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.
