Who's Fault?

db2016

cloud_dog said:

mwarby said:

its perhaps also worth considering having £10 or so set aside somewhere (say picket inside handbag, so if she ever had a repeat she at least has something to fall back on

Years ago my brother bought me a Samsonite key fob (small waterproof tube).  At the time I thought...nice gimmicky gift (we always struggle for gifts for each other), but I duly rolled up my £20 note in to it.

To date it has rescued me 4 times 😁

good idea, i too have spare cash, once or twice i took a bus (free pass) to see a friend (and no spends intended) when the bus didnt show up! so i had to get a taxi to friends and then ask them for the cash to pay and gave back later..
ever since then, i keep a "new" tenner, and fiver, and ill probably put a new 20 in when i get one, in the bus pass wallet as some "get me there" money just in case.

colsten

Terry_Towelling said:

OP, how did you find out that a minimum of 9 other people had had the exact same problem?

Very good question,especially since the incident appears to have happened within less than 8 hours of OP's first post on this forum.

Also, what has happened to Mum's card? OP, you said the cash machine swallowed it, and later you said Cashtronics can't find any reading for her card. Where is the physical card now? Why isn't the biggest issue that your Mum's card has been retained by a company who deny that they have retained it?

What did Mum and the bank do about stopping the retained card, and about a replacement card? 

InA

My view is that the ATM company are at fault, unless your mother keyed in the incorrect pin, in which case, unfortunately, the blame lies with her. In that situation, I would have tried to contact the ATM company at the scene, which would also have created a log of the incident. The bank doesn't even come into it.

The taxi company is not to blame here. They must surely have driven to the branch at your mother's suggestion! The fact that the taxi driver felt the need to go inside the branch, might suggest that it was his perception that your mother was trying to do a runner without paying up (i.e. he may have thought that she wanted a free trip into the town where the bank is located using the excuse that the machine had swallowed her card). So from the taxi driver's perspective, instead of being £4 out of pocket, he is now £59 out of pocket.

In any case, the taxi company probably has rules and policies about non-paying customers, and it's not likely to include IOUs and turning up at a person's house like a debt collector (which might be reported as harassment by someone who was intent on dodging payment, not to mention the risk of trying to retrieve payment from certain fare dodgers who may turn violent). I suspect there are plenty of "chancers" who try to get away with not paying their fare. It sounds churlish to try to pin this on the taxi driver / company for a series of unfortunate mistakes / decisions made by your mother. Trying to conjure up negative publicity against the taxi firm could backfire when they tell their side of the story (especially, if they have internal dash cam footage). You may find your mother's recollection of what happened has been skewed.