Do more to assure customers that cashless payments are safe

While it is admirable of the Government to promote a cashless society, the service providers will have to do more to gain the trust and confidence of the public in adopting such new technology (Drive to go cashless on public transport; Aug 12).

I have been using the ez-link card in my In-vehicle Unit to pay Electronic Road Pricing and Electronic Parking System charges.

I park at the same carpark every day, and the charges usually come to around $18 per day.

However, on July 26, as I was exiting the carpark, I noticed that there was a double deduction from my ez-link card.

I later logged onto ez-link's "Activate!" app to check the transaction records. However, only a single deduction of $17.95 was recorded.

I then sent an e-mail message to the building and carpark operator to check. They responded that only one successful deduction had been made and that there was no double deduction.

This left me very puzzled, as the balance left on the card suggested a double deduction.

I went to a general ticketing machine in an MRT station and scanned my card. The machine showed that there was indeed a double deduction.

I proceeded to contact the ez-link customer helpline. It took two weeks and a reminder from me before they responded to say that a refund was due to me. They claimed they had sent me an SMS informing me of the refund, but I had not received it.

There was no explanation as to how such a double deduction could have taken place without a transaction record showing up on the app or online.

I wonder how many other customers have experienced such unauthorised deductions.

Service providers must do more to protect the interest of their customers and assure them that it is safe to use electronic payments.

Robin Ng Chun Wee

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