Why Does the Autopay Machine Keep Rejecting My Notes?

Sometimes, paying for your parking ticket at the autopay machine can turn into a nightmare real quick. You stand there desperately feeding your RM1 notes to the machine, while it just as happily spits them out back at you. It doesn’t help that there’s a long line behind you, wondering what’s going on. You swear under your breath and try a few more times to no avail. Damn it, you think, what the heck is wrong with this machine? Turns out, it could be the notes, or it could be the machine!


Common Misconceptions

Before we finally uncover the mystery of the autopay machine, let’s talk about some common misconceptions we’ve all had or heard of at some point.

  • The note is fake (!!!)
  • Too smooth (cue crumpling the note)
  • Too crumpled (cue ironing the note between your hands)
  • A certain side of the note must face up (cue multiple turnings of the note)
  • Must insert the note to the left of the slot as much as possible

Those, ladies and gentlemen, are the top 5 misconceptions about our notes. There could be something different about the notes that determine which ones the autopay machine would accept, but there could also be something wrong with the machine…

Image Credit: bnm.gov.my

Option1: Exploring Your RM1 Notes

Right, bring out all your RM1 notes now. We assume that you know that each note has a signature on it, so we’d like you to pay close attention to it. Scrutinise each and every one of your notes. Are the signatures all the same, or are they different? If all the signatures on your notes happen to be the same, let us point out to you that there can be two different signatures. One of them Zeti Aziz, and another one Muhammad bin Ibrahim. Turns out that certain autopay machines only accept notes with Zeti Aziz’s signature! Mystery. Solved. Who knew autopay machines could be such sneaky little things?

Image Credit: soyacincau.com

Option 2: It’s Not You, It’s the Machine

Just when we thought the mystery had truly been solved, turns out, not really. According to soyacincau.com, Cilisos has reached out to several vendors of autopay machines, and they claim that the signature thing isn’t entirely true. Instead, the machine accepts or rejects your notes based on four criteria: size, thickness, colour and magnetic pattern. The patterns can’t be seen with the naked eye; only under ultraviolet light. The machines aren’t produced locally, so a sample of our notes have to be sent to producers’ countries to make sure they “pass the test”. When new batches of notes are released, they may have a slight variation. Therefore, if you use newer notes on older machines, the machines may not accept your notes. They could even reject your Zeti Aziz notes! In other words, the machine may be too outdated to receive your new notes.

Image Credit: coma-carparking.com

Maybe paying for parking with notes isn’t the best choice nowadays? Why not use Touch n’ Go to enter and exit, or even use a parking app to pay at certain areas? To know more about parking apps, you can check out our list right here!