Usability Bitch » machines http://www.usabilitybitch.com trying to make the world easier to use Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:01:12 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 ATM Irritations http://www.usabilitybitch.com/2007/08/04/atm-irritations/ http://www.usabilitybitch.com/2007/08/04/atm-irritations/#comments Sat, 04 Aug 2007 13:24:46 +0000 admin http://www.usabilitybitch.com/2007/08/04/atm-irritations/ I recently had occasion to withdraw money from my US bank account using an Italian ATM. I was presented with a choice of amounts ranging from 10 to 250 euros, plus one item marked “Other Amount.” I chose that one then, as prompted, entered the desired amount (500).

I got a message “Amount too large, try again” or something of the sort. I entered 400. Same message. I entered 300.

“Amount too large. Too many attempts. Operation concluded.” And it spit out my card.

Apparently, 250 was not just one of several options: it was the maximum allowed. But this was not clear from anything on the screen and, having failed to make clear to me that there was a limit, the machine blamed me for making too many guesses as to what that limit might be!

Solution: If there’s a limit, tell me what it is on the first screen, don’t leave me poking around trying to figure it out.

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