Quality Of Thai Atms

[VanZam]

I had a run in with an ATM last night and it hasn't been the first time. I'm interested to see whether my luck is doomed or this actually happens to others...

Put card in, type in pin, select acc and amount, machine clicks away then dies after spitting out my card. An account check confirms that money has been removed from bank (NZ account) but no cash has been given .

I called the bank this morning and got the usual "yes sir, so sorry sir" I thought all was well until... "I'm sorry sir we don't seem to have that ATM machine listed, are you sure it was one of ours?"

The saga continues, and filed several times no doubt, perhaps ill get my money back in the next few months if I'm lucky... Has this happened to others?

[PhilHarries]

No, but thanks for the warning as I'll be up that way in a week's time.

btw what bank's ATM was it?

[samtam]

No, not to me. Which bank's ATM? The note-counting pay-in machine of UOB ate my card when it didn't like the 1000 baht notes with the new silver security strip. (This has since been resolved, but not before having to rush into the branch to get them to open up the machine and verify my cash.)

[pumpuiman]

I've never had a problem. I always try to use Bangkok bank ATM's if possible.

[VanZam]

It was SCB, but I think it's just the luck of the draw, I've had problems with several machines from several different banks now, ranging from being short changed to my card being swallowed never to be seen again.

I even found a machine a few weeks ago that had the Windows NT command prompt on the screen.. found myself wishing for a place to plug in a keyboard

Although these problems are not major, and I always get money returned (albeit several months later), it's very annoying and leaves me wondering if the banks are being cheap when it comes time to order machines.

[mexxx]

over the counter is the only way to go.

[VanZam]

over the counter is the only way to go.

Yes electricity is over-rated also... I've pushing for years to get candles back into every home

[think_too_mut]

There were cases in Australia where crooks would put up an ATM just to collect PINs and codelines from people's cards, with "out of order" message shortly after that.

ATMs can be bought second hand - when I was with NCR some of my colleagues bought them for 20$ and kept them in their garages as safe boxes.

Machines themselves are made by NCR, Diebold (also rebadged by IBM), don't remember seeing Philips and Fujitsu.

The fact that the money was withdrawn from the account tells it's a genuine ATM, communications are encrypted and impossible to emulate with a bogus ATM.

As for quality, when plastic 50$ and 100$ bills were introduced in Australia, a flurry of complaints was received by customers that cash dispensers were shorting them.

NCR investigated and got a report from the Treasury that the new bills may vary in size by +/- 5mm.

Keeping a journal of the transactions and dispensed money is one of the basic functions of any ATM (even those size of a microwave, found in drinking bars). It should not take more than next biz day to get your money back.

I think it's not quality of ATMs, it the way the bank is handling the exceptions like this.

[libya 115]

Put card in, type in pin, select acc and amount, machine clicks away then dies after spitting out my card. An account check confirms that money has been removed from bank (NZ account) but no cash has been given .

The saga continues, and filed several times no doubt, perhaps ill get my money back in the next few months if I'm lucky... Has this happened to others?

It has happened to me at a BKK bank ATM. The money was recredited automatically within 48 hours.

[adjan jb]

it's very annoying and leaves me wondering if the banks are being cheap when it comes time to order machines.

Most of ATMs in Thailand are made by Diebold.

Here, cards disappear. Overthere, votes disapear.

[Crossy]

Only had one problem (apart from 'communication errors'), SCB machine in a metro station (Petchaburi I think), made all the right noises then 'error' when it tried to give me the cash. Got the card back, but couldn't get money elsewhere as 'daily limit exceeded'.

Money never went form my account though.

[VanZam]

Update and interesting info:

According to the bank (SCB) ATM use is checked daily and if errors are found, money is credited back to accounts.

Thank god I have enough money to throw at women tonight at cowboy... I was really stressing there for a bit

[Heng]

Have been using ATMs here withdrawing from overseas accounts 5-6 times a week for almost 9 years straight without an incident of lost funds. Had one case of the ATM eating the card automatically after it jammed on the way out (with none of the card protruding enough to pull it out). My US bank sent me another one to my US address 2 weeks later. Luck of the draw perhaps, but less so in my opinion if you use ATMs on the inside of bank branches (not ATMs at gas stations, Lotus, 7-11, etc.).... likely because of better maintainence and less exposure to the elements. Sticking to bank branches also reduces the risk of fraudsters putting a skimmer on the machine as well.

Diebold rules.

