Friday, October 12, 2012

My Run-in with Myki

Myki sucks. I had never had any issues using MetCards for ten years. So, despite having a good run with Myki for a few months without any issues, I was finally subjected to the clusterfuck that is Myki's complaint system.

I top up my Myki card with Myki Pass instead of Myki Money. I do this because it's a lot cheaper for me. So there I was, attempting to top up my Myki Pass with 170-something dollars for 4 weeks, with cash, when the machine stopped accepting my notes and took my $75, leaving me with a complaint receipt to take to Myki staff.

So I did that.

Since I was trying to top up at Southern Cross Station and there is a Myki office thing right there, I walked over and handed the receipt to them. The guy was very kind and helpful. Everything after that kinda sucked.

The short of it was, customer care asked for a bunch of details, told me to write down a case number, told me I had to keep the complaint receipt, left me without any way to get home (so I bought a trusty MetCard) and told me they'd get back to me in a couple of days.

A couple of days later I get a phone call.

They asked me for the same details I had given them when I lost my money and and they wanted a copy of the complaint receipt. I offered to read out the numbers on the receipt (as the guy at Southern Cross Station had done), but the woman said they had to see the original. WTF? I asked if a picture would suffice, because fuck having to send it to them in the mail and wait yet another couple of days. She said a picture would be ok, so I sent it immediately.

She called back a day later. I was then told that they would reimburse the money I lost (within the next 24 hours), but that they would put it on my card as Myki Money. But I didn't want Myki Money! I was trying to buy a Myki Pass because it works out cheaper for me in the long run!

Whatever. I just decided I was happy that I at least got something back.

Why do I have to keep the complaint receipt? After the guy who helped me at Southern Cross Station read out the numbers over the phone, why not just put those numbers into the case (or issue or ticket or whatever their system refers to it as)?

After they called me, part of verifying who I was was me telling them my phone number. They just called me! This is pointless and weak security.

I can't help but feel that 3-4 days is a long time to reimburse someone for money lost because their machine decided to not do its job.