I learned something today: automatic teller machines have time-limits. As in... one swipes one's card in the slot, keys in his transaction, the machine whirs and beeps, and money appears in the slot. Then the clock starts. If, at the end of the specified time limit...which appears to be about 30 seconds... you haven't retrieved your money from said slot, the machine EATS IT. The money returns from whence it came and you're left standing there, going "WTF?"So. To make a long story short: I'm temporarily out $200.00. A quick call to my credit union and the kind folks working there tell me "not to worry" and my account will be credited immediately (and provisionally) for the missing two hundred bucks. A permanent credit will be issued once they hear from the financial institution that owns the machine and get their money back.
Let us pray this isn't the first shot in what could be a long war.
But... who knew, eh? I've been using ATMs for about 25 years and this is the very first time anything like this ever happened to me. You can bet it will be the LAST time, though.
My dad sent me to the ATM with his card once to pick him up some cash. Gave me the wrong PIN, and as soon as I entered it I was informed that I would not be getting the card back. One shot, one kill, and the old man had make a few phone calls to get his card replaced.
ReplyDeleteBut, but, but...you neglected to share what you were doing for 30 seconds before the machine ate your $$$...
ReplyDeleteAndy: One shot, one kill? I lost my card one time when I absentmindedly keyed in my security ID card PIN, rather than my ATM PIN... THRRE times. Then the machine ate it. I felt really dumb, to say the least...
ReplyDeleteAnn: I was being my anal-retentive self... "organizing" the bills in my pocket in denomination order before adding the money from the ATM to the fold. I took too long and the machine ate the money...
Oh man - did not know about that. But then again, I'm always eager to get my cash, so I don't dawdle.
ReplyDelete:-)
I was actually shorted by an ATM once...no kidding. I called my bank, they credited my account, (provisionally, like yours) and I got my money back, no problem. Seems the machines are "reconciled" daily and "know" when they have too much in them.
ReplyDeleteWho knew?
Probably won't even be an issue...hopefully!
SN1
My question, Buck, was the same as Ann's. I figured you were doing something in your pocket, but if I'd been guessing, it wouldn't have been rearranging bills. I'd stick with that story though. It at least has the benefit of plausible deniability. >-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip though. I'll just make sure the bills in my pocket are arranged before I leave the house.
Yes, Doc, hmmm, well, I'm just glad the 30 second "gap" is cleared up...
ReplyDelete...and a lesson to all of us a-r folks - flip and sort before or after standing at the ATM.
I rarely use the ATM. I do use ATVs now and then :)
ReplyDeleteSome semi-dirty minds here... LOL ... or maybe just active imaginations.
ReplyDeleteWhen my son in law was here in December, he put his card into an ATM on the Plaza in Santa Fe and it ATE his card. Made it inconvenient for him as he was on vacation, and wanted the card to get cash as he needed it.
Me .. I've never used one and doubt that I ever will. I never did really trust them.
Lou...HAHAHA!!!!
Buck sez: I was actually shorted by an ATM once...no kidding.
ReplyDeleteWow... that's quite unusual. I used to count my money after getting it, but quit doing that years ago... never having been short-changed. I guess maybe I should start again!
Doc: Do I sense some small amount of projection here? ;-)
Ann sez: ...and a lesson to all of us a-r folks - flip and sort before or after standing at the ATM.
Yup. That's the first lesson I learned yesterday!
Lou sez: I rarely use the ATM. I do use ATVs now and then :)
Dang! ATVs dispense MONEY? Who knew?
Sharon sez: Me .. I've never used one and doubt that I ever will. I never did really trust them.
I'm the EXACT opposite. I never go into a bank these days, except to get rolls of quarters for the laundromat (ptui!). If I could get quarters out of an ATM... I would. ATMs are just so EASY. (Most of the time)
No, ATV's eat money!
ReplyDeleteBuck, I just love the stories you have on your site. Oh, hahaha, arranging money for more than 30 seconds. Oh, hahahahahahahahahaha.
ReplyDeleteYou have one of the world's greatest gifts for invention.
Now, I, myself, don't usually carry such a vast in bills. In fact, my time (I clocked myself after reading this post) for sorting out 323 dollars was 14 seconds.
Now c'mon, tell us what you were really doing?
I swear to The Deity, Cat, the story is true. There was slightly more to it, though. The first six or ten seconds involved putting my ATM card back in my wallet and wallet to pocket. Then I set about organizing my money... which was complicated by the fact I'd made two shopping stops prior to hitting the ATM, stuffing the loose bills I got in change from buying beer and gas in my pocket. So... sorting through the mishmash of fives and ones, smoothing them out, and integrating them into the existing wad of bills took all that time. Really.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember the last time I used an ATM, Buck.
ReplyDeleteI'm one of those annoying women who uses her card to pay for a pack of gum at the stop n go. I am nearly always cashless.
I would probably have a panic attack if an atm swallowed my money back up, then I would get seriously annoyed that I had to go talk to a bank person to retrieve it.
I would probably have a panic attack if an atm swallowed my money back up, then I would get seriously annoyed that I had to go talk to a bank person to retrieve it.
ReplyDeleteI came damned close to a panic attack, myself. And I was seriously annoyed when I went to talk to the Cannon AFB Credit Union people about getting my money back... more so when they called later and said "Sorry, you have to call YOUR credit union... WE can't give you your money back." Hunh? Say WHAT?