ATM user experience from hell

I just sent this note to the University of Colorado Federal Credit Union:

Hi, I tried the drive-up ATM at the Lafayette branch last week. The user experience was so incredibly bad as to be laughable. If I didn’t have the patience of a saint, I probably would’ve just given up on the damn thing!

I was trying to deposit two checks. Well, there aren’t any accessible deposit slips. However, there’s a note someone has taped to the front of the ATM that says to “Press Deposit then Yes” to get an envelope. Well, apparently the person who wrote the note didn’t bother to actually try those instructions, because after you press Deposit there isn’t a Yes option. There is an option to deposit multiple checks in an envelope and there is an option to deposit a single check in the slot. Of course, when you press the option for multiple checks, it asks you to insert your deposit envelope. But it didn’t give you an envelope!

So, the only option is to deposit one single check during one transaction, start another transation, and enter a second single check. Well, when I tried that, as soon as the ATM asked me to insert the second check, the little door to the check slot went from open to closed. That’s right, closed! I thought I must be on some prank TV show! So I waited a while, and the machine finally asked me if I needed more time. No, I didn’t need more time; I needed the check deposit door to open!

It’s a crying shame that my credit union could deploy such an incredibly shitty, poorly designed, untested ATM at one of its own branches. Please have the appropriate credit union manager contact me to let me know how you plan to fix this.

Thanks,
Todd Bradley

The credit union website form was kind enough to offer me a tracking number for my feedback: CRD1214383. They said I’ll need to keep track of that for future correspondence.

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