Did you know that you were responsible for charges on your Clipper card, even if you had reported it stolen? Well, until very recently, that was indeed the case. According to ABC 7, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission has finally changed the rules — although the update doesn't appear anywhere in the fine print.
Clipper cards are accepted by 28 transit agencies, and the MTC is unable to quickly communicate news of a stolen or lost card to all of them. As such, even if your purse was snatched right out of your hand and you immediately called Clipper to cancel the card, you were still on the hook for the cost of the thief's getaway (assuming he or she used public transit, that is).
And yes, this definitely happened to unsuspecting commuters. "I found out the hard way that, in fact, the thief gets to use your card all day and it's on you," Bruce Mirken told the channel. He lost his Clipper card and quickly canceled it, but he was still responsible for all the charges that had accrued that day after he canceled it — and there were definitely charges.
"The Cardholder is responsible for any payments made with the Card up until the end of the day on which the Cardholder reports the Card lost, stