Dear Bank of America and Microsoft,
Your recent upgrade to the new state of the art ATMs which, among other things, can accept check and cash deposits without an envelope has been, shall we say, less than pleasant. Apart from all the disconcerting noises and beeps they make, did you really have to assign the Windows XP Ding sound to the machines which plays every time a button on the touchscreen is pushed? Hello?? That’s the same sound everyone in the world hears when they mis-click or make an error on their PC.
Don’t you think choosing that sound to represent common function on the ATM was, well, pretty stupid? Not to mention incredibly disconcerting to the person using the ATM? Do you really want everyone to think they are making an error every time they push a button? Was this some sick joke your programmers decided to play on the unsuspecting public? Would it really have been that difficult to have pick something else from the hundreds of other less disconcerting system sound God forbid, create a new one?
The last thing I want to feel when I’m using an ATM is that I’m making a mistake or, worse, it’s making a mistake. Which brings me to my next topic…
Last night, I went to the ATM to deposit a nice fat check (thank you very much Adrants advertisers) and what happens? The fucking machine crashes! Takes my check. Takes my card. The screen goes bright red. The pitch black. Then the usual gray error box pops up informing me the “system is shutting own.” What the mother fucking fuck? ATMs don’t shut down mid-function! That is simply not acceptable.
This is not the only time odd behavior has been displayed with this new generation of Windows XP-powered (it appears) ATMs. They are slow. They hang. They do illogical things. Hmm. Kind of like Windows 98 did on a regular basis.
It’s one thing for errors to occur when using one’s computer. It’s entirely different when it comes to using an ATM. ATMs, which are the lifeline to one’s financial existence, simply DO NOT FUCK UP. Prior to this new breed, they never did. The worst that would happen is that they close because a human (yes, a human) was on the other side of the machine taking money out or restocking the cash. It was annoying but you knew exactly what was going on.
Having your card and your check sucked into the ether without having any idea what’s going to happen to it or when its going to clear (the bank was closed, of course, as they always are) is far more than annoying. It’s maddening.
Oh yes, the bank opened in the morning and I was there to straighten it all out. But that wasn’t my plan. I have work to do. I don’t have time to waste fixing an error that never should have happened in the first place.
We don’t need Vista-style bells and whistles on ATMs. We just need them to flawless take our money and give us money. When we need it. Where we need it. In a hassle free manner. And certainly not crash mid-deposit. That’s just insane.
