I have been a real idiot

[Mojolostforever]

I have a little gadget that I need to access my online banking. Today it failed, the battery was dead, so I took it to the bank.

The bank clerk said she would reactive it for me and she took it away.

But instead of reactivating my original gadget she brought me a new one.

But, the pin number I use on the gadget, to access my account, was written on the back.

At the moment I can't change the pin number because the bank is having a problem with online banking (HSBC) so I am stuck. Any ideas? ( Apart from telling me I'm an idiot, which I already know).

Just because YOU don't need them for your specific bank doesn't mean nobody does. Some banks still don't offer an alternative.
Nationwide still requests card reader checks all the time for payments, setting up new dd's, etc, it's a complete pain. No idea why they don't do it via the app like all my other bank accounts do but they are stuck in the past.

I have one from NatWest, I used to get asked to authorise things that I was doing online using the card reader. Put my debit card in the reader, type in a code being shown on the PC, the card reader gives another code in response, type that code on the PC, transaction goes through. Since I got the NatWest bank app on my phone, it uses that instead. I haven't used the card reader in 6 months. Funny thing, I found the letter that came with it, it was 2016, and the battery still works!