Consumerist: malfunctions

Chase Refuses To Shut Down Broken ATM Until You Threaten To Report Them To The FDIC

Meg Marco — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:04:59 EDT

Reader Keith tried to get $120 from a downtown NYC Chase ATM, but the money door never opened. When he went inside to report the malfunction, the teller told him to go outside and wait. Keith thought he was waiting for someone to come fix the ATM or take his personal information. It turns out that he was just being ignored.

Yesterday, I went into a downtown NY Chase branch. I went to the ATM, asked for $120 and the door that dispenses the money never opened.

I went into the bank and told a teller what had happened and was instructed to stand by the machine.

When no teller came out to meet me after standing there like an idiot for 10 minutes, I went back in and asked the teller when someone was coming out. She said, oh - the money didn't come out YET? She never mentioned me to anyone.

Now I'm instructed to go to the customer service counter where they told me the machine has been doing this all week. My question as to why it's still in service was met with blank stares until one person said they didn't have the authority to do take it offline.

Then I'm told that (even though they know it's a problem) I can't get the money back for 24 to 48 hours.

I asked to see a manager and was told the same story.

As she said that, another man came in and said that he lost $200 in the SAME atm.

I politely told the manager that if one more person comes in here with the same story, I would send an e-mail to the Attorney General, FDIC, Fed. Reserve, BBB and local news. It was astounding how quickly the proper motivation was able to get the machine turned off and the money back into my account.

I have to wonder, if I didn't stand up for myself - just how many people would be out $$$ for 48 hours (and possible more)?

Good for you, Keith. It's a good thing you came along. All the customers who didn't get screwed by that ATM because you took the time to stand up to Chase owe you a hug.

(Photo: epicharmus )

Citibank's online banking site was down all ...

Ben Popken — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 09:49:56 EDT

Citibank's online banking site was down all day yesterday for some readers. Some folks were told a server went down, others were told it was a system upgrade. The site is supposed to be back up today.

Toshiba: "Don't Delete Bloatware If You Know What's Good For You"

Chris Walters — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 21:28:45 EST

A reader writes in to report that when he bought a new laptop direct from Toshiba in November, he triggered a blue screen of death as he was uninstalling the always-useful bloatware that came pre-loaded. He called a Service Rep, got the usual "reinstall everything" run-around, and then finally got escalated to a level-two tech, which is when things got ridiculous.

the techs put me through to a level-two tech who, and I quote verbatim (because I asked him to repeat the line to me multiple times) accused me of "breaking my computer by attempting to uninstall bloatware." I said, "do you even know what bloatware is," and he said "yes, and it may be your fault that your computer is broken because you tried to uninstall it." I asked if I was supposed to check with Toshiba every time I added or removed a program from my computer. He had no answer for that.

This wasn't the only bad experience the reader reported. Toshiba also refused to price-match the laptop to their Black Friday discount, because the discount was "we'll pay your sales tax" and, according to the CSR who promised the original price-matching, it isn't technically a price reduction.

Oh, and after the bloatware incident, Toshiba sent our reader a new hard drive—to the wrong address. And they "forgot" to schedule a tech to come install it.

Toshiba does not sound like a good direct-sales destination.

(Thanks to W.!)