ATM WTF



  • At a gas station I was at between cities had an ATM that was serviced by SomeBank (cant remember the actual financial institution...).  The obligatory "this atm charges.. blah blah blah... 2.50... blah blah blah... OK... CANCEL."  We've all seen it.  However, I noticed an innocuous sticker that said something to the effect of:

    Dear SomeBank customers:  You must press 'OK' from the 'accept the 2.50 charge'.  No service fee will be charged to your account for using this ATM, but you must press 'OK' to continue.

    Most ATMs have a check to see if you are accessing an account of the same financial institution and skip this screen.  Did this ATM not have that simple if statement, or did it get taken over by OtherBank where someone had hardcoded the if statement?

    Just curious... but really; this kind of sloppy coding gives us programmers a bad name; lol;



  • This reminds me of my bank's ATM. After entering the amount, it asks
    whether I want a receipt. I always choose 'No' here. Then it processes
    the request and says: 'Please take your money and, if you requested so,
    your receipt.'




  • @ElMorador said:

    This reminds me of my bank's ATM. After entering the amount, it asks
    whether I want a receipt. I always choose 'No' here. Then it processes
    the request and says: 'Please take your money and, if you requested so,
    your receipt.'




    I have seen ATMs in Poland that asked me if I wanted a receipt; I chose 'No', but they printed receipts nevertheless.



  • @ammoQ said:

    I chose 'No', but they printed receipts nevertheless.

    That's probably due to the ambiguous meaning of 'no' in Polish :)



  • @ElMorador said:

    This reminds me of my bank's ATM. After entering the amount, it asks
    whether I want a receipt. I always choose 'No' here. Then it processes
    the request and says: 'Please take your money and, if you requested so,
    your receipt.'



    My bank (AIB Ireland) is even worse than that.
    When you want to withdraw, there are two options "Withdraw with receipt" and "Withdraw without receipt."
    I always choose withdraw without receipt and it always asks me to confirm that I want a receipt "as part of its ecological review process".
    They should worry about wasting electrons.



  • @qbolec said:

    @ammoQ said:

    I chose 'No', but they printed receipts nevertheless.

    That's probably due to the ambiguous meaning of 'no' in Polish :)



    Those ATMs offer broken English as a language option, along with incomprehensible German.


  • @beltorak said:


    Most ATMs have a check to see if you are accessing an account of the same financial institution and skip this screen.  Did this ATM not have that simple if statement, or did it get taken over by OtherBank where someone had hardcoded the if statement?

    Just curious... but really; this kind of sloppy coding gives us programmers a bad name; lol;


    All that sloppy stuff fades in comparison to this mega WTF.
    I'm not sure, but I think I know the company that wrote the ATM software.



  • All this is nothing, I've seen an ATM BSOD, and another one giving a general protection fault. The mouse pointer was visible to click 'ok' with, but ofcourse, there was no mouse.



  • @AI0867 said:

    All this is nothing, I've seen an ATM BSOD, and another one giving a general protection fault. The mouse pointer was visible to click 'ok' with, but ofcourse, there was no mouse.


    I've seen that too. In fact, one time at Wawa, both the ATM [i]and[/i] the sandwich ordering kiosk were both BSOD'ed at the same time. I'm not too scared about my sandwich order being processed by Windows, but ATMs running on Windows is pretty scary.



  • @savar said:

    @AI0867 said:
    All this is nothing, I've seen
    an ATM BSOD, and another one giving a general protection fault. The
    mouse pointer was visible to click 'ok' with, but ofcourse, there was
    no mouse.


    I've seen that too. In fact, one time at
    Wawa, both the ATM [i]and[/i] the sandwich ordering kiosk were both
    BSOD'ed at the same time. I'm not too scared about my sandwich order
    being processed by Windows, but ATMs running on Windows is pretty
    scary.


    Once, after a power outage, I took a look at an ATM in my workplace's
    lobby, which was beeping loudly.  The amber text screen, if you
    can believe it, showed what was unmistakably the output of a DIR
    command in MS-DOS.  This happened in the 21st century.  I
    wish I'd had a camera.



  • @VGR said:



    Once, after a power outage, I took a look at an ATM in my workplace's
    lobby, which was beeping loudly.  The amber text screen, if you
    can believe it, showed what was unmistakably the output of a DIR
    command in MS-DOS.  This happened in the 21st century.  I
    wish I'd had a camera.

    Now that you mention it, I've once seen an ATM in Vienna that was in the OS/2 prompt. I could even enter numbers and press the Enter key (that is, the "Accept" key on the keyboard).  Too bad they didn't implement a "1.bat" command file that empties the money depot ;-)



  • It could be worse, you may find out it was all coded in VB (the real WT is that i'm still in that bank, argh!).



  • We're all used to ATMs that ask whether we want receipts for our transactions, but what happens when they run out of paper?

