The mother of a 17-year-old claims the Bank of Bermuda is failing its customers after her son's $700 deposit went missing for several weeks.

Korrin Lightbourne deposited his hard-earned cash into his account on August 3 via ATM.

He thought he'd lost the money forever when the deposit wasn't reflected almost a month later.

"I cashed my cheque and went to the ATM to avoid standing in line. It was my usual Monday routine," he said.

"Wednesday came and it wasn't in. Thursday, it still wasn't there. Friday, Saturday, still no money."

A week after making the deposit, he tried to talk to bank officials, but they told him there was little they could do if he didn't have a receipt.

Several days later, he said that he received a phone call from the bank which gave him some hope the hope didn't last long.

"They told me there was a problem with the system and that I would get the money put in my account by the end of the day. That was last week Friday, and the money still hasn't appeared," he told The Royal Gazette on Monday.

This newspaper contacted the bank later that day asking for comment. The following day, the teenager received a phone call telling him that the money had been placed in his account.

"They told me it had just been sitting there," he said. "They also apologised for it taking so long.

"I wasn't even listening when they told me what exactly happened. I was just happy to have the money back."

His mother, Jennifer Caines, insisted that the bank should be doing more to help its customers.

She said earlier this week: "He's getting frustrated because every time you call the bank, all you get are machines. You shouldn't have to go through that. It's discouraging.

"If someone was stealing money from the ATM, they would find it real quick. They would go straight to the videotape."

A Bank of Bermuda spokesperson would only say that ATMs record all transactions and the information can be used to investigate incidents.

"We retain this record for years so even if the client does not have the receipt, we are able to check back to confirm the history of the transaction," said the spokesperson. "The best route for clients is to contact us directly so that the entire transaction can be investigated and the issue corrected."

Korrin said the incident worried him but he is still depositing money at the bank for now. He expressed concern that there could be another mistake that hits him even harder.

"I'm starting to get a bit sceptical about putting money in the bank at all. I mean, what else is going to happen? What's next?"