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Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009 | 4:18 p.m.
A Las Vegas company that operates ATM machines in casinos around the country said Tuesday it's working to resolve a problem in which about 40,000 customers nationwide were charged for cash withdrawals, but did not receive their cash.
Global Cash Access Holdings Inc. said the problem occurred Friday night and Saturday morning between 7:51 p.m. and 1:05 a.m. Pacific time and affected the company's entire network, which includes 1,100 locations around the country.
Scott Dowty, executive vice president of business development, said a computer gateway operated by Visa sent requests to banks for withdrawals involving certain PIN-based ATM transactions. Credit card transactions were not affected.
In the affected ATM transactions, bank computers approved the withdrawals and charged the customers' accounts, but the ATMs didn't receive signals to dispense the cash because of the problem with the Visa gateway, Dowty said. Not all ATM transactions were affected.
Global Cash said the company has been working with Visa to have the affected customers' accounts credited. Some 35 percent to 40 percent of the transactions have been reversed, and the rest of the transactions should be cleared up within three to five business days, Dowty said.
"We at GCA are fully aware of the customer service issues this outage presents. Because we have had several (system) conversion issues ourselves over the last month we are especially upset with this recent outage. We have had our team working around the clock to ensure any and all issues on our system have been corrected and to rebuild the service level trust you expect. While this was out of GCA’s control we are chagrined to have our service interrupted by this outage at Visa. You can be sure the entire organization and I are 100 percent focused on this issue with Visa," Global Cash Chief Executive Scott Betts said in a letter to customers.
Customers with unresolved problems can call Global Cash Access at 800 644-0439.
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Class action anyone?
Imagine living pay check to pay check, having your grocery money tied up for up to 7 days in total, and the service providers and banks being not-so-concerned about the bank customers' welfare.
Nice.
This is just another reason to re-regulate the banks.
I was "affected" by this outtage a few weeks ago. It is unfortunate that even though the machine dispenses a receipt which says "funds were unable to be dispensed" that the Casino cannot even front the money, after all- they are a product in their location. After providing bank statements prooving the charges and the receipts prooving no money was dispensed, I still was on the phone with GCA for what seemed to be hours. Their customer service is horrible. I always now steer clear of any GCA ATM and will stick with my standard bank. Word to the wise - do not use GCA ATM's unless you want to wait up to two weeks for your money.
Isn't it so often amazing how these machines will have no problem "erring on the side of caution" (for the banks) by stealing from customers but God forbid that they dispense cash to customers for free courtesy of the bank.
They seem to have gotten on it and taken care of the problem. If people were taking the cash out in a casino it wasn't for groceries.
This happened to me at Redrock casino today..what a pain in the behind
This is not the first time this has happened. I was ripped off for 500 dollars from a Global Dispensor machine, and the Indian Casino where I was gambling(San Manuel) NEVER refunded me the money, nor was I ever able to get it back from Global. The moral of this story is to take the cash out from the bank BEFORE you go to the casino. Make sure you SAVE the bank withdrawal statement, as you will need to provide it to your tax preparer as a loss statement when the IRS comes after you for any winnings you may have recieved that day/weekend.
Check the fee schedules...
The only people who have a reasonable excuse for using Global are tourists who have no means of transportation and can't get to a bank ATM.
These machines prey upon unfortunate people who have lost their money and are desperate for more to try and reverse their luck.
Usually, a credit card charge is a minimum of about $30. I don't know what they charge you to take your own money out of your own bank account. I hope its not $30 but wouldn't be surprised if it was.
Bank ATMs are the only way to go if you find yourself looking for more cash in a casino. Hope your car is near by.
I don't know what Global pays casinos to locate their machines but it most be a lot. I have never seen a bank ATM anywhere near a casino. Global seems to have the Casinos locked up.
Just another source of revenue for the Casinos at their customers expense.
I have not taken a cash advance in a casino in the last 20 years i just don't gamble anymore i live here in las vegas and work to hard for my money to just throw it away like a tourist. But i would say just to be safe why can't you just get your cash advance at the casino cage let them deal with it. And if they say it takes up to much time please use the ATM' Then tell them that your going to go and play some where else they won't say no to you then.
As someone who is familiar with casinos and their ATM's, Global offers withdrawls from both credit cards and debit cards. Normal ATM transactions have normal fees. Only the credit card withdrawls carry the higher fee structure. And last I checked, this is a free country. Banks, casinos and Global are not preying on anyone. No one is being forced to incurr any fees for gambling. Enough of this "victim" mentality. It is what's wrong with the world today. Let's get back to reality people, and take responsibility for our own actions!
bingofan : You know this article is about the Global system going down, and people at that moment did not receive their withdrawals as a result? What does high fee structures and people taking responsibility for their own actions have to do with this discussion? The folks who got screwed here were fully aware that they were gambling in a casino, lost money and were trying to get more out of the ATM with the high fees attached . They just didn't get their money because of a Global Systems main frame computer glitch to no fault of their own.. C'mon give a gambler a break here...
Tell it like it is grandmacrabby !!
@ Bingofan...
I believe in a a free country too and I don't use Global because I have other means.
I do think that it would be appropriate to have a competitive marketplace within the casinos rather than grant one company exclusivity in exchange for sharing rip off charges on credit card advances.
But your point is well taken. It is a free country and I don't use them.
My point was I would like to see Casinos treat their low end customers better. We all know high end customers get markers, drugs, sex, whatever...
But what the heck its a free country, right?
So stupid. The casinos should think twice about renewing any contracts with GCA.
I know the outage cost Planet Hollywood several hundred dollars of my business Saturday night.