Clipper Card Chaos: Software Glitch Blamed for Problem That's Inconveniencing 6,000 Customers

Clipper is a huge mess. For those of us with disabilities, SFMTA is phasing out the monthly stickers we put on your id cards. We will soon have to tap "load" the card monthly and then tap it each time we get on and off the bus. There are many people with disabilities that are unable to do this.

This is turning out of be a big mess. Time to put a halt to it and fix the problems before we get too far into it and the costs to fix is go up.

Last evening after finding out that my Clippercard does in fact not work and that the $60.00 credit I thought I had was $0, I then decided to go online, however the website: www.clipper.com seemed to be redirected to some strange domaine ending in a .DO. I did some more research and it turns out that is the Domaine for the Dominican Republic. So this morning I called the district attorney's office because I truly believed that my money had been stolen.Talk about adding insult to injury, the woman in the investigations office yelled at me and told me to file a police report.

frenchjr25: There is no tap-out procedure for Muni. That's only for BART, Caltrain, and Golden Gate Transit.

sickandtired: The correct website is Clippercard.com, not Clipper.com

Akit, if Clipper knew what was good for them, they'd hire you to do their online outreach. You've done more customer service for them online in the last few days (here, on SFist, and lots of other places, I'm sure) than some companies do all year.

Several months ago - back in the days of Translink (now Clipper) - my credit card expired and my Translink card no longer worked. I called customer service, gave them my new credit card number, and the rep assured me that my card would be working in two days.

Two days pass and my card still didn't work. i called back and they told me that some data had been entered incorrectly, that they would fix it right away, and that my Translink card should work in a few days.

I wait another two days and find that the card still doesn't work.

I call again and am told by a rep that it will take a week to resolve the problem. At that point, I tell them that I would like to cancel my Translink card.

I was then told that I would have to go to the website, print out a form, fill it out and send it in order to have the service canceled.

My solution? I canceled my credit card. I could see where this was heading. i would probably have spent months trying to get back the $20 credit that they would have charged my credit card and get back to square one.

I sent an email to the AC Transit Board of Directors and to the AC Deputy General Manager complaining about this problem.

No one at AC Transit responded to my complaint.

If I was dealing with just about any retailer in the U.S. this problem would have been resolved within minutes over the phone.

I now buy AC Transit stickers for my Translink card. Translink customer service, as well as AC Transit when it comes to this, scores zero in my book.

After reading comment by frenchjr25, I would say that it is premature for SFMTA to phase out the stickers. Clipper is going to create serious customer relations problems by not retaining them - at least until they have a system that works properly and customer service that is prompt and efficient.

SF residents need to contact their supervisors and let them know that the SFMTA's plan to do away with paper passes is premature, and this is why. I can't imagine anyone in their right mind who would trust Clipper, when it's been one long multi-year beta test.

Clipper needs to run for at least six months without a hitch before SFMTA should even be thinking about retiring paper passes.

I'm an SF resident and I've been using Translink/Clipper for the past 2 years on Muni and on Bart as soon as it was available. Though there have been some problems, systems go down, card doesn't tag quickly, or I have to try and tag it multiple times before it reads correctly... I have never been left behind by a bus or train. I guess my point is, the minor inconveniences I've felt by the glitches being worked out aren't enough to throw out the whole program. Carrying one pas between transit providers is so great. Other metropolitan areas have similar passes it's high time we do as well.