Occasioanal ORCA card users – Beware!

[suzanne]

When the ORCA cards first came out, we got one for each member of the family thinking it would be convenient. We simply had to load money onto the card and could do that online – it all seemed very simple and straight forward. Yes, we were aware that it may take 24-48 hours for those funds to be loaded. And we realized that once the funds were loaded onto the card, the card needed to be tapped on a card reader for those funds to become active.

We only use Metro occasionally, so I generally go online to check the balance on each card to make sure there are enough funds to cover the bus rides. Recently, I loaded up the cards with additional money, but I was a little confused because I thought I had done that in the past few months and I know we hadn’t used the card much, if at all in that time period.

It got me thinking that maybe Metro wasn’t actually loading the money onto the card, so I checked with customer service to get a readout of all my transactions. You can’t do that online without contacting a customer service rep. Well, much to my surprise, there was a lot more money on my cards than I realized, but the funds were inactive. When I looked at my account info online, it indicated that my card was active but I only had $2.00 remaining. What it didn’t tell me is that I had $35.00 in inactive funds and I was only able to get that info from a customer rep.

I have since had a lot of communication with a customer rep outlining my complaints and suggestions and here’s what I’ve learned.

1- If you add funds to your card online, it will take 24-48 hours before they are loaded onto your card.

2- Those funds are in a “pending status” until you swipe your card at a reader.

3- If you don’t swipe your card within 60 days, the funds become inactive and unusable until you have them reactivated.

4- You can reactivate them by going in person to an add value location or you can call customer service and have them do it for you. If you don’t do it in person, the funds go back into “pending status” until you swipe the card. If you don’t swipe the card in time, you enter the never ending loop.

5- There’s no way of knowing if you have any inactive funds unless you contact customer service.

6- You cannot get a partial refund for extra funds on your card.

7- You can turn in your card and then get a full refund, but if you do this, you must pay them $10.00. How very considerate that they decided to waive the $10 fee for me since I complained – please note the sarcasm.

8- I could load the extra money from one card to another, but I would still need to relinquish the original card.(It’s unclear whether or not I’d still need to pay a $10 fee.)This whole thing seems comparable to a bank holding onto my money, without telling me how much money I have in the account and then on top of that, not letting me withdraw funds unless I pay a penalty.

9- According to customer service, Metro cannot extend the 60 day period because it would clog up the computer system and bus loading would take too long.

10- I suggested that they at least change their website so customers can clearly see how much of the money is active, pending or inactive. They will be forwarding my “additional comments to our web team for further consideration, as over the next year we will be making improvements to the ORCA website.” We’ll see….

11- Metro is not really interested in occasional transit users.

12- If you want to use an ORCA card, go to an add value location rather than doing it online.

13- The process is obviously far from simple and not very customer friendly.

OK, I feel marginally better having ranted to all of you. ;)

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[DBP]

Isn’t new technology grand? No really!

Of course, you have to be a computer programmer to ride the bus nowadays. But hey, you can buy a cup of coffee just by taking a picture of it.

With your telephone.

Source: Discovery.com

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[CMP]

Suzanne, I’ve had the same problem with my ORCA card. I loaded $15 on it last May, never had the need to ride the bus or light rail, then when I actually needed it on a trip to Seatac, the reader said I had no funds on my card (but my credit card was charged in May by Metro). I contacted Metro, got the 60 day spiel (but again, didn’t ride the bus within 60 days), tried to use it a few weeks ago and insufficient funds once again.

It is amazing to me that Metro has adopted a system that seems completely inefficient and not user-friendly to the occasional rider. I can load money onto my Starbucks card from my phone and it works immediately. And the funds are always there until I use them up. I plan to ride light rail to Seatac in a few weeks and if I get another “insufficient funds” non-sense, I will be livid. So you’re not alone in your irritation with the system…I hope your complaints are taken into consideration and changes are implemented!

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[amalia]

RE: #8, I had 2 cards and wanted to consolidate, but I didn’t want to pay $5 for a “lost” card. They didn’t give me the option to relinquish one card, but they did eventually transfer the funds.

.

Thanks for the info. I’m going to check my card status right now.

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[anonyme]

Sounds like Metro playing fast and loose with budget reporting. I’ve had numerous problems with my Orca card as well. I’d go on, but already tired of ranting about them in another thread…

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[sam-c]

as an occasional user, yes, I have been frustrated with this 60 day business as well.

so annoying.

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[nighthawk]

Maybe someone needs to get Jesse on metro

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[trickycoolj]

Get Jesse already did this a long time ago. The orca brochures say that your funds aren’t active until you tap your card. If you’re that infrequent of a rider then it probably isn’t worth having one. I couldn’t transfer ownership of my old employer provided card when I changed jobs and had to buy a whole new Orca to add my own money to the e-purse. The system isn’t perfect but if you are at least a once a month rider this system is much more convenient.

Also the Good To Go toll stickers do the same thing. You can pre-load them with toll money but if you don’t use it in a certain amount of days it either goes inactive or is forfeited (don’t remember which). It was the exact reason I didn’t get a toll sticker “just in case” for the 2 times a year I use a toll bridge.

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[JoB]

i didn’t know that about the good to go stickers

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[Homer]

Trickycoolj, what you said about goodtogo is not accurate…from their website:

Will my account ever expire?

After 24 consecutive months without toll activity, the Good To Go! account is charged a $5 inactivity fee and then closed. Any remaining funds are returned to the account holder (unregistered accounts cannot be refunded). You may request to close your account at any time, without being charged a fee.

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[socamr]

You can also use the e-purse, which (so far) I have not had problems with. I put a very small amount on my card, and I pre-authorized Metro to charge $5 to my credit card whenever I need it (i.e. I have 50 cents on my card and need 2.25 for the fare). I haven’t had any activation problems doing it that way, because it draws the $5 instantly when I need it, and then the balance is there for the next time. And by only doing $5 at a time, I’m not out much money if there is a screwup.

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[leamk]

Argh, ORCA! I am the lucky person who *gets* to add funds for all of our company’s employee ORCA cards, and it has been such a hassle from the get-go. The business website is so complicated and user unfriendly, and it’s a nightmare whenever somebody loses or damages their card. The whole system has caused me and our company an unbelievable amount of frustration.

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[suzanne]

Socamr, that’s interesting info. I’ll have to look into that. But, do you ever go 60 days without any activity? That seems to be my biggest problem.

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[JoB]

i think i will take a trip across the bridge just to keep my good to go going.. i bought it more for the Tacoma Narrows bridge than anything else but haven’t wandered that way recently :(

and i think i will look into the epurse thing too

thanks Socamr

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