Ha Long Bay, Vietnam
Continuing on in Cambodia,
Siem Reap and Angkor Wat
were awesome!
We then crossed the Thai
border and arrived in Bangkok.
One of our friends in the tour
group had a friend living in
Bangkok. Within our group, a
few of us wanted to buy some
Thai jewellery, so we met Penny
at the jewellery store where she
brings all her visiting friends.
We had a fun time being shown
the products and each selected
what we wanted to buy.
Seeing that my credit card
was no longer working, Penny
offered to go with me to a
nearby ATM to get cash with
my debit card. There were
several machines outside of
a convenience store. Penny
suggested I use the one
associated with her bank. After
putting in my card there was a
protracted wait time, followed
by a strange mechanical noise.
The receipt was printed,
my card was returned, and
no money came out!
The ATM screen then
displayed a “Temporarily
Out of Service” message.
Fearing that my
account had been debited
although I didn’t have
the cash in hand, we
went inside the store and
reported the incident.
The attendant called
the bank’s call centre
and passed the phone to
Penny, then on to me.
We both had a hard time
understanding the call
centre employee and said
goodbye, thinking that at
least the call centre had a
log of our report. Penny
gave me the address
of her bank so that I could go
there the next day to request an
investigation. Meanwhile, one
of my friends generously offered
to use her credit card to pay for
my jewellery.
Back in our room that
night, through online banking,
I confirmed that my account
was indeed debited my daily
limit, although the machine
had failed to produce the cash.
I printed the statement for the
bank meeting. The next day it
went well, and the bank employee
said that it could take four to six
weeks before my account would
be credited.
So, there I was in Bangkok
with no working credit card
and no cash available for
twenty-four hours after the
failed ATM transaction. Thank
Angkor Wat,
Cambodia
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