The ATM (on the right) accepted my card, gave no cash from the savings account and failed to return the card.
Meanwhile a young lady behind me was sitting down against a window, reading a book and apparently watching.
The Situation. I’d just arrived from Australia, it was 7pm and I needed cash to pay for my hotel room, and the ATM has just ‘kept’ one of my cards, one with savings for the next six weeks or so. Not good.
A mild panic situation set in. What to do next? There was an attendant nearby but he represented the offices upstairs and had nothing to do with the bank he gestured in sign language – and the bank was closed.
As luck had it, when I returned to the ATM, for no apparent reason, a sound came from the machine and my card popped out.
About five minutes had elapsed. If I’d left the building, the girl reading the book could have easily taken my ATM card. (I’d kept an eye on her all the time, of course).
The lesson learned from this little experience was, where possible; Use ATM’s at major banks when they are in business hours.
My anxiety was to remain high over the weekend. The receipt read NT$10,000 (and being unable to decipher the Chinese text) I was uncertain whether this sum had been deducted from my account or not. It was not beyond belief that the cash might pop out in another five minutes, I later thought.
Apparently the hiccup came from the card being foreign yet I never have such problems with ATM’s at the Bank of Taiwan.
China Trust? Hardly.
