I asked a friend of mine to buy me something at Gilmore yesterday. She had already delivered the item to our place yesterday. This morning, my friend asked me to send the payment thru her Smart Money account. So I immediately went to BDO to make the deposit. I inquired the teller on what form shall I use to make a Smart Money deposit. The teller replied that I should use the Orange form (Bills Payment). After filling-up the form with my friend’s Name and Smart Money Card Number (BTW, the amount is just Php500.00), I fell in the queue line.

Minutes later, it was my turn for service. I handed over the Bills Payment form and money to the teller, and she asked if I have with me the Smart Money card. Of course, I will NOT have the card! She refused to accept my “deposit/payment”, as it is in their policy that the Smart Money card must be physically present when doing a deposit to it. What?! Are you kidding me?!

I asked for the branch manager, whom I know since I maintain my BDO account there. She explained to me that if ever there is an error in the encoding of the Smart Money card in the Bills Payment slip, there is NO way for them to reverse the transaction and to credit the amount to the correct Smart Money card account. I told them that I am very much sure of the Smart Money card number, as it was sent to me by my friend. So she instructed her teller to accept my transaction.

I think it is (sorry for the term) STUPIDITY on the part of BDO to require persons loading, topping-up, depositing, or whatever term you wish to call it, their Smart Money accounts to present their cards when doing such transactions. Some people opted to get a Smart Money card for purposes of Money Transfers and Remittance.

How in the world will it be possible for someone who is sending money (hear and abroad) to someone to get hold of the receipient’s Smart Money card? Does it mean that they are limiting the transaction to the Smart Money card holder themselves only?

Kaya di lumalaganap eCommerce sa Pilipinas e! Better use Globe GCash.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robert “Bob” Reyes is a technologist, an ICT Consultant and Tech Speaker, a certified Google IT Support Specialist, and an Open Source advocate representing the global non-profit Mozilla (makers of Firefox) in the Philippines. Bob is a Technology Columnist for the Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation and an aviation subject matter expert contributor for Spot.PH.

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24 thoughts on ““Stupidity” of BDO: Smart Money Transactions”
  1. hehehe.. ang bobo naman nung teller sa BDO.. woooooot!

    Thanks for this post, yung orange form pala kukunin ko. Para di na ako mag tanong pag punta ko ng BDO. yey!

  2. Now I understand why using Smart Money is definitely not a smart decision. Their “Customer Care” group and system need overhauling. Your patience will be tested each time you call their 845-7777. My last phone transaction was on 1/11/10 @ 220PM. Due to the so many times I was put on hold, the call finally ended at 311PM.
    What is the call about ? To follow up the PIN mailer !! It’s that simple. They don’t know the status of delivery. My first call for follow up was on December 18,2009.

  3. Di nman po maganda ang globe. di ka makakapgpadala ng pera kpag di ka registered sa gcash at kung ndi ka globe… hayz. I tried once kc. need nung couzin ko mgpatransfer ng pea sa isang gcash no. apparently ndi pde ung couzin ko kc my klase.. kaya ako pumanta sa Globe center. Sbi ko Money Transfer tru gcash. Tnanong sa akin kung registered daw ba aq sa gcash. tpos ayun. need pa daw globe. eh. paano un. Smar user ako eh.

  4. I think the confusion started between a transfer and a deposit…

    Deposit term is used if you are the owner of the account.

    Transfer is when you are putting money on someone else’s smart money account.

  5. hay bkit ganun ung atm smart money card.d man lng tanggapin s lahat ng atm machine.peo malman nman ung atm account q…

  6. i think they need to restrict to prevent scams. kasi dami nagreklamo (matagal na issue na to eh) after nila magpadala ng paymetn thru either smartmoney or gcash.. nawawala bigla ang seller.. at di na macontact…

    kay minsan nirerequire nila na dala yong card. dunno if its already lifted.. this is the case i think 3 yrs ago pa.

    best thing is to deposit to a smart wireless center.. mas mabilis pa yata. 🙂

  7. commento lang…. nasa rules kasi yun paps na bawal na wala ang card… kasi nga kung may pagkakamali sa isang numero eh hindi na pwede ibalik ang pera… ang problema lang is yung teller dapat sinabi nya sa iyo na kapag mali ang number eh bawal nga ibalik… you cant call it stupidity… but security purpose lang….

  8. hi guys, its a protocol with bdo people. I work in a remittance company and we are a smart and bdo tie up.Kasi po ung smart money system pg nilagay mo ung card # hindi nagaapear ung name so kung hindi tally according dun sa name na nilalagay mo at smart money # sorry ka na lng gudbye na ang pera mo.