[dave111223]

Has happened to me at one of the SCB ATMs at the MRT (I know, how many acronyms can i fit in 1 sentence).

Lucky my wife was with me, so she called the service center phone # on the ATM. They weren't much help, said we needed to call our bank? (Their ATM just died and i need to call my bank??)

We walked around for awhile, went to talk to the MRT officers, still no luck.

Went back to the ATM just as a repair crew arriving. My wife took the issue up with them again. The leader of the repair crew called someone at the office, and to cut a long story short they reversed the withdrawl and money was back in about 5 days....lucky it was only 1,000 baht anyways.

My advice: Wait around by the ATM for atleast 30 minutes after, and see if a the repair guys show up. If they do, attempt to explain that it didnt give your money, and try and get them to call someone at the office...

"Mai Hi Ngun!"

If you go to your bank you will have to go through all kinds of hoops (mailing in signed affidavits that you didnt get your money etc... etc...)

[Insight]

I've never lost money at an ATM in Thailand, but have had a few interesting experiences including:

* Blackout on the soi when I was using an ATM - the thing had no UPS either. When the electricity came back up the thing had swallowed my card.

* Various Javascript errors on SCB ATM's while waiting for it to spit my cash out, with an old IE5 prompt asking "Do you want to continue running scripts on this page?" - Er, yeah please.

* Stupid prompt for the PIN code on old SCB ATM's. It asks to enter your 4 digit PIN code and then press one of the buttons on the side of the screen. Problem was, once you entered the 4th digit it'll then automatically change to the next screen asking how much you want, with the button it asked you to press now being the one to withdraw 10,000 baht, and I've already accidently pressed it.

It also took a while to get used to cash first, then card. Walked away a few times in my early days here leaving the card in the machine. Live and learn...

[Gary A]

There were several guys in Pattaya who claimed to have been scammed by the Yellow Ayuthaya Bank ATM's. One of them is a good friend of mine. He got no satisfaction from Ayuthaya Bank but he did get his money back from his Canadian bank. His Canadian Bank told him not to worry about it and that they would deal with the Thai bank. Unfortunately he never heard the end of the story.

[PhilHarries]

Talking 'bout ATMs and scams has anyone heard of the x-ray film trick?

What the scammers do is glue two doubled up strips of x-ray film to the card slot. The floded strips protrude inside the slot and are a bit longer than the card. They use x-ray film because it is black and blends in with the slot.

You enter your card and nothing happens. No matter what yuo do nothing happens. Then one of the scammers turns up claiming to be from the bank. He claims that this occurs often with this type of machine and he may be able to get the card back if you assist him.

He then presses two keys similtaneously while you enter your pin number. Nothing happens, so a couple of retries maybe but still nothing. Oh well, sorry sir you will have to return to the bank tomorrow blah blah blah. This scam obviously works best in the evening or at weekends.

You walk off and, after a period of time, he returns to the maching, unsticks the x-ray film strips and retrieves the card. He now has your card, your pin number and time to make withdrawals until you realise cash is being bled from your account.

I don't know how true all this is but the message is inspect the card slot carefully and beware "good samaritans".

[Francis Maube]

Never had a problem with any ATM in Thailand, whether using Thai or foreign cards, but I could have been lucky.

[libya 115]

Talking 'bout ATMs and scams has anyone heard of the x-ray film trick?

What the scammers do is glue two doubled up strips of x-ray film to the card slot. The floded strips protrude inside the slot and are a bit longer than the card. They use x-ray film because it is black and blends in with the slot.

You enter your card and nothing happens. No matter what yuo do nothing happens. Then one of the scammers turns up claiming to be from the bank. He claims that this occurs often with this type of machine and he may be able to get the card back if you assist him.

He then presses two keys similtaneously while you enter your pin number. Nothing happens, so a couple of retries maybe but still nothing. Oh well, sorry sir you will have to return to the bank tomorrow blah blah blah. This scam obviously works best in the evening or at weekends.

You walk off and, after a period of time, he returns to the maching, unsticks the x-ray film strips and retrieves the card. He now has your card, your pin number and time to make withdrawals until you realise cash is being bled from your account.

I don't know how true all this is but the message is inspect the card slot carefully and beware "good samaritans".

This scam is called the 'Lebanese Loop' google for more info and take care!

[thaihome]

Same as Heng, over 8 years in Asia, living off ATM's can't remember anything other than communication error. Remind me to never be near you guys in electrical storm.

TH