The atm machine ate my atm card help
@Hatley (163776)
Garden Grove, California
May 1, 2008 1:22pm CST
Hi mylotters has this ever happened to you?
You go through the various step so deposit
money to your account and you are almost
through and you somehow must have paused a
moment too long on your last click and ohmyG
my atm card is swallowed up. I cannot pull
it out. help, then you go in and stand in line
and tell the bank teller that your atm card got
swallowed up. She looks down her nose at you as if you had a
bad odor and asks which machine was it. So now
you hope that its no big deal. wrong. For some
unfathomable reason they do not just open up the machine
and take it out. oh no she then tells you that you must call the help number of your bank, tell them what happen, and they will send you a new card with a new number. You cannot believe this
but you ask how long it will take. she says rather
disdainfully about seven working days. I once again
ask but cannot you just remove it from the machine rather
than have to go through all that. So she just repeats
what she has told you before slowly as though she
thinks you are an idiot. Do any of you understand why
she could not have just taken my card out of the machine
in the first place?
5 people like this
17 responses
@sparkofinsanity (20471)
• Regina, Saskatchewan
2 May 08
Most atm machines work on timers and can't be opened before the due time. They are also password protected so that the only people who can get into them between those times are the ones that refill them or service them. Very few people will have the passwords.
If you were at an atm that wasn't your own bank, then for sure they would not get your card back. They would have to send it back to your bank for verification of ownership by the issuing bank. But if you go to your own bank and tell them what happened, they should be able to issue you a temporary card on the spot that you can use until your new one comes in the mail.
1 person likes this
@sparkofinsanity (20471)
• Regina, Saskatchewan
2 May 08
Different banks, different rules I guess Hatley. I know my bank just gives me a temporary card when I lose mine - which I seem to do on a regular basis! LOL
Maybe that's why they keep blanks on hand? They KNOW I'm going to be wanting one real soon! ROFL
I'm glad the fellow you talked to was courteous. What a gift after such an inconvenience and aggravation.
1 person likes this
@lordwarwizard (35747)
• Singapore
11 May 08
Hi Patsie,
What luck! 
Murphy's law... ouch.
Sorry to hear about this.
Murphy's law... ouch.
Sorry to hear about this.@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
12 May 08
lordwarwizard I did learn to grab mycard at once.lol
@lucy02 (5015)
• United States
2 May 08
I haven't had that happen to me yet and if its that much trouble I hope it never does. Why couldn't she do the logical
thing and just open the machine? Well that would make our lives a little easier and that just can't be done!
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
4 May 08
I was told that the machine actually damages your card on purpose so nobody else can use it lol
@violeta_va (4831)
• Australia
2 May 08
The reason they cant just open it is because it is destroed right away. I asked the last time it happened to my husband as it was stuck inside but was still visable from outside my husband had to push it in so at least no one can take it. I called and asked what if someone got it they told me no one can as it is magnetised or something like that.
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
4 May 08
yes thats exactly what they told me too so now
I grab my card the instant I am through
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
3 May 08
they do it differently at Bof A so now I am much more careful.
@nikhil00007 (21)
• India
2 May 08
atm machine it is the one of the most interesting and awesome thing discovered by man to get money through the card given to the customer all over the coverage area and when the person wants to get money he must insert the card into the machine and as well as the card is entered he must enter the password then the machine asks for the options.. so almost all the people who uses the machine dont know the exact thing how to use that so when the person uses the atm machine first time the machine only guide to the person for proper assistance so that the user that is using the machine will get the information and it is very useful for him for further transactions.. In some atm machines the card is gone outside and if user delays for some time to take it out the machine is going to take the card inside... So it is the responsibility of the machine code generaters to return the card very carefully...........................
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
3 May 08
the atm is one awesome machine and it pays to grab
your card at once.
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
2 May 08
Isn't it the pits and you have to call long distance and then wait for seven days. should be made easier that that.
@vanities (11395)
• Davao, Philippines
2 May 08
likewise here cant understand the procedure ...why on earth they have to issue another card?? when all they had to do is get it...or otherwise the authorized officer whose gonna took it was not there or maybe the schedule route for the officer was not on the time when you get it...thats why you must call the help number of your bank or whatever..or maybe shes giving you another alternative to make it fast..
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
2 May 08
Oh there was nothing fast about it the help line is in another state Arizona and there they were very courterous but it took a whole week just the same.
