vested interest in the proper accounting of our funds.

And TikToker @vancouvermama1 spotted a major discrepancy in her own accounts when she walked into a bank to address a matter of some tens of thousands of dollars. In a series of videos and comment replies to other users of the platform, the TikToker alleges that the bank teller put her money into someone else's account.

@vancouvermama1 says that the bank worker initially tried to shift the blame for the accounting error, stating that the money wouldn't immediately be transferred, that's when she decided to record the worker and demand that the problem be fixed as soon as possible.

A text overlay in the initial video, which has garnered over 4.8 million views as of this writing reads: "When the bank mistakenly deposits a cheque of 48k into the wrong account and has the audacity to blame us"

In the video, the TikToker records a conversation between herself and the bank attendant. Here's how their recorded discussions went down.

Customer: "OK"

Employee: "Is that OK [unintelligible]?"

Customer: "So you're gonna take the money the deposit that you accounted in error — I just want to make sure we're clear, so you're gonna take the money that you deposited into some account in error and you're gonna transfer it to our account?"

In response, the employee nods their head indicating, "yes."

Customer: "So the funds will be there immediately?"

Employee: "Yes."

Customer: "OK, thank you."

The employee then gets to work on their computer as the TikToker continues to record them. @Vancouvermama1 wasn't finished, however, and uploaded more clips delineating what happened during her visit to the bank.

In follow-up videos the TikToker then writes that the amount of money was $43,000, not $48k as originally mentioned in the first clip. A manager at the bank approaches the front desk area to tell the TikToker that they aren't allowed to record employees while inside the building.

They write in a text overlay for the follow-up clip, "The bank manager forcing me to delete the recording after depositing our cheque of 43k in to the wrong account. Clearly trying to cover up their error and the face they gave us someone's full banking information"

"This is a private property you're not allowed to record," the manager says. "Legally I'm not allowed to record?" The customer asks, before following up and asking, "Why?"

"You're not allowed to record, I'm sorry —" and then the video cuts out.

In another video where she speaks into the camera using a filter that turns her face into a potato that has been carved into the shape of a heart, @vancouvermama1 explains that the correct amount of money that was supposed to have been deposited into her account was $43,000 not $48,000.

She also provides further context on the situation. She said that she deposited the check into her account and then three days later when she went to go and pay her suppliers and a few of her employees, she noticed that the funds from the deposited check weren't available.

She said that she sent her husband to the bank to go and see what the issue was, and was speaking with the same associate she recorded in the video for about 25 minutes. The TikToker says that the associate was insisting that the money was in their account and her husband attempted to explain to her that this wasn't the case as he showed her his online banking account to prove the money was never deposited or cleared.

The woman then calls the man John and says she is clearly seeing the money was deposited into his account. The TikToker's husband explained that his name isn't John and that the money was supposed to be placed into his business account. The associate then purportedly asked the customer to call John, a person the man didn't know, to get him to transfer the funds over to him.

He said that this isn't possible because, again, he doesn't know the John this woman is speaking of. She then goes to tell her husband that they must've handed her incorrect account information on the deposit slip and because it was their error there was nothing that they could do about it.

She then went on to say that they would have to go through the process of submitting a transfer request to the other customer who, all of a sudden, had $43,000 out of nowhere deposited into their account to see if they could get their money back. The TikToker's husband, Not-John, said that they didn't use a deposit slip to deposit the check, nor have they ever used it when putting checks into their account.

It was at this point that the TikToker learned that their money issue wasn't being resolved so she drove down to the bank to help deal with the issue. The employee tells her the same thing, that they must've input the wrong information on a deposit slip, but she repeats that they didn't use a deposit slip, adding that they don't even know what the slips are.

She said that they inserted their bank card and a pin, "as [they] always do when [they] submit a check" and they received a receipt, which had their company information on it. After the employee began investigating the issue, the TIkToker says she must've realized the money was deposited into another customer's account.

The employee said the transfer of funds would take 5-10 days because they had to look into the matter and the funds can't simply be "transferred" to their account immediately, to which @vancouvermama1 said wasn't acceptable because they had to use those funds to send out payments.

It was at that point the TikToker decided to start recording and it seems that the problem was ultimately resolved. However, she mentioned in follow-up comments to other users on the platform that she would be reporting the issue to regulatory bureaus in Canada to look into her experience.