Sometime ago, I blogged about the UBA and my ordeal with their ATM card. I just dropped by the bank a couple of minutes ago, to get some cash, lo and behold, after sticking in my card and keying in my PIN number, I was taken to the screen where I am to punch in the amount I would want to cash, only to be told that my PIN number was wrong.
After 3-tries, the machine seized my card, and issued me a piece of paper saying: the transaction was declined by your financial institution…..blah, blah, blah. It was then it occurred to me that ‘hey, I didn’t meet anyone withdrawing from the ATM upon my arrival‘….how come? on a Monday afternoon, and at a time when the branch is usually jam-packed? definitely, something was wrong.
My frowning face and I went inside the bank only to meet a lady in charge of the ATM who was not much surprised by my complaint: your ATM has seized my card.
UBA lady: sir, you didn’t key in the correct PIN number, thats why the machine seized it your card.
Tux: Is it not a 4-digit number, excuse me madam, that thing is malfunctioning and you know it. All I expected you to say is ’sorry’. I use the same PIN for UBA and my other bank for which I also have an ATM, so there’s no way I could have forgotten/mistaken the PIN. Besides I still used that bank’s ATM this morning to confirm a payment into my account in their bank.
UBA lady: if the PIN is correct, it won’t have seized your card.
Tux: ehen, anyway I am not here to argue with you. You are a staff and I am a customer, and pls what I need is that the issue to be resolved, not an argument.
UBA lady: sir, pls come back tomorrow. We cannot retrieve the card today.
Tux: come back tomorrow? I need money today, and you are telling me come back tomorrow.
UBA lady: you can join the queue to withdraw with your withdrawal slip book.
Tux: Queue? what is the purpose of having an ATM if I always have to go around with my card and my withdrawal slip booklet? Your ATM isn’t working well, why allow it to be seizing cards.
UBA lady: sir, we can’t pay you without your booklet.
Tux: you will pay o. You will pay. Your machine is not working and you are telling me that you cannot pay me without my booklet, so I should go home and bring the booklet just because the machine isn’t working. If you cannot pay me without a slip, I need my card.
Aunty, see, if you cannot help me, let me know. I’m not here to waste my time. I’ll find someone else. Can I speak to the branch manager………..
thats when her ears straightened up……
p.s…as I was exchanging words with the UBA staff, there were 3-other customers with the same complaint.
……………..the long story short, I was given a withdrawal slip with which I made my intended withdrawal, only after raising-my-voice, and putting myself in mode ‘about to spark’.
Note: all these ATMs deployed by banks are not full fledged ATMs, for the fact that deposits are not accepted. They are just performing half(cash dispensing) of their expected function and yet they are not performing it well.
(Automatic Teller Machine machine) A banking terminal that accepts deposits and dispenses cash. ATMs are activated by inserting a cash or credit card that contains the user’s account number and PIN on a magnetic stripe. The ATM calls up the bank’s computers to verify the balance, dispenses the cash and then transmits a completed transaction notice. The word “machine” in the term “ATM machine” is certainly redundant, but widely used.
source: ATM Machine on pcmag.com
The bottleneck: why should a bank like the UBA deploy ATM machines whose functionality is on/off, on/off, on/off, blinking like NEPA light? and yet these banks claim to be providing Added Value to their customers.
