After using an InterCity bus pass every few weeks for a year, a Christchurch man is ticked off to discover that topping it up doesn't extend its 12-month expiration date.
And Consumer NZ is sceptical whether that complies with New Zealand consumer laws and regulations.
Leigh Sandoe's partner Kim Do lives in Timaru and travels to visit him every few weeks.
They figured out that without a car, the most cost-effective way to do that was with InterCity's FlexiPasses.
It worked well for almost a year, before they hit a snag.
After topping up the card with $170 worth of bus ride hours, Ms Do went to use it and realised her pass had passed its 12-month expiry date.
"It can be quite confusing because if you log into your account, you can still access your Flexipass account and you can still see the hours sitting there, and you can still top up even if it's expired," Mr Sandoe told 1 NEWS.
After contacting InterCity for a refund - which was refused - they realised they were stuck.
"I asked my partner and she says she never received any emails saying that it was coming close to expiry," Mr Sandoe says.
"I felt pretty gutted, because I'm used to services like the expiry date extending when you top up, so seeing 20 hours sitting there, which is worth about $170, is quite frustrating.
"It's annoying that you can log in and still see the hours just sitting there, not being able to be used."
Despite the issues, Mr Sandoe is resigned that they'll keep using InterCity because there aren't any other options for them.
"I've had to sign up for a new FlexiPass, and I'm going to have to remember in my mind that when it comes near its expiry date in the future, we're going to have to use up all the hours quite quickly," he says.
"Since it never actually emailed or contacted us that it was about to expire, it's pretty much left to you to remember."
INTERCITY DEFENDS PRACTICE AS PERFECTLY LEGAL
A spokesperson for InterCity told 1 NEWS the expiry is listed in its terms and conditions, also visible whenever users log in to book travel on the site.
The 12-month restriction is because of how the card functions: using money to purchase hours of travel, not storing money.
"The reason we have an expiry date is that due to inflation our costs per hour of travel increase over time. Therefore we need to have expiry dates," content manager Amy Cooper says.
When asked whether that would indicate the passes should extend their expiry with subsequent top-ups, InterCity only reiterated that top-ups do not extend the expiry of a pass.
If one pass is close to expiring, customers can buy a second and use it concurrently with the first, Ms Cooper says.
Mr Sandoe says they didn't see a warning that their card was about to expire, only the initial message in the terms of service.
"It would be more important for them to contact you to let you know that your pass is about to expire," he says.
"Or better yet, not have it expire 12 months from the purchase date, have it so when you top up it extends it 12 months."
AN 'UNREASONABLE PENALTY' ON CONSUMERS
However Consumer NZ isn't confident InterCity's practice falls within New Zealand's consumer protection laws.
"There doesn't appear to be any reasonable grounds on which the company should retain the balance remaining on the card at the end of the period," head of research Jessica Wilson told 1 NEWS.
"In our view, that's an unreasonable, effectively a penalty on the consumer."
If prices have gone up, as InterCity says, customers should still be able to use that credit towards a future fare, Ms Wilson says.
"If they're saying the card is expired, but then the system allows you to put credit on it, something's going wrong with the system there and it sounds like InterCity needs to look at that and needs to fix whatever it is that's going wrong."
Ms Cooper was unable to verify whether that issue was widespread, saying InterCity would need the customer's details to look into it.
If customers are concerned about any business's practices, they should first complain to the company in writing and then if there isn't a satisfactory result, they should contact the Commerce Commission, Ms Wilson says.
"We'd also be pretty interested to hear from consumers if they've been stung by terms like this where the company is retaining the customer's money on the grounds that the card's expired and it's relying on a term that says it's entitled to keep the money."
Have you had similar issues? Email Breanna.Barraclough@tvnz.co.nz
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