Stafford
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- May 7, 2009
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Hi expat friends,
So I thought I would pass on some advice which I hope you all will find useful. To make a very long story short - and cut right to the moral of the story - my strong recommendation is to only use ATM machines that require you to "dip" your card. Don't use machines that take in your card.
Without boring you with the details, I can tell you that had I used a "dipping" machine last Friday, this past week would have been much more lovely for me.
No need to read on, but for those of you who are interested in being bored with the details, here there are:
While completing a transaction at a Banco Galicia on Cabildo last Friday evening, the machine all of the sudden went dark. This happened at the very last stage, just before the money was supposed to come out. Even heard the click click click of the cash, but the door didn't open. Instead the screen started spewing out lines of DOS computer code. Next the message "Windows 98 is restarting" appeared. Windows 98 - I kid you not. Then the whole thing started up again and for a brief moment there was a message on the screen stating the terminal was out of service. After a couple minutes it went back to normal, waiting for the next victim to do the same as I had. And of course in the meantime, it did not return my card. Nor give me my cash... Only positive thing there though is that my statement online shows the cash had been withdrawn, but then immediately returned. So thankfully I didn't have to fight for the money.
Called Banelco on the spot, who told me to come back Wednesday to retrieve my card, as Monday and Tuesday were holidays here. Well I didn't have much faith in that, so I called my bank, Charles Schwab, and they arranged to send me a replacement card. But of course Monday was a holiday in the US as well. And no cards were being produced until Tue. Schwab finally shipped my card out Wednesday AM via Fedex Priority Overnight. It's in BA now, but of course the status is "awaiting clearance" from Argentine Customs. Fedex estimates I'll have it in my hands by Wednesday, the 29th. But as luck would have it, I am leaving the country for three weeks on the night of the 28th. And I have a number of bills to settle here before I leave... So that is no good...
In the end, I headed over to the Banco Galacia branch this afternoon and the kind woman (she had to have been taking Xanax) at the desk there had what literally looked like double the size of a stack of playing cards in her hand. I explained my situation (which she no doubt had already heard several time this week), and she went through each one until finally she found my own.
But of course, Schwab had canceled that card... New one is on the way, right? Anyway, I called Schwab and if you can believe it, they were actually able to reinstate it for me. I had to do much running around testing it with the guys at the mercado downstairs while Schwab stayed with me on hold. After a couple transaction attempts and some adjustments by Schwab, it finally works and all is well. (thanks to my buddies downstairs who put up with testing it out for me. They are the best, and are one of the reasons I love this country.)
So please, for the love of God, don't do anything but dip!!
So I thought I would pass on some advice which I hope you all will find useful. To make a very long story short - and cut right to the moral of the story - my strong recommendation is to only use ATM machines that require you to "dip" your card. Don't use machines that take in your card.
Without boring you with the details, I can tell you that had I used a "dipping" machine last Friday, this past week would have been much more lovely for me.
No need to read on, but for those of you who are interested in being bored with the details, here there are:
While completing a transaction at a Banco Galicia on Cabildo last Friday evening, the machine all of the sudden went dark. This happened at the very last stage, just before the money was supposed to come out. Even heard the click click click of the cash, but the door didn't open. Instead the screen started spewing out lines of DOS computer code. Next the message "Windows 98 is restarting" appeared. Windows 98 - I kid you not. Then the whole thing started up again and for a brief moment there was a message on the screen stating the terminal was out of service. After a couple minutes it went back to normal, waiting for the next victim to do the same as I had. And of course in the meantime, it did not return my card. Nor give me my cash... Only positive thing there though is that my statement online shows the cash had been withdrawn, but then immediately returned. So thankfully I didn't have to fight for the money.
Called Banelco on the spot, who told me to come back Wednesday to retrieve my card, as Monday and Tuesday were holidays here. Well I didn't have much faith in that, so I called my bank, Charles Schwab, and they arranged to send me a replacement card. But of course Monday was a holiday in the US as well. And no cards were being produced until Tue. Schwab finally shipped my card out Wednesday AM via Fedex Priority Overnight. It's in BA now, but of course the status is "awaiting clearance" from Argentine Customs. Fedex estimates I'll have it in my hands by Wednesday, the 29th. But as luck would have it, I am leaving the country for three weeks on the night of the 28th. And I have a number of bills to settle here before I leave... So that is no good...
In the end, I headed over to the Banco Galacia branch this afternoon and the kind woman (she had to have been taking Xanax) at the desk there had what literally looked like double the size of a stack of playing cards in her hand. I explained my situation (which she no doubt had already heard several time this week), and she went through each one until finally she found my own.
But of course, Schwab had canceled that card... New one is on the way, right? Anyway, I called Schwab and if you can believe it, they were actually able to reinstate it for me. I had to do much running around testing it with the guys at the mercado downstairs while Schwab stayed with me on hold. After a couple transaction attempts and some adjustments by Schwab, it finally works and all is well. (thanks to my buddies downstairs who put up with testing it out for me. They are the best, and are one of the reasons I love this country.)
So please, for the love of God, don't do anything but dip!!
