Can you tell me if you have a customer complete an affidavit or sworn statement when they claim they were shorted on an ATM withdrawal either from your own atm machine or a competitor's? I did a site search but haven't been able to find a sworn statement template.

No, we don't have them complete an affidavit in this case, only when an item is presented as fraud.

If they were shorted we do have them complete a request for error resolution, then check the machine (or send a request through the network).

We go balance the machine and check the audit tape. No affidavit here.

The only time we ask the customer to sign an Affidavit is when the customer has submitted a claim of unauthorized card use. If the customer claims that they were shorted, we complete the paperwork and send it to our ATM processor to perform an investigation. They quickly are able to determine whether or not the machine cash was long/short and we conclude the investigation based on their results.

Usually, the ATM maintains or prints an internal event log (sometimes called an audit journal) that includes not only all the transactions it processes, but also all fault codes it detects as it processes them. So the machine may be able to tell its "handlers" exactly how much money was dispensed on a short-dispense, or whether some of the customer's cash was diverted back to the machine (it's amazing how many people fail to take it all or leave it sitting there in "present" mode until the machine "thinks" the cash has been abandoned).

I have suggested that our staff think of their ATM machines as another teller - what if a customer said a teller shorted them? How would you handle it? Audit of the teller drawer, customer relations, goodwill...

For your bank's records you will want an audit trail, to help justify the cash out. While the ATMs records are the key justification, this form wouldn't hurt and may be easier than managing multiple forms.

This is moot if you depend on just the ATM's records but you'd likely still want to cross reference the customer's name.

Your form could also be multi-purpose to include a detailed and non-detailed section, but still be used to document the error and resolution.