Westpac ATM stole my Debit plus card!!!

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Forums › Finance and wealth management › Westpac ATM stole my Debit plus card!!!

sdavisnz

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#142591 18-Mar-2014 10:39

----- Rant ------

Went to a westac atm in albany yesterday and tried to get $50 cash out - typed in my pin - asked for money and then the machine swallowed my card and said please refer to card issuer. this is so f******n annoying.

called my bank anz and they had no idea why that happened and are going to send me a new card.

is this acceptable behavior by the atm to chew my card?

----- Rant over ------

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Geektastic

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#1007941 18-Mar-2014 10:44

Possibly the card was damaged in some way not visible to you (e.g. magnetically etc)

Many moons ago when I was up at College, a friend in the room next door to mine in Halls had a similar experience. He banked with Coutts.

He rang the bank and made a fuss - a few days later, he received a letter something along the lines of

Dear Mr Random-Name

I am writing to apologise on behalf of the bank for the inconvenience caused when your card was retained by a cashpoint machine on (date).

I have today made arrangements for you to be able to cash personal cheques for up to £1000 per day at Nat West branches in the town. I have also ordered a replacement
card which will be delivered to you by courier in a few days.

I cannot apologise enough and if there is anything else I can do, please do not hesitate to contact me.

With Kind Regards

A Manager

The letter was signed by hand, in fountain pen.

I wish all banks were like Coutts.

Sideface

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#1007943 18-Mar-2014 10:45

How many times did you enter your pin #?

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sdavisnz

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#1007945 18-Mar-2014 10:46

only once - and i was waiting for the cash to come out when it happened.

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Handsomedan

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#1007946 18-Mar-2014 10:46

Sounds like a serious issue with either the card or account security, to me.

You could have gone to your local ANZ and got a replacement card on the spot, theoretically...

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kobiak

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#1007952 18-Mar-2014 10:50

I previously had a transparent visa card and every single ASB ATM I tried (I tried two :)) would swallow it without giving me any options on the screen. Luckly, both times ATM were within bank premises and they recovered my card within 5 mins.

ANZ and National Bank ATMs where fine at the time.

helping others at evgenyk.nz

sen8or

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#1007975 18-Mar-2014 11:26

Don't you usually have to take the card out before the cash is dispensed?

I remember many moons ago when I worked for ASB, that was one of the most common reasons for cards being swallowed by the machine, waiting for the cash when the card was 1/2 way out, then as a "security measure" machine captures card and doesn't dispense the cash either. Also happened if you tried to put the card back into the machine before the transaction was completed.

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Rickles

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#1008065 18-Mar-2014 13:30

What's "cash", Daddy?

sdavisnz

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#1008115 18-Mar-2014 14:29

Cash money!!!!!!!

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nigelj

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#1008119 18-Mar-2014 14:37

sdavisnz: Went to a westac atm in albany yesterday and tried to get $50 cash out - typed in my pin - asked for money and then the machine swallowed my card and said please refer to card issuer. this is so f******n annoying.

called my bank anz and they had no idea why that happened and are going to send me a new card.

To be honest, they'd most likely need to ask Westpac, and then I'd guess inter-bank politics get involved and you'd never know the answer.

is this acceptable behavior by the atm to chew my card?

100% acceptable, if the ATM thinks there is anything fishy (fraud, skimming, damaged card, etc) is going on, it's completely fair for it to be overly cautious than 'here is your money, have a good day' and never seeing it again.

It's completely possible that it didn't notice something was wrong until it tried to process the debit.

Curious though, by Albany are you talking the town centre, or the Westfield mall? ANZ have far more ATMs (and to be honest, to my knowledge, accessible ATMs) in the mall than Westpac (whose ATM is outside), you'd have been better off using an ANZ ATM.

Side note: Most banks issue a normal EFTPos card, and Visa/MC Debit card, which covers the same accounts, you should really consider using only your non Visa/MC card at the ATM in my opinion as the disruption on reissue is likely to be lower if the card numbers change (online use etc).

EDIT: Also, out of interest, did the ATM go 'Out of Order' or anything after the 'Contact Card Issurer' screen, or did it appear to resume normal operation, it's possible that the ATM noticed something suspect about the way it was loaded with cash (i.e. cash canisters mixed up)