@whiteheather39 (24403)
• United States
1 May 08
It could possibly be a security issue. What if someone was standing behind you and saw what happened and went into the bank and asked for and received your card. That would cause even more trouble. Better safe than sorry but I don't really know as I have never ever used an ATM machine. I prefer to either go into the bank or use drive in services.
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
2 May 08
I am sure it was as they have to be sure nobody is going to get into my account. I do not use the atm as much now as I live much further away. see I wear a brace on my left leg and special orthopedic shoes so its hard for me to stand in a line inside the bank for very long as my left foot begins to hurt. thus I use the atm machine so as to be done at once. and also I do not drive nor own a car,an oddity here in southern ca lol
@Angelwhispers (8978)
• United States
1 May 08
no hatley, I have no idea what the rules are regarding opening the ATM, but I suspect that they do it before they open, and perhaps it is alarm protected and maybe can only be opened at certain times. This is just a guess, I have never had that happen to me, and hardly ever use one. Just in an emergency. I am so sorry for your aggravation.
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
2 May 08
that is probably it. at the time I was using it quite often as I lived so close by now I take out enought to last so I do not have to make as many trips
@whywiki (6066)
• Canada
1 May 08
I went out one Saturday night to go to a friends place to party and then go to the pub. It was snowing heavily and I had no cash on me. I put the card in and swoop in and goes to never return. I had to walk 3 miles in the blinding snow and borrow money to go out! I was so pi$$ed off!
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
2 May 08
whywiki you really did have a rough time so I can imagine
you were really teed off.
@youless (112595)
• Guangzhou, China
2 May 08
The ATM machine sometimes will have some problems, such as eating the card. Sometimes it even doesn't giving money but your your account is withdrawn. I also experienced that I deposit money to the ATM machine but it didn't give me any response. That's somewhat a little worry for me. At that time if the bank staff is there, I will go to tell them about this problem. And they will ask me to fill a form. And everything will be fixed next day. If there is nobody there, then I have to call the bank and they will also check the machine and then fix the problem next day.
I love China
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
3 May 08
thats great youless we should all love our countries
I was really pleasantly surprised at how courteous
the man at headquarters was and i got my new card in
five days.
@terri0824 (4991)
• United States
2 May 08
You would think that would be the simple thing do to but I am sure they have their procedures in place for that when an atm machine eats a card. I've never had that happen to me, but I know I sure would be frustrated to have to wait seven days for a new card when the simple thing of them to do would be to retrieve the card from the machine.
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
3 May 08
they tell me at headquarters that the machine actually
chews on the edges so it cannot be reused lol
@gemini_rose (16264)
•
1 May 08
I think your atm machines are different than the UK ones as we cannot deposit money into them, we have to go into the bank to do that. For our cards to be eaten by the atm machine, we have to put our pin numbers in wrong 3 times, if we do that that is when our card gets eaten!
I am not sure what happens if we get our cards eaten by the atm, but I think it is pretty much the same as for you, we have to report it and then we get a new card and number sent out. Luckily up to now I have not managed to get my card eaten!!
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
2 May 08
hi gemini rose yesours are different but for a long time they had fixed it so we co uld not deposit either but had to go inside the bank so now they have new machines and you can once again deposit in the atms. now I have learned to grab my card immediately after my last transaction.
@graceandowen (1637)
•
1 May 08
I remember once i was out on a boozy night out with the girls and we decided to stay out a little longer as we were having such a good time so off i went to the ATM and put the card in the slot, little did i realise it was my other card and i was putting the pin in for the usual card i used, it ate it and i was furious, i was kicking the machine wanting it back because i knew then i would have to go home and i wasnt a happy bunny :(
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
2 May 08
me either and I kept thinking oh they will just open up
the machine in the back and take out the card. wah.
@jesbellaine (4139)
• Philippines
1 May 08
What the heck!
THat did happened to me last year. My ATM card was being "swallowed" by the ATM machine. lolz.
I have to wait until the bank opens at 9AM, thank goodness that there are techs there who can stillopen the machine for me hehehe. Lucky me I guess!
According to the teller, they can't just open the machine to take out the ATM cards because there are scheduled like *every other day" on when they check stuck up ATM cards there... Lucky me since they have to put money on the machine that day... I got it right after that.
Cheers!
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
2 May 08
you really were lucky good for you jesbellaine.
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
2 May 08
I think for one thing you feel so silly as if had I just
been a few seconds faster itwould not have happened.lol
