The ATM ate my card

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This happened yesterday at a branch of Bank of China in Kunming, where I live. Same thing occurred once before in another city, a long time ago. Thought it might be a useful review for people new to China. 

 

The transaction I was attempting (a cash deposit) didn't work, for whatever unknown reason. My card just disappeared. I pushed the button on the speaker box beside the ATM and told the lady who answered. She told me to just walk inside the bank and get one of the employees to help since it was still during business hours. I'm not sure whether they would have been able to respond if I had spoken English; I didn't try that. My guess is that it might have involved a delay, but that an English-speaking employee would have eventually become available.  

 

So I walked inside and got one of the "rent-a-cop" bank guards 保安 who stroll around with a long billy club, plastic helmet liner, and what looks like an imitation bullet-proof vest. Told him my situation. I didn't want to get too far from the ATM in case it suddenly spit out my card when the next person walked up to it and attempted a new transaction. I wanted to keep an eye on the ATM. 

 

He fetched an actual bank employee who told me to go sit down. I explained my concern about someone else making off with my card and she told me that would not happen. I took a deep breath and did as instructed. They gave me a number from the 挂号 machine. The branch manager came out in a couple minutes and asked if I had my 身份证。I told her I had my 护照 (passport.) She asked if the card was a BOC card or another kind (from another bank.) I told her it was one of theirs and that I was a regular customer. 

 

Waited ten or fifteen minutes, seated in the lobby. She walked by again and flashed a card, asked if it looked like mine. It was a gold card 金卡 and I told her that was the kind I had lost, although I couldn't see the number to confirm. She did not want to let go of it; could not hand it to me to check. Had to follow procedure. The card does not bear my name, though it does have my signature on the back. 

 

Waited another ten or fifteen minutes and my number was called to go to Window Three. The teller asked for my passport and made copies. A supervisor came over, looked at the passport, looked at me, and signed off on the form that I looked pretty much like the guy in the photo. Teller kept on working; had to make a phone call. I was guessing that the call was to the bank's Kunming home office. (Cannot confirm.) Then she used a machine on my side of the window to ask me to verify my account number. I didn't remember the number (many digits) and she still had the card. I told her that and she called the teller supervisor to come over again. 

 

They asked my approximate balance and they asked the approximate date of my last transaction before today. I remembered those and told them. Then I recalled that I had the account number in my phone, encrypted in a "password manager" vault app that I use. I looked it up and verified it for them. 

 

I signed a form attesting that it was my card. That took another couple minutes. Then they gave my card back. I told her I'd like to go ahead and complete my transaction, a cash deposit 存款 or 存款钱。I handed over the cash and they generated another form. I had to sign the form and input my PIN number into the verification machine on my side of the glass partition. 

 

Finished. Took between 30 and 45 minutes during mid-afternoon on a weekday. Not bad. Seemed to be off peak, judging by how many customers were in the lobby waiting for service. Told a local friend about it later. He said I had not used the most 地道 (native) term. Should say "ATM 呑了我的卡“。That means "swallow" (tun1). I had used a different verb: "ate" (ATM 吃了我的卡.) Doubt it really matters much; they seemed to understand what I meant. 

 

If I had not just happened to have my passport with me, I would have had to go home and get it, then return. Could have easily been the next day. My friend says he has had to wait several days to get his card back when it got "swallowed" at a bank which was different from the issuing bank. (Like using a Merchant's Bank card at an ICBC ATM. He remembered a friend who had a card "swallowed" by a machine that was in front of a store, instead of attached to a bank, and that took nearly a week to get straightened out. 

 

Staff was polite and efficient. It just took some time. Could put a big crimp in travel plans if one were a tourist using a card from back home while just passing through. One of several reasons to always travel with more than one bank card. 

 

 

[889]

Couldn't you have just opened the banking app on your phone to get the info they wanted?

 

Indeed, my bank lets me withdraw from an ATM using just the app if I don't have the card on me. This could be useful if you're desperate for cash and your card gets swallowed when the bank is closed.

 

(As an aside, there's a quiet sense of personal achievement when you successfully deal with a problem like this in Chinese, isn't there. Well worth the time lost!)

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18 hours ago, 889 said:

(As an aside, there's a quiet sense of personal achievement when you successfully deal with a problem like this in Chinese, isn't there. Well worth the time lost!)

 

Yes, there is!

 

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Couldn't you have just opened the banking app on your phone to get the info they wanted?

 

Didn't think of that. Sounds like a sensible move. 

[matteo]

Ahahaha good story, same thing happened to me in Croatia years ago! to be fair, 45 minutes to solve it don't seem too different from what I'd expect in any other country. It actually sounds not bad at all!

For sure it helped a lot that you could explain yourself in mandarin!

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15 minutes ago, matteo said:

to be fair, 45 minutes to solve it don't seem too different from what I'd expect in any other country. It actually sounds not bad at all!

 

Agree! Not bad at all. 

 

I've always heard that using an ATM in the lobby of a bank is safer than using one which is just located in a convenience store or shopping mall if something goes wrong. This little event served as a good reminder to me to think about that.  

[889]

Even in banks I've had it happen where for security reasons they don't have a key to open the ATM on the premises: you have to wait until the cash truck arrives to service the machine. I've also had places where they just won't give back the card as a matter of policy.

 

As said, carry a few cards to guard against this risk.

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6 hours ago, 889 said:

I've also had places where they just won't give back the card as a matter of policy.

 

Right, I've heard that too. I thought BOC might have wanted to just shred the old card and issue me a new one. Would have been time consuming and inconvenient. 

[vellocet]

There was a story a few years back, a man was using an ATM right outside the bank.  He withdrew cash and the machine shorted him.  Of course he immediately called the number printed on the machine.  The customer service rep yawned, told the man to file a claim, they would do an investigation and get back to him, it would be months.  He got angry, hung up, called right back saying that the machine had given him too much money.  Within 30 seconds a security guard and a bank manager came running to the ATM. 

[abcdefg]

I've heard that one too! It's a good story. Has been making the rounds for several years.