    In the case of one bank in Australia, the ATMs inform you that the ATM is out of paper and ask whether you want to continue anyway. Both questions, "Do you want a reciept?" and "Do you want to continue?" are written in pretty non-descript text on the same background with yes/no keys in the same places.

    There is one ATM downstairs that never has any paper in it. This means that, being used to the normal sequence of keys for withdrawing cash, I consistantly cancel my first transaction and have to re-enter my card and PIN, and I'm not the only one.

    Still, not as bad as the other ATMs that have pictures of some model "talking" you through the process of using the machine. I really want to hit her, and I'm not a violent man....



  • A few weeks ago, newspapers warned against ATMs in some countries (which are popular tourist's destinations) which would first ask whether or not you want to do a charitable donation even if used with a foreign bank card; so tourists who do not understand the question would donate money instead of withdraw it.



  • @ammoQ said:

    Those ATMs offer broken English as a language option, along with incomprehensible German.
    It would be absolutely awesome if they were literally the choices given. "I'll go with 'broken English', please."



    I'd also like to see Latin and Klingon as language choices.



    Oh, and add me to the list of "I've seen blue-screened ATMs". Also a flight notice board at the airport. Now THAT is scary...



  • I've seen a couple of reboots - windows NT on one and OS/2 on another



  • @AI0867 and wiggzie said:


    AI0867: All this is nothing, I've seen an ATM BSOD, and another one giving a general protection fault. The mouse pointer was visible to click 'ok' with, but ofcourse, there was no mouse.

    wiggzie: I've seen a couple of reboots - windows NT on one and OS/2 on another

    <FONT face=Tahoma>I've seen one reboot too, I think it was windows 2000 or something...
    I've also seen an ATM with a windows msgbox with an error message and the mouse pointer is visible...

    Scary part is that these came from the same ATM and on different days...

    Good thing it wasn't my bank...



    </FONT>



  • I've seen crashed (GPF I think) train noticeboards at New Street Station. Also No Signal errors.

    And I remember the till at Morrisons Small Heath cafe crashed and had to be rebooted...NT 4 I think :( held up the queue damnit!

    But not an ATM...thank god. Worst I've had from them is no cash.



  • Early french ATMs were designed to read the card <font color="#800080">AFTER</font> the money was dispensed. Needless to say, it didn’t take long before boffins would tie a rope to their card, and yank it out of the machine as soon as they received their dough…



  • @wing said:

    @ElMorador said:
    This reminds me of my bank's ATM. After entering the amount, it asks whether I want a receipt. I always choose 'No' here. Then it processes the request and says: 'Please take your money and, if you requested so, your receipt.'


    My bank (AIB Ireland) is even worse than that.
    When you want to withdraw, there are two options "Withdraw with receipt" and "Withdraw without receipt."
    I always choose withdraw without receipt and it always asks me to confirm that I want a receipt "as part of its ecological review process".
    They should worry about wasting electrons.

     

    AIB are full of WTF's, Just look at what's written on the side of their ATM's:

    "AIB Bank BankLink"

    And AIB is an acronym for Allied Irish Bank, so thats: "Allied Irish Bank Bank BankLink". Just a little bit of a mouthful there



  • "Where you going, lad?"

    "Off to put some money in the bank bank bank!" ^_^


    An ATM here has strange-looking font antialias, which didn't look like cleartype (works only across the X axis: the stepping in the more horizontal lines should give it away real quicklike) or Quartz (bit smoother and vaguer than most; more Photoshoppy), but it did look like the AA most Linux shells apply nowadays (sharp like Cleartype, but along both axes).

    Good bank, I guess. :D



  • When you go to the Bank Bank BankLink, don't forget your PIN Number!



  • @RayS said:

    .....
    I'd also like to see Latin and Klingon as language choices.

    Oh, and add me to the list of "I've seen blue-screened ATMs". Also a flight notice board at the airport. Now THAT is scary...

    If you want to see Latin, go to Latvia, stoopid!



  • I'm not entirely sure this is true, but a friend of mine (says he) noticed in the early 90s that a newly started TV channel was broadcasting Guru Meditation all night.

    Swedish TV4.. Can anyone confirm? :)



  • I'm not entirely sure this is true, but a friend of mine (says he) noticed in the early 90s that a newly started TV channel was broadcasting Guru Meditation all night.

    Swedish TV4.. Can anyone confirm? :)

    Myth confirmed :) It happened quite often back then, and at a time I had a local station doing the same, so I actually had two channels with guru meditation at the same time. Must've been the same software...



  • @welcor said:

    Myth confirmed :) It happened quite often back then, and at a time I had a local station doing the same, so I actually had two channels with guru meditation at the same time. Must've been the same software...


    I don't know if it's just for fun, or has any explanation, but all channels in local cable TV, that are sound only (radio on tv channels) have one still image. It's screenshot from amiga - grayscale and showing some nice disks icons.
    I think it can be a joke inspired by this myth - but maybe not - gotta phone tech support and ask about it one day :)



  • My bank's ATMs, when you ask to check your account balance, ask you if you want to do another transaction before it's shown you your balance.  Like you were just checking your balance out of mild curiosity,  just to waste  a bit of time before you really get down to business...

