First Bus making unauthorised charges after using Tap On Tap Off function

swabaxter

I started using the Tap On Tap Off service on First Bus (Glasgow area) at the end of July 2022. The service is designed so that the customer can make as many or few journeys as they wish and at the end of the day the minimum charge possible will be made to the customers Debit Card (Bank account). Initially the system performed correctly but it appears that a new software subroutine was introduced at the end of the month and that started to take random unauthorised payments as high as £30 versus the maximum permitted amount of £5. It seems likely that multiple customers will be effected and thus far First Bus are responding slowly and currently unwilling to video conference with me to explain themselves. 

swabaxter

I would be delighted to hear from anyone else using the Tap On Tap Off service on First Bus. 
Is the equipment working ?
Do the drivers understand the system?
What is the transaction error rate ?

swabaxter

Another week has gone by and First Bus have neither refunded my money nor provided the compensation that I am seeking. It feels like they are trying to wiggle out of their responsibility for just as long as they can. At least for the time being I will not be using First Bus. I've started to take the train instead.

surreysaver

Have you contacted your bank to do a chargeback?

swabaxter

surreysaver said:

Have you contacted your bank to do a chargeback?

Hello and thanks for the question. My bank have been very helpful by providing me with the audit trail requested by First Bus. The process is to raise the issue with the retailer (in this case First Bus) and give them 14 days to process the refund. After this time the bank (in my case Monzo) will look at the evidence I provide (and indeed some of that has already come from my bank) and make a decision based on the balance of probabilities are these charges unauthorised by the customer (myself) or not. I'm 95% confident that the case will be found in my favour. More importantly it gives me a quantified snap shot of financial quality inside First Bus. 

huntwing

Just had similar issues with First Bus following a trip in Bristol. Bought 3 tickets for family on a Thursday using Apple Pay on phone. these were cleared immediately by bank. Next day an extra 32 comes up as pending for First bus. Contacted Bank fraud people who told me that it wasn't fraud, although no idea how they could tell it wasn't someone using a cloned copy, and that i must wait to see if it was cleared or not. following week money was cleared and so a series of communications with First bus started. Each time they asked for different codes but, after several weeks, we were asked for the Bank  authorisation. This did not prove easy and took a trip to the Halifax and several phone calls. A week later they have agreed repayment of the £2. The reason given was :

"The £2.00 payment was taken due to the card being left on the reader for too long/being presented again, which triggered an accidental Tap On, Tap Off payment."

A very easy way of taking money and very difficult thing getting it back. Are they using Fujitsu software per chance?

What a great way to make money!

 

Nasqueron

It is poor and the reason given is pretty bad but it's not exactly a way to make money as the vast majority with contactless just tap and go, not leave the card on or double tap

Cas

swabaxter said:

I would be delighted to hear from anyone else using the Tap On Tap Off service on First Bus. 
Is the equipment working ?
Do the drivers understand the system?
What is the transaction error rate ?

The overcharging is still going on. The other half uses First Bus Glasgow a few times a month and of the 7 return journeys he made during Nov & Dec 24 he's been overcharged for 4 of these. First have refunded him and whilst it's only a 50p overcharge for each of these return journeys I would imagine that these small overcharges multiplied by the number of people making similar TOTO return journeys across the network every day must add up to a tidy sum. 

RL11

Going wrong in Cornwall too! My last three journeys have all debited more than the £2.50 it should have been - £5.50, £3.00 and £8.00. Trivial amounts but not the point. The £3.00 and £8.00 were taken for travel on the same day, when an all day ticket for Cornwall is only £8 too. I've had to raise each journey as a separate issue, filling in all the same details each time - except for the date/time. I have had a response already for the £5.50 to say £3.00 is being refunded. The £3.00 issue responded to say fare prices will vary according to distance! No response yet on the £8.00 charge. It only seems to have gone wrong since our £2.00 cap was changed to a £3.00 cap - I was always correctly charged £2.00 until that happened.