Octopus Cards - CHOICE # 365

Greater transparency on Octopus card is called for to allow cardholders easy access and checking of their card balances and transaction records to ensure accuracy.

The Consumer Council has proposed to the operator, Octopus Cards Ltd. (OCL), the additional option of allowing cardholders to check their transactions and add-value records online.

OCL is requested to consider enabling all cardholders to log on the internet with the use of the serial number already imprinted on the back of each Octopus card, and a password to be supplied additionally.

The proposal will help maintain consumer confidence in the use of this form of electronic money in wide circulation - more than 14 million Octopus cards have been issued since the launch in 1997.

There has recently been a rash of complaints against Octopus relating to add-value transactions involving EPS.

At present, only cardholders of Personalised Octopus or Octopus linked with the Automatic Add Value Service (AAVS) - together representing only some 10% of all cardholders - can approach the customer service centres of KCR or MTR for a printed record on the recent 10 transactions at a fee of $10.

They can also call the Octopus Customer Hotline 2266 2222 for a more detailed printed record on the recent 40 transactions at a fee of $200. And an additional $200 for every 4 consecutive days' transaction record thereafter.

With the maximum stored value of an Octopus card being only $1,000, the Council regards a levy of $200 for a record of 40 transactions to be prohibitive to would-be users of this service.

Further, such service is not available to the 90% of users of Octopus cards (known as anonymous cards) who can only use the self-service enquiry machines in KCR and MTR stations for checking the recent 10 transactions free of charge, or call its customer service hotline for enquiry on a particular transaction.

The Council therefore believes that the proposal to allow online access to Octopus transaction records will provide convenient, speedy and free service to all cardholders.

Consumers are reminded to protect with due care their Octopus cards like cash in their wallets.

In the event of loss, anonymous Octopus cardholders can neither report the loss nor claim refund of the remaining value - purportedly for reasons that there are no personal data stored on the cards, and that the cards are transferable.

For lost cards, only cardholders of Personalised Octopus or Octopus linked with the AAVS can have recourse to refund - but are subject to being held liable for the value added using AAVS and all transactions to their cards within 6 hours after the successful report of the loss.

AAVS cardholders are advised to report the loss to the Octopus operator directly, rather than the credit card issuing bank, as the add-value feature of an Octopus card will not be disabled even after the loss has been reported to the credit card company.

The Council also reminds consumers enrolling into the Octopus Rewards Programme (ORP) that their personal data will be used for product promotion purposes. Enrolled members will receive offers both from the ORP operator and from its business partners. They are advised to take steps to opt out if they do not wish to receive direct marketing materials.