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All Touch ‘n Go card users, beware!

To all Touch ‘n Go card users, please beware when you top up your Touch ‘n Go cards at exit counters at highway tolls.

Yesterday (10 July 2014) at 6:27 pm, I was travelling from Gelang Patah towards Taman Perling/Tampoi area using the Secondlink Highway. As I wasn’t sure how much balance there was in my Touch ‘n Go card, I decided to exit the highway via the ‘Tambah Nilai’ toll counter at Taman Perling toll station.

Obviously I was in the car at that time, I requested the counter staff to check my card balance before deciding how much to top up. The staff told me that there was RM19.70. So I handed RM50 to him and asked him to top up RM30. When he was almost done, I requested for a receipt. When the receipt was being printer, he suddenly uttered the word ‘Isshh’ which seemed like something had gone wrong. I asked him what had happened but he didn’t say anything. Once receipt was ready, he handed my Touch ‘n Go card and receipt to me. When I reached out my hand to take it, he suddenly pulled his hand back and hesitated for a second. Then, he took out RM20 (2 RM10 notes) from the cashier machine and handed it together with my card and receipt. I didn’t suspect anything as I thought his behavious was due to his being forgetting to give me the RM20 change.

Once I drove off, I looked at the receipt and realised something was amiss and in fact, confusing. The receipt shows balance before top up as RM29.70 (instead of RM19.70 as what I was told). The refill amount is RM20 and not RM30 as I have requested. Immediately, I pulled over and called my husband to ask how much was the balance in the card as he was the one using the card most of the time. He said more than RM20. I asked if he was sure and he was pretty sure. Note that I didn’t tell him what had happened at the toll counter being asking him.

Clearly, the counter staff had the intention to cheat me and apparently had successfully cheated me of RM10. He told me the balance was RM19.70 and he only topped up RM20 to my card. Telling me RM10 less than the actual amount in the card is to cover up his wrong doing. After topping up of RM20, my actual card balance is RM49.70 (19.70 + 30 = 29.70 + 20) and I naturally I would not have discovered that if I hadn’t asked for a receipt. He is able to do that as people usually just drive off and won’t be able to go back immediately to have things clear up. I wanted to go back but I could only drive off as I had two young kids in the car then.

I recall my mother told me that she was almost cheated of RM50 at a toll counter too. She handed RM100 for topup but only RM50 was filled into the card. Fortunately, my mother did look at the receipt before driving off. When she told the counter staff, her (the staff) behaviour was as though she had already known it!

I feel that I should warn others of this incidence so that others will not get cheated like I was. My mother and I were lucky because the amount I was cheated is small. I am sure many people are not as lucky. So, do request for receipt and verify it before driving off!

Source: Cassia Chuah