Photo by Jamison Wieser
Clipper attempted to charge $72 for my August Fast Pass against the card that was closed. Because Clipper credits your card before the transaction is actually processed, I did not realize my mistake until Aug. 12, when I received an email to tell my that my charge was declined. I immediately signed on to my account on the Clipper website and updated my credit card info.
But because the charges for his Fast Pass were declined, Clipper blocked that part of Scott’s card until they processed the transaction on his new card. Because the ecash part of his card was not blocked, every time he used Muni between until Clipper cleared his new card, he was deducting $2 per ride.
It seems there is a problem with the Clipper website, where updated billing information is not saved correctly, so when the cash balance on my Clipper card was depleted and when they attempted a new charge, they used my old debit card number and the charge was declined. But, Clipper credited my card. And because there is so much lag time between when the transactions are declined to when they notify the customer, I continued to deplete the Clipper card balance and they initiated more transactions against the closed debit card.
Finally, he tried using the card and found that it was completely blocked. He called Clipper and they informed him of the error with their website. Scott was assured that his account was not corrected and Clipper would expedite having his card unblocked.
Since this was 4:40 p.m. on a Friday, I didn’t have much hope. Sure enough, the card was not cleared until the morning of Aug. 30, when I used my card on the 24, I saw on the display that my monthly pass was used. Then at 1:07 p.m., on the same day, I received an email that charges to my debit card were declined. I called Clipper and sure enough my card is blocked again. Once again, I was told that it was fixed and that it should be available to use in 24 hours.
Scott adds: “I’m not holding my breath.” My god.
We contacted Scott to hear about any possible resolution to his story. We at Muni Diaries are no strangers to Clipper fuckery ourselves. How about you? Has something similar to Scott’s ordeal happened to you? It appears that the website at least sometimes fails to process user updates.
After my own experience with autoload earlier this year I doubt I would ever use it again. In my case I had a Monthly Fast Pass on my clipper card but when I took BART outside the city my balance dropped to a point where autoload kicked in. Like Scott I had cancelled the original card set up for autoload and forgot to set up my new card on their site. Once the autoload failed my Clipper card was locked. So even though I had a fast pass on my clipper card I could not use it. I tried contacting clipper and set up my new card once I realized what had happened but due to holiday season and a slow turnaround I was locked out of my clipper card for about 10 days. Clipper refused to reimburse me for this time so I had to pay my muni fare out of pocket during this time even though I had a fully paid for fast pass on my clipper card.
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A similar thing happened to me. My card didn’t work until I found an Add Fare machine and touched the Clipper card to it. Then presto! — it worked right away again.
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This is why I don’t recommend the autoload program. Expired credit cards, replacement cards, and anything else under the sun could go wrong and lock your card out. You are better off doing it the old fashioned way, just remember to buy your pass at an in-person vendor on a monthly basis.
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The worst part is that even if you have plenty of cash, a bad credit card (expired, fraud, etc.) will lock you out out using the cash already on the card.
Imagine if your wallet worked this way!
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I use the Clipper website every month, but not the autoload. I haven’t had any problems but this guy’s case is sort of complicated and I can see how it didn’t turn out to smoothly for him. Don’t know about autoload but I wouldn’t blame Clipper or its website entirely for this fiasco.
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I have used a credit card plus autoload since translink. Had one issue when my credit card expired.
Apparently, after blocking your Clipper card, they will make a 2nd attempt to charge your “bad” credit/debit card. If the attempt is denied the 2nd time, Clipper will charge you $5.
Though Clipper’s process and automation could be much quicker, it’s still up to the card holder to be diligent about maintaining and updating their funding source.
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My habit is to visit a Walgreen where value upload is immediate. The last time I dealt directly w/Clipper it tool them FOUR days to upload the card although the charge was posted to my bank immediately.
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David, you just answered my question. Hell, when I reload my Starbucks card, the funds are available immediately.
Why the delay with Clipper?
(I’ve asked them, and used the Starbucks example… they can’t explain the delay.)
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Starbucks locations are always connected to the server.
Akit has mentioned countless times that the Clipper readers on buses do not sync until the bus goes back to their respective yard. Buses can sometimes go a number of days before actually returning to the yard.