  9. Well, sino kaya ang mas stupid? Here’s my actual experience kahapon lang, 1:30 pm calling Smart Money Hotline 15177.I need to verify my paypal but I have no credit card from PH. Luckily I have Smart Money Card but need to be reactivated.I live quite far from the city kaya I made sure na hassle free ang transaction ko going to KORONADAL CITY smart wireless center to reload my old SM card. Called 15177 and asked if ok bang magreload/reactivate ng smart money card using US credit card? After a long waiting period,she came back and answered yes its possible.I double checked saying my SM card is inactive na but will deposit using credit card in smart wireless center, again she confirmed yes its no problem at all. So drive to the city, wait in line sa sales..fill up reactivation form..wait in line sa cashier, 2 hours after, I was told, sorry maam we dont accept credit card payment sabay simangot with the look of “ang tanga mo”? WTF@#$#@!!!! Right there I called the 15177 again trying to be reconnected to the girl (Genevieve) who got my call..”sorry maam, we cant do that”. Do they really record conversations? Nirereview ba talaga ang mga calls afterwards? kasi andami ko nang narinig na complaints how boobitz ang mga tumatanggap ng calls/inquiries sa smart hotline.

  10. That was honest of you. I also had a problem with my Smart Money. First when I tried to go to a BDO branch to load the card, they can’t do it. They said I need to go to Smart. A smart wireless it is, I went and I deposited P2000. I checked my balance and it was P0.00. What the bloody heck right? I applied for a Smart Money card to verify my PayPal account but since Smart Money became pain in the @$$, I can’t verify my PayPal. I was devastated because I thought Smart money was the only way I can verify PayPal without a credit card, no matter my mom wanted me to use anything but a credit card while I’m still a teenager. I was crying while googling “verify paypal without credit card philippines” then I found EON VISA debit card and I got the card immediately after I submitted the eon form. My Smart Buddy sim card is now expired, before that, I went back to the smart wireless center, I then load the sim card so they can check the smart money balance and they also had it not working. I told them my another complaint which was I can’t also withdraw the P2000 on any BDO and Megalink ATM. They advised me to call Smart, I did but the one I talked trough the phone told me I need to go to the highest Smart colonel. Now I just think why make it very complicated when  it’s just so simple, I have my receipt and my smart money that says 0 balance.  After that bullshit of contacting Smart, I just found out for myself that they can’t fix it though they can, they’re just very poor in customer service.

  11. well, your friend SHOULD HAVE TOLD YOU TO SEND THE MONEY thru SMART WIRELESS CENTER instead of loading her card thru BDO…she knows that the card is really presented to the teller before you can make a deposit to a particular smart money card account.
    the system is really for the client’s protection and we should appreciate such a system.

  12. nag transact ako kahapon sa smart money thru bdo, and until now, hindi pa lumalabas sa smart money yung payment ko, i have the correct card number naman. anyone knows issue na katulad sakin? i hope na nawala na sa hangin yung transaction ko, how do i resolve this issue? thanks.

  13. Is there anyone can help me how to verify yung account na pinadalhan ko ng pera sa smart money rhru bdo, posible b na makita ko ung address ng painaldahan ko. Meron po kac aqng biniling unit sa knya usapan namin padala ko ing payment ko thru smart money then ung unit ko thru lbc kasmaang palad naideposit ko na ung pera perodi nua pinadala ung unit ko. Sana matulungan nyo poako. Thanks..

  14. @pao…we had the same situation. nung nagdeposit din ako sa BDO ng 1000 for my smart money nung July 2, 3days na di ko pa rin natatanggap…everyday ko pinafollow up sa smart yun at yun pa rin ang sinasabi nila na baka this day ma-credit na..tanong ko lang na-credit ba sa account mo yung dineposit mo since nung May mo pa na-post yung problem, coz i’m beginning to worry na di ko na talaga matatanggap yung 1000 ko.

  15. Ok naman smartmoney ko since 2008 pa ako gumagamit ng smart money, sa katunayan nga 3 cards na pinadala sa kin, nakapag transfer naman ng money thru BDO ang asawa ko na hindi dala ang card. Pati yung employer ko online sa smartmoney nya pinadala ang sahud ko.

  16. i do my transactions using smartmoney but never experience such stupidity from tellers in our area. They will just ask if i often send money to this account, will of course i answered YES. No hesitation, my deposit is accepted and had a copy of that bill payment receipt.

  17. Same situation here! Nagtuturuan sila! (Bdo-smart money). Ngpadala ko sa bdo para kay smart money tama nmn lahat acct number at name ng pinadalhan pati ref number until now wala pa daw transaction na pumapasok sa smart money at invalid daw ref number eto nmn si bdo tama nmn daw ref number nagtuturuan sila 4 days na di pa nakukuha at medyo malaking halaga! Abuloy ko na lng sa kanila pag nagkataong di makuha!

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