Last year, on the 30th of September me and my girlfriend set out for a little road trip so we decided to pick up some cash. On our way out of town we passed by a Barclays ATM and Irina got my card. Twenty seconds later she returns smiling happily (I was in the car at the time, trying to park the car) - unfortunately without the money. I return to get it - but too late - the atm eats them before I can get the banknotes in my hand. Well, no problem - I use the card again and we go on our way - thinking the atm has the intelligence to reset the last transaction.

Everything is almost forgotten until two weeks after I get my banks statement - twice the sum (50 euros) was deducted. I schedule a pass by the bank’s office (the atm was positioned inside the office) and I figured this shouldn’t take long. How wrong I was !

I explain my situation - I made two transactions, one was not validated (I saw the money going in, no problem there) - so please refund me the 50 euros that the machine has in excess. I had the statement with me so the hours, card number and sums were easy to verify.

And here it begins : an older well dressed lady (and rather disgusted by my t-shirt and jeans outfit) explains me I have to make an official request (No problem!) BUT at my bank, with my counselor so he can pass the request by channels to their bank ! At this point I’m a little lost - why can’t they verify that there are 50 euros more in the atm than there should be ? After all, the transactions should be logged - it is easy to see that the money comes from my card.

Nope !

After a few minutes of argumentation the lady wins with the final statement: “this is how it is !”. I go to my bank (luckily my office was at about 300 meters away), convince everybody I’m not crazy - finally David, the guy that’s responsible for me prints a signed and legalized (!) statement. Back to Barclays’ - “It isn’t enough - they must DEMAND that we return the money”. Again I’m at a loss - I try to explain it is me that’s demanding the refund, not them - after all, it is my money. Same “we can’t do anything” argument as before - so I’m back to my bank and I ask David to call the woman (tr: she-devil/idiot). She happily explains he needs to write a letter asking for my money. Nothing more ! We write a letter on a nice official bank paper (header and everything), we both sign it and I’m back on the road. Finally the minion admits it should be ok - I have to write another reclamation and she takes everything “for our internal department”. I leave feeling a little steamed from going back and forward for 30 minutes, but hey, at least it’s solved.

Or is it ?
Two months later (late November) still nothing. Now, I could say it is a life lesson and leave it at that - but they got to me with their stupid rules so I’m decided to see this one through. I call asking about the refund. Surprise, surprise - nobody knows everything. Luckily (if luck means being beaten to a pulp with the bat of merciless stupidity) I get the same lady. She informs me my bank needs to do an inquiry to their bank about the progress - I cannot ask it myself. It takes a few seconds to sink in -

“I can’t ask why your bank isn’t refunding my own money ?”
“Yes, you can, but the request must be made by your bank”.

And this is where she gives me the final argument “It’s normal for a bank to take care of its customers - we take care of our own; in your counselor’s place I would be happy to do it“. At this point I’m almost laughing and yelling :
“But I’m your customer - I used your atm and you haven’t helped me at all”.
Anyway - she finally takes David’s number so she’ll call him and promises to call me back after. She doesn’t.

We now zoom to the present day - of course, still no refund, and a week ago I talked with David - he doesn’t know anything. I call Barclays gain - same lady (stupid b***h).

“We have to re-launch the request - I’ll need the information again because I can’t find the file”. I give it to her (I’m trying not to mumble any swear words between spelling my name). Finally, the magical sentence “We’ll call you”.

I’m waiting …