I often have to take Mrs BB to the food court at Market Village to have her breakfast. She, as many others, tops up her handy little credit card sized card, which fits nicely into a purse or wallet as required.
handy little credit card sized card, which fits nicely into a purse or wallet as required
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She went to the top up counter this morning, and was informed the handy credit sized cards were no more. They had been replaced by vouchers. They duly issued Mrs BB with a book of vouchers.
book of vouchers
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book of vouchers
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Mrs BB asked about the credit she still had on her card. She was told they will be issuing refunds starting tomorrow.
Why change a system that has worked for years? Has their computer crashed, and they can't afford a replacement? Paper vouchers - wallets and purses already contain paper vouchers aka bank notes. TIT.
Big Boy wrote:
Why change a system that has worked for years? Has their computer crashed, and they can't afford a replacement?
Perhaps the system they were using was licensed on a monthly/yearly basis and the fees have gone up to a charge the management no longer feel is acceptable - or maybe the court is moving over to cash-based payments and therefore they don't want to pay a full year's licence for something they're only going to be using for a couple of months.
Or maybe the system has been compromised and somebody has been abusing it. That would be reason for an immediate change.
Paper vouchers - wallets and purses already contain paper vouchers aka bank notes. TIT.
Simple solution - don't put them in your wallet or purse, use a pocket! It's not like you will be holding on to them for a particularly long time. I'm guessing these vouchers are only valid on day of purchase, as opposed to the cards which you could theoretically hold on to for 30 days,
Pleng wrote:Or maybe the system has been compromised and somebody has been abusing it. That would be reason for an immediate change.
I did wonder about that. I had a machine under my control at work where I could have seriously manipulated the data within seconds.
Pleng wrote:
Big Boy wrote:Paper vouchers - wallets and purses already contain paper vouchers aka bank notes. TIT.
Simple solution - don't put them in your wallet or purse, use a pocket! It's not like you will be holding on to them for a particularly long time. I'm guessing these vouchers are only valid on day of purchase, as opposed to the cards which you could theoretically hold on to for 30 days,
Yes, Mrs BB did cash the surplus vouchers back in afterwards.
Just out of interest, it appears that you previously kept your cards between visits. What was the longest time you ever held a card for without returning it?
I ask because the conditions on the back said that the credit was valid for 30 days from the date of the first load. I always thought this was probably a mistake and the validity would be 30 days from the last load, but you just never know here. That's why I always cashed mine in after eating.
Back to the point at hand, I think the idea that it might be going cash-only in the future (and hence not renewing the systems) is a possibility; all the new places around the food court are opening up as cash-only that must be doing some damage to the sales of the "queue up over there and change money before coming here" stands
No, it was the Tesco food court. Mrs BB does alternate, but we haven' t been downstairs this week.
You are right - the card downstairs does have an expiry, and because of that, Mrs BB does exactly the same as you, and cashes in after every visit. If they're open (and I'm talking breakfast time visits), Mrs BB will go to the cash only stalls every time.
