Cider Press Hill

Comedy of errors

This afternoon my brand new debit/ATM card arrived in the mail. Hallelujah! I walked outside and plugged the thing in my bank’s conveniently located ATM machine. It refused my transaction saying the pin number was incorrect. Well, okay.

Stopped at the bank on the way home and told them I needed to assign the card a new pin number. No problem, they have a little machine that does it in just a minute or two. With that taken care of, I walked out into the lobby and tried the ATM machine again. It took my pin number and spit a crisp $20 bill out at me. Cool!

Then the receipt popped out and the balance was...oh several orders of magnitude lower than it should have been. In fact, it looked exactly like the lad’s spare change balance before I deposited $20 into his account this morning. Funny, that.

I walked back in the bank and both the manager and the other desk person were busy. So I told one of the tellers that it appeared my brand new ATM card was for the wrong account. My son’s account. NOT mine. She filled out a form with the correct account numbers and had me sign it and told me my new ATM card would arrive in the mail in about 10 days.

So, let’s recap. I placed my first order on September 1st. On the 13th I wandered into the bank to find out where my new card was. Lo and behold...the order had never been processed. So they reordered the card and told me it would be another 10 days. It actually turned out to be 12 days, but what are two days among friends. Add another 10 or 12 days to that and now we’re looking at October 5th or, possibly, October 7th. That’s a heck of a long wait for a debit/ATM card.

As I started to leave the bank, the manager’s customer walked away so I plopped myself into her chair and said, “I am not a happy customer.” I told her the situation and said that I did not want to wait another 10 days for a card. I want one now. Today. I’ve waited long enough.

She agreed and said, “I can fix it right here. No problem.” Huh? How come the teller didn’t know that? In any case, she did something on her computer and reassigned my brand new card to my account and told me to go try it in the ATM machine in the lobby. It worked! Perfectly. I redeposited the first crisp $20 back into the lad’s account.

Wasn’t too long after I came home that I received a panicked phone call from the lad who said that his pin number isn’t working any more. What’s he supposed to do now? I told him to try mine and get back to me. He did and my pin number worked. We will both have to redo our pin numbers. He’ll have to wait until he comes home for Christmas, but I suppose the one I assigned to the card when it was “his” will do for now.

Man, what a comedy (Unfunny) of errors.

Posted on 09/25/06 at 04:30 PM
 




Karan

You don’t bank at a bank with the initials bofa do you?  Sounds just like ‘em.

United States   Posted by Karan on 09/25/06  at  05:09 PM





Kate

Nope, not bofa. Just a little community savings bank that has, up to now, been completely reliable.

What I DO NOT understand is how the lad’s pin number doesn’t work on his card anymore and why mine does. As far as I know, the pin number is supposed to be magnetically imprinted on the magnetic strip on the back of the card. I think, anyway. It appears that can be overwritten internally which is kind of scary. I think.

United States   Posted by Kate on 09/25/06  at  06:23 PM





Karan

I think I get it...you changed your pin number when it was attached to your son’s card.  Then the bank changed the account associated with your ATM card to your account.  That left the old card held by your son with the password you attached to it and your current ATM card now with your account and pin #.  Right?

BTW...if your little bank has an online branch your son might be able to change his pin number there without waiting until he comes home.

United States   Posted by Karan on 09/26/06  at  01:34 AM





justme

LOL. This kind of thing would only happen to you, or me! Yeash. I won’t be able to make it over today :( E has my car, and a list of things for me to get done today. He just loooooves to delegate when I am not working lol. Tomorrow I will have my car back, but he has a small list of things for me, so I should be able to make it over tomorrow? I will try and call you later ok.

United States   Posted by justme on 09/26/06  at  10:36 AM





justme

LMAO. You just would not believe what my word was for my last post (or this one, hecate) ...... Felicitas, as in Perpetua’s slave! LOL. But I think I would rather think of the Greek goddess of good luck thankyouverymuch.

United States   Posted by justme on 09/26/06  at  10:50 AM





Kate

Yes, I was thinking more along the lines of the Roman goddess. Not wanting to step on any toes here or anything, but leave it to the Catholic Church to turn the butchered martyred saint Felicitas into the poster girl for rotten lousy luck. That’s a twisted take on a name whose roots mean luck and happiness.

And then there’s the grisly story of Saint Felicity. Makes one wonder how the word felicity ever maintained its happy face.

United States   Posted by Kate on 09/26/06  at  12:09 PM





Kate

Well, I don’t know Karan. I called the bank this morning to inquire and they informed me that this is simply not possible. So...I guess it’s a MIRACLE. I’m so confused.

United States   Posted by Kate on 09/26/06  at  12:22 PM





justme

oh talk about miracles....... I went to cancel my old cell phone yesterday and the charge card number that they have to bill me, doesn’t match ANY card number I have. But by some miracle, it comes out of my bank account every month.
I asked the guy, with a chuckle if they were tied in with aol or something and didn’t want me to cancel lol. He laughed and in the end I gave him enough info for him to cancel. But damned if either of us could figure out how it was going through every month. Now I have to call the bank, you know the one I just love. And yes Karan, it is the one with the letters bofa. Uhggggggggggg.

United States   Posted by justme on 09/26/06  at  02:46 PM





Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.

Cider Press Hill

Next entry: Yes on 1

Previous entry: Sunday things