Monday, August 31, 2009

Fast Pass Swindle?

UPDATE: I’ve been in email contact with Metro. After a few emails back and forth between Ms. Bessy and myself (she had a couple of questions that I had to answer), she informed me that she would send me a couple free Fast Passes.
I can’t say I’m happy that the situation occurred in the first place, but I’m happy the way it turned out.
I think all Metro employees could learn a thing or two about business etiquette and customer satisfaction from Ms. Bessy.

From Christopher:

My wife used to receive weekly Fast Passes every month purchased with money taken out of her paycheck. At one point, she had to go to the hospital for pregnancy complications and during that time, she received a double order of Fast Passes.

We tried to return the extra passes because they had taken double the money out of her paycheck. WMATA and the benefits company her work uses both say it wasn’t their fault. We decided to let it go.

That was over a year ago.

I found the passes recently and started using them. I’m still losing money in the long run, but, if I’m going to have the passes, I might as well use them.

Everything was fine until I got to my last pass. It didn’t work.

I went to the Metro Center sales office to see if I could get a replacement. The lady at the counter informed me that my pass was purchased for $32.50 and the price had risen a while ago to $39, and that is why it didn’t work.

I pulled out another pass in my pocket and informed her that I had been using these passes all month with no problem, and that the only reason I had the passes was because someone made a mistake with my wife's benefits.

Here’s the kicker: The lady informed me “Metro doesn’t make mistakes.”

Seems to me Metro has been making a lot of mistakes recently, especially the one on June 22 that left 9 people dead.

The Metro employee told me she could give me another pass, but I would have to pay the difference of $6.50.

“You’ve got to be “You’ve got to be “You’ve got to be “You’ve got to be “You’ve got to be “You’ve got to be “You’ve got to be “You’ve got to be $&%*#@! kidding me!!!!” I politely said.
amp;%*#@! kidding me!!!!” I politely said.
amp;%*#@! kidding me!!!!” I politely said.

“You need to honor the price I paid for the pass since there is no expiration date on it!” I replied.

But since she had my pass in her hand (the pass states that it is subject to confiscation by WMATA) I knew I could walk away and lose $32.50 or let the issue drop and lose $6.50.

I chose the latter.

She told me to take it up with customer service. I told her everyone knows Metro customer service is a joke, since they still haven’t responded to the first time I complained about the original double dose of Fast Passes.

I wrote WMATA an email, but I know that won't yield any results. I’m currently looking for any law that says they have to honor the pass they sold me because it didn’t have an expiration date.

I’m not too proud to fight for $6.50!

Other items:
A look back at the crash (WTOP)
Fairfax judge validates key funding for Dulles Rail project (Examiner)

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