    Some of them also, when doing a withdrawal, ask if you want a receipt or to see the final balance on screen.  If you choose to see it on screen it gives you your cash and spits out your card, without ever displaying the balance on screen.

    I can't decide whether it's inept design, inept QA or a combination of both.



  • @savar said:

    I'm not too scared about my sandwich order being processed by Windows, but ATMs running on Windows is pretty scary.



    If ATMs running on Windows is pretty scary, this is terrifying...



  • @beltorak said:

    ...snip...
    Your nickname is a WTF on its own... Torak as a disciple of Aldur??

    Worst ATM wtf I've seen is the error "Your guest-usage has been used for today" or similar. Here in the Netherlands you can get money from your own banks ATM to some daily limit, but you can only use another banks ATM once a day (at all, but unlike your story, it's free of charge). The WTF-part of it is, I had not yet used an ATM that day, or rather, that week.



  • I've seen a movie theatre crash once (well, the projector, technically). In the middle of a movie, even. It then proceeded to reboot WindowsME. The fire alarm also went off twice during that movie showing. Fun times for all!



  • @Pig.Hogger said:

    Early french ATMs were designed to read the card <font color="#800080">AFTER</font> the money was dispensed. Needless to say, it didn’t take long before boffins would tie a rope to their card, and yank it out of the machine as soon as they received their dough…
    I remember something like that, only because they gave you the money then returned your card, lots of people would walk off without their cards by mistake.



  • @Pig.Hogger said:

    Early french ATMs were designed to <font color="#800080">READ</font> the card after the money was dispensed.
    Needless to say, it didn’t take long before boffins would tie a rope to
    their card, and yank it out of the machine as soon as they received
    their dough…
    You mean to say that the machine gave you money
    before it did a credit- or credentials-check? Put any old piece of
    plastic with the right size in the slot and you could get money? I do hope I am
    misinterpreting something here...



    \o/ free (as in "free beer," not as in "free speech") money \o/



  • @m0ffx said:

    @Pig.Hogger said:
    Early french ATMs were designed to read the card <FONT color=#800080>AFTER</FONT> the money was dispensed. Needless to say, it didn’t take long before boffins would tie a rope to their card, and yank it out of the machine as soon as they received their dough…
    I remember something like that, only because they gave you the money then returned your card, lots of people would walk off without their cards by mistake.

    <FONT face=Tahoma>On a similar note, people around here took an average of 5-10 minutes while in ATMs... I've been in a queue several times where the person withdrawing took 15-20 minutes (I think) in doing their transactions, fun times... I mean, I wonder what's taking them so long? I can understand 5-10 minutes of checking your balance, withdrawing, re-checking you balance stuff, but why 20 minutes???

    Usually it takes just about a minute or two for me to withdraw...



    </FONT>



  • @Volmarias said:

    This really isn't a WTF.

    The ATM reads your card, gets the action you want, pops up the warning, and THEN contacts the financial institution to perform the transaction. Up to that point, it really doesn't know which bank you're from. So, since it doesn't know which bank your account is with (yet), it asks you for the fee anyway.

    The ATM clearly does know which bank your card is from, otherwise it couldn't contact the appropriate institution. And, IIRC, some of the numbers on the card specify which bank is the issuer;it would be easy to check against a shortlist of card series SomeBank issues.



  • @Daniel Vandersluis said:

    I've seen a movie theatre crash once (well, the projector, technically). In the middle of a movie, even. It then proceeded to reboot WindowsME. The fire alarm also went off twice during that movie showing. Fun times for all!

    Which movie?  :)



  • It was either the last or second-to-last James Bond movie, don't remember specifically which one.



  • [quote user="xrT"][quote user="m0ffx"][quote user="Pig.Hogger"]Early french ATMs were designed to read the card <font color="#800080">AFTER</font> the money was dispensed. Needless to say, it didn’t take long before boffins would tie a rope to their card, and yank it out of the machine as soon as they received their dough…
    [/quote]I remember something like that, only because they gave you the money then returned your card, lots of people would walk off without their cards by mistake.
    [/quote]
    <font face="Tahoma">On a similar note, people around here took an average of 5-10 minutes while in ATMs... I've been in a queue several times where the person withdrawing took 15-20 minutes (I think) in doing their transactions, fun times... I mean, I wonder what's taking them so long? I can understand 5-10 minutes of checking your balance, withdrawing, re-checking you balance stuff, but why 20 minutes???

    Usually it takes just about a minute or two for me to withdraw... 
    </font>[/quote]


    One ATM I used wouldn't check your PIN until just before it gave you the money -- and if you entered your PIN wrong, it would simply print out a reciept saying "Incorrect PIN", return your card to you, and go back to the beginning.


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