Cultured Views

ATMs that take your card

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In recent weeks we have had two extremely frustrating experiences with ATM machines that are positioned outside banks and inside shopping centres. The first episode saw my son’s card disappear into a cash machine in a local shopping centre and then, well, disappear!. The machine closed down due to some malfunction during the transaction with his card still inside.

We contacted the centre’s customer assistance desk - no help whatsoever and were told ’sorry but staff here have no access to that machine’. It belongs to some company who rent the space for it. Contacted the company - no help again. Got told ’sorry we cannot return cards taken by the machine’. They send them back to the bank concerned which was extremely inconvenient to us as that bank is in Australia. We had to go through the hassles of ordering a new card, pin number and wait a few weeks for it to arrive.

Episode two: Unfortunately the victim again was my son with his new card. But this time it was even more frustrating. We regularly used - until recently - a cash machine situation on the outside wall of a local bank. The bank is called Banque Populaire and the machine had a Banque Populaire sign on it. So, of course we had always assumed it belonged to that particular bank. Wrong!. This machine chewed up the card. We went into the branch only to be told… ‘Sorry, that is not our machine, we cannot open it so you cannot have the card back.’ 

Me:’But the machine has your sign on it!’…Them: ‘Yes, but it is not OUR particular machine, we have our own inside the bank’.

Someone pass me a piece of rope!

Once again another phonecall to Australia and another card re-issued.

Isn’t it infuriating how no-one claims responsibility for anything anymore?.

Whenever you use an ATM that seems to be just stuck in a wall be careful…be very very careful.

Popularity: 3% [?]

A new era for Australia

Today Australian Prime Minister John Howard conceded defeat on behalf of the coalition in the federal election; Australia now has a new Prime Minister in Kevin Rudd and the Labor Govt takes office for the first time in 11 years. I cannot believe I just wrote that.

I am one of those Aussies who well remembers the 1980’s and THAT recession that Bob Hawke and Paul Keating told us ‘we had to have’. I remember how hard it was to get a foot on the property ladder as interest rates rose dramatically to double figures - at one time 18%. I remember all those ordinary people who lost their homes as the banks closed in and repossessed them. I remember that backbone of the country, the farmers, who lost their farms and those few who were unable to cope and killed themselves. Once again victims of the bank’s bully tactics and a Govt who seemed intent on seeing people end up on welfare.

I liked Johnny Howard. He came to office at a time when Australia needed to pull in it’s belt. He saw that it did and the economy got better. That unbelievable deficit that Mr Keating and Co. left behind turned into credit. John Howard provided stability at a time when the country needed it most.

I hope the 80’s remain a bad memory. And I hope that Mr Rudd knows that many of Australians, like me, still remember.

Popularity: 4% [?]

The pitfalls of insurance in France

Insurance, of any kind, is one of those facts of life that we just have to accept. A necessary evil if you like. In most countries taking out an insurance policy is a pretty straightforward procedure; you shop around and usually end up signing up for the policy you believe will suit you best. To be honest they are all pretty much the same nowadays.

If you have life insurance you are supposed to rest assured that come what may your loved ones will be looked after in the event of your death. As we wont be around to check on that after the fact we just have to believe what our policy tells us. Basically shopping around for an insurance policy, especially for home insurance, has become a lot easier with the advent of the internet and in most countries the consumer has the right to change insurance companies at the end of their policy’s term. However in France, unless you notify your insurance company two months prior to the end of your policy you will be legally bound to accept a policy renewal from them. Even if they change the cost of the insurance after you have signed. We encountered this while seeking car insurance here. In fact what the French insurance companies practice contravenes European Law. The only thing to do is stand up and declare this. They soon back down, as they did in our case.

Popularity: 5% [?]