10 June - Avoid First Direct bank and be very careful with The Metro ATM
There
are no Council meetings until 25th June and then a ridiculous six in a fortnight
to report. On top of that there are far too many medical appointments coming up so the
chances of anything noteworthy appearing here for the next several days are minimal.
Noteworthy did I say?
On Friday 30th May the cash dispenser I like to use in The Mall (Bexleyheath) was out of
order. It still was a week later but that is not very relevant here. I found
another ATM at Metro Bank which I had not used before.
After the usual button presses it said to take my money but standing close to a black machine without any
lighting I could not see it. The keypad etc. is just below waist level as is
normal but as I discovered, the money dispenser is two inches above knee level -
I checked yesterday. Anyone with a beer belly or pregnant will have no chance of seeing it.
It was only as the machine whirred that I saw my money disappear.
Reassured that the machine was working I made a second withdrawal successfully
and assumed with all of today’s high tech the money would be credited to my account more or less straight away.
No such luck, it still hasn’t been.
I rang First Direct a week ago and was told you don’t get your money back unless
you ask. So I asked. They said they would send me a letter about a claim within five days - I
am still waiting - and they would then spend 28 days thinking about whether I
should get my money back or not. They specifically warned me that I might never see it again.
Now I am faced with finding a new current account provider. One that doesn’t
assume that a customer of long standing who keeps a stupidly high balance in a current account is not a liar.
I dropped into Nationwide yesterday. Looks promising.