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Yes. this happened to me as well. When the fare increase occurred, I was a day late updating my commuter check account.. what i didn’t realize that was then the commuter check card didn’t have a high enough balance on it the killed the autoload.
I didn’t know there were any problems until the 12th, when I was told that the card was blocked.
I went to a fare machine and added money ($60), thinking the card would take the cash and the commuter check balance and pay for the card, but realized much later that instead I was actually being charged $2 per ride, and not the pass… When September came along, the bad news was that I had to pay for both the August pass and the Spetember pass.
It was an absolute mess.
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I determined early on that I would NOT use the website at all if I could avoid it.
So far so good. I use a different Clippercard for MUNI passes and for CalTrain (8-rides). I try to only put as much cash on the card as required. I walk into a Walgreens and pay CASH. There is no question of when the pass will be available, no question of when the 8-ride ticket or cash can be used. Neither of my cards are registered in my name. Works for me.
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I had a similar issue with Autoload, except when my bank card was charged for the monthly pass, the charge was reversed/declined even though I had plenty of funds in my account to cover it.
Clipper blamed my bank, and my bank blamed Clipper. Whoever’s fault it was, it took almost 2 weeks of calls to the Clipper service center, multiple visits to the kiosk at Embarcadero, a brand new monthly pass (which the kiosk guy told me I needed, but actually I didn’t and am now awaiting a refund), and shelling out over $20 out of my own pocket to ride transit daily while waiting for the block to clear.
None of the Clipper reps I spoke with seemed to agree with each other on what had happened to my card, nor could explain why the system is set up so poorly. If I can make a payment online or even on a smartphone for anything else in the world in a matter of minutes, it makes no sense why Clipper couldn’t process my Autoload even after almost 2 weeks. If anything happens like this again, I’ll be taking my card off Autoload. They really need to get their system together, and make sure their employees know what the hell they’re doing.
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I have heard of lots of people having trouble with the autoload feature. I don’t trust it and never use it. When I see my balance getting low, I just manually add more money.
I do wish that Clipper had some sort of email notification system to remind you when your balance starts getting low or when your passes are about to expire.
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Long, confusing rant: I’ve had this problem! But, I was diligent about changing my credit card info when it expired, and that made the situation worse, for some reason. What happened: I updated my info on July 28th, just before my old card was about to expire. No problems on August 1st when my card auto-loaded. The next day, I got an email saying that my card was blocked and that I needed to update my payment info, so I figure that I must have entered my new card info wrong, so I go through that whole ordeal again. A few days later, I try to use my card again, and it says it’s blocked, and I got ANOTHER email saying that my payment type hadn’t gone through yet, and it’d be blocked until it was approved. I called Clipper and asked WTF is going on, I had $30 that had been charged on August 1st and it hadn’t been a problem. The [marginally helpful] lady at Clipper and I finally figured that the Autoload payment from the first HAD been paid by my new credit card info, but something in their system was causing it to try to charge my old info, which sent the first of the “your card is blocked” emails. Since I interpreted that email as referrencing a problem with my new info, I inadvertantly blocked MYSELF from using my Clipper Card because it took so long for Clipper to approve my payment info. I just couldn’t believe that I had $30 on my card and couldn’t use any of it. I’m still not even sure what truly happened.
I am a casual user of Clipper, for the occasional BART and AC Transit fare, so I’ve luckily never had any problems with my Clipper Card. The payment update fiasco was a nightmare, though.
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Clearly, it is Clipper’s fault that everyone here does not know how to properly enter their credit/debit card info. As usual, people love to blame somebody else for their own mistakes.
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Explain this one to me. I paid $20 towards my Clipper card at a machine at 4th and King CalTrain.
My bank billed me for $70
Where did the extra $50 deduction come from?
Why can’t Clipper Customer Service resolve this issue over the phone?
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I just ran afoul of this problem myself. Not only was the Clipper cash portion of my card blocked, but the entire thing! So a pass I already paid for I cannot use. I am showing the Clipper Web site to bus drivers hoping for leniency. Autoload is not something I will activate again in the near future.
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