‘Click, click’: Woman says ATM wouldn’t spit out her $550

A woman says an ATM wouldn’t spit out her money and that she ended having to embark on a month-long journey so she wouldn’t be out the cash for good, according to our sister station WSOC.

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Carla Robinson told Action 9′s Jason Stoogenke she tried to take out $550 from a Wells Fargo machine in east Charlotte, a standalone machine that’s not attached to a bank branch.

Plus, she had to pay $3 since she’s not a Wells customer.

She says she got her card back and a receipt, but no money.

“You could hear the machine clicking. ‘Click, click, click, click, click, click,’” she said. “And I’m literally pushing the door like it’s not opening.”

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“I was so upset by this time because I’m like what am I to do?” she said.

Here’s what she did: She said she spent weeks making calls and actual visits to her bank, Wells Fargo, and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

“I provided the receipt from the ATM. I wrote a letter, described me from head to toe, the car that I was in, the time, the van that pulled up behind me, everything,” she told Stoogenke. “I’m in tears. Literally. Because I have mortgage due. I have a light bill due. I have everything that is due. Without my money, I can’t do anything.”

Read: Medical insurance fraud: The tactics used to prey upon the most vulnerable

Robinson didn’t give up. She’s not sure what finally did the trick, but says the $553 finally popped up in her account.

“Everything I went through, it was very stressful. It was very stressful,” she said. “People work hard for their money.”

Wells Fargo emailed Action 9. It didn’t go into details, but wrote, “We are pleased this issue was resolved, and we sincerely apologize for the service experience.”

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If this ever happens to you, Action 9 has advice for what you can do:

• File a claim with the bank right away so it knows you tried to tackle this as quickly as possible.
• Under federal law, the bank has to investigate a possible ATM mistake within 10 days.
• You may want to use ATMs that are attached to bank branches (not standalone ones) and during business hours so, if there is a problem, you can go in the bank to sort it out right then and there.

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