Might I just interject how impressed I am that no one has written “ATM machine” or “PIN number” in this entire thread? This really is the top drawer of the Intranets.
Oh, and Ambi, I hope your new card arrives post-haste.
[shame]I still say PIN number every time. But there’s hope, because it only took me 15 years to quit saying ATM machine.[/shame]
I’m usually a Grammar Nazi of the first water, but I’ve given up on those ones.
I don’t know what your banking options are but if they are the only ones that are convenient, it may be a case of don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.
If you chose another bank and need to go out of your way every time, then every time you go out of your way it will be due to this bank that caused you trouble, continuing their hardship on you.
The credit union nearest my house has a dip reader on an ATM installed on the outside of the building that can do multiple transactions without re-dipping your card, but it asks first as soon as you enter your PIN. It also has a “check balance and make a withdrawal” option, if you choose that, your balance is shown on the screen, then you’re asked how much you want to take out. Very handy. All ATMs should work this way, including the dip reader.
Just because a card is captured by the machine, it’s not necessarily cancelled until that machine is next reconciled and the captured card is reported to the issuing bank. But you can be sure that as soon as an ATM is opened for reconciliation, there are two employees there (or one if there’s a camera) and everything that is taken out the machine – ledger, deposits/payments or captured cards – are immediately recorded and processed according to a set procedure. They can no more open the machine and just give you back your card any more than they can open it up and give you back a deposit.
This issue has been beaten to death, but I say one more thing. The employees do have access to the eaten card. This is not in dispute. When I went back to the credit union to attempt to get my card back, the manager told me that unless I was a member, the card could not be returned to me. The teller, before she went and got the manager, was going back and forth as to whether or not to return the card to me. So they clearly have access to the cards.
Or, you know… your brother’s wallet. Next thing he’s raising all kinds of hell because his junkie brother was able to retrieve the card from the bank based on superficial resemblance and have another crack at guessing his pin.
Why would the bank take that risk? What’s in it for the bank? Not-Their-Customer goes off in a snit vs Rival Bank seeks a “Please Explain” over the card being returned to the wrong person. I can see why the policy is “Let the issuing bank sort it out and don’t get involved”… even though that sucks from the customer’s POV.
So why didn’t the bank just tell OP this?
There’s policy you have to follow to not get fired, and there’s being a soulless stupid fucking robot whore.
“It’s just policy” without even proper elucidation is just god damn frustrating when the policy being enforced is having a negative result in your life. At least give me satisfaction of an anal rape from a person, not an unfeeling machine.
Edit: not to say they should have given him the card, but clearly they didn’t explain why they were keeping it good enough.
I just re-read the OP and it looks to me like they did explain it to him, albeit perhaps not very well. Then his bank actually backed them up. It should be obvious on the face of it that employees can’t violate policies even if the policies are stupid (unless, of course, they are illegal) or the employee will face reprisals.
What good would it do, in general, to bring out the rule book and give a detailed answer to a non-customer about the details of the policy? All that will do is create some long involved nit picky argument from the non-customer about why the policy sucks or how they have some lame ass loop hole around it or something. They have much better things to do.
I have heard stories like this before and am glad the situation has improved. I put my card from one bank into an ATM of another bank almost 20 years ago in central Bangkok, and before I could even push a button, the machine just shut down. !!! It took two weeks to get that back. 
Um, how? Most cards take at least a week, often 3 to 4 weeks, to be printed and sent by mail - during which time you don’t have access to any machines. Whereas mail between banks - esp. usually in the same city - is one day, two days at most.
Additionally, depending on the terms & conditions, many banks demand a fee of 5 Euros or similar for a replacement card.
You’re right, I don’t imagine terms like this. Mostly because I don’t imagine banks choosing destruction of cards as primary option. Because it costs money (sometimes the fee is passed onto the customers) and time (to wait for the replacement), a card is not default cancelled and shreddered if it has been in safe custody - which is the case if a machine and then the bank kept it.
BTW, the ATMs over here show on screen “take your card” and then “take your money”, but if you forget, they swallow the money into a different drawer, and if you remember which ATM it happened, it can be traced back and will be credited to your account instead of being lost.
I assume that your banks don’t provide that level of customer service either?
Not true. I left my card in my bank ATM. My wife, who works next door to the bank went over and got it for me. No problem.
Yes. At your own bank. This entire thread is about cards left at banks that are not your own bank.
The OP was just caught up in the general principle that if you are not a member of their bank or willing to open an accout, you are shit to them.
I once left my card in the ATM of another bank. It was after hours, so I drove back to that branch first thing in the morning. Unfortunately I was on a business trip in an unfamiliar city, and got there 10 minutes after they opened. 5 mintes after they had shredded my card :(.
Also: when you go on a business trip, always bring a backup method of payment.
Also Also: Western Union sucks donkey balls.
The ATM I use most commonly lets you do multiple transactions on one dip as well. You have to re-enter your PIN for each transaction.
When I’ve had to have a card replaced, I usually receive the new card within 3 or 4 days of my request. They’re pretty efficient at creating and distributing cards nowadays.
I have a question. The OP says he will have to cancel/change stuff attached to this card because it was destroyed and he is getting a new one. Since it was a bank to bank thing as opposed to a lost/stolen card thing, wouldn’t/couldn’t they just send his new card with the same number?
Nope, then they can’t track the destruction and reissue. It opens them up to Ambivalid making a claim that the card wasn’t destroyed and that some of the charges on his statement are fraudulent. New number removes any possibility of confusion.