A couple of days back I had to withdraw money from a nearby ATM maintained by the State Bank of India. The kiosk had two machines. I inserted my Canara bank card and entered my pin as directed. Monitor showed "Pin Incorrect. Transaction declined". I had entered the correct pin number. What will be your reaction in a situation like this? More on this tomorrow on my reaction and the machine's response and the lesson I learnt.. Gopalan
I'll go to the bank straightaway try to ascertain with the bank authorities ways of sorting out the problem and use my checkbook to withdraw cash. Lakshmi
Thanks Ms. Lakshmi for your advice. To continue what I actually did. i wiped the card on my shirt( Don't know why I did it) and reinserted it. again The machine asked me to enter pin no. I responded by entering the same pin no with great care and less speed. Again the machine said" Incorrect pin. Transaction declined." i am sure some one out there would have faced a similar problem. Mine certainly could not be the first case. What did you do? More on this later. Gopalan
Mine is an entirely different story. I inserted my debit card and pat came the reply"Cannot read your card." I tried all possible directions and it still said can't read your card. Lakshmi
Have you checked with the security whether that machine works properly? Haveyou checked the card in the other machine too? Have you checked your Debit Card VAlidity? Have you checked whether any scratches in the reading place of your card? Mr. Gopalan, you have brought in a wonderful topic through your experience which will let others also gain knowledge on the same and tackle such situations. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Ms Mira for your response and queries. It is a valid card.After failing twice in the same machine , I came to the conclusion that it was a machine error and tried in the second machine for my third attempt. When the machine asked me to enter pin, and with trepidationi entered the pin ,this was the message " Three attempts- Card blocked". Panic set in. Has anyone stolen my pin and played with it. Is my money intact or gone?These were thoughts that raced across my mind as I rushed to Canara Bank where i held my account to check my balance, It was nearing 2Pm , the banks closing hour. In the bank I was directed to the clerk in charge of ATM affairs. More later as I feel exhausted after hectic air travel from Chennai to USA under trying circumstances due to Volcanic ash and cabin crew strike threat by British Airways gopalan.
The clerk in charge of ATM at the bank was not of much help. All she assured me was it happens sometimes and will get corrected on its own in about twenty four hours time.When I insisted for future action in case it was not corrected , she produced a couple of telephone numbers which happens to be the help line numbers of the bank. "It will be alright in the next twenty four hours" was the curt reply from those helpline numbers. Anyway at the end of forty eight hours i tried the ATM at my own bank and to my relief it seemed to have set itself alright. Later I learnt that such things could happen due to defective buttons . The lesson I learnt was 1. If there is an error message in the first instance , choose another ATM. 2. Choose an ATM where you can withdraw the card after insertion as otherwise there is a possibility of retention of the card by the ATM in errors of this kind. Gopalan
