The amount of money involved in each Octopus card transaction might be small, but cardholders with personalised Octopus cards that come with automatic add value services (AAVS) are held liable to pay for all the automatic add value amount added to their cards within 6 hours after the report of loss.
AAVS cardholders are advised to report immediately the loss to the Octopus operator directly, rather than to 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. However, users of Octopus cards issued by the banks should contact their banks immediately for lost cards.
Consumers are reminded to protect with due care of their Octopus cards like cash in their wallets. If an Octopus card holder, who has joined AAVS with HK$500, loses an Octopus card with HK$499 balance, the loss can be as high as HK$1,000 including the handling fee.
The Consumer Council called on the Octopus Cards Limited to stipulate speedier handling of reported lost Octopus cards to eliminate the loss of card holders and to increase protection to consumers.
Octopus is the most widely circulated electronic money in Hong Kong - more than 21 million cards have been issued since its launch in 1997, an average of at least two cards per person.
The Council received 50 and 62 consumer complaints on Octopus cards in 2009 and 2010 respectively. They were mainly concerned with charge disputes, procedures and fees of reporting lost cards. The current issue of CHOICE highlighted two of the complaint cases.
One complainant found that in two separate occasions his Octopus card did not register the interchange discount offered by the public transport companies. Although the complainant received refund in both incidents, he was disappointed by the recurrence of mistakes and the requirement of paying for the print transaction records before reporting to Octopus Cards Limited.
Another complainant used the Octopus card in the supermarket and had to place the card on the card reader three times to complete the transaction. The complainant later found that he had been charged the same amount for three times. When he filed a complaint to the Octopus Cards Limited, he was told the amount transferred from his card was done in normal transaction procedure, though he was later refunded by the supermarket.
Octopus cardholders are recommended to take heed of the following advices in order to avoid charge disputes:
- Make sure the transaction amount on the card reader is correct before paying. Remember to keep the receipt.
- Leave the card on the reader until the transaction is completed. This is usually signaled by a "beep" sound from the card reader.
- Do not put two or more Octopus cards or electronic devices together when using Octopus card for payment.
The Council also reminds consumers that by enrolling in the Octopus Rewards Programme (ORP) they 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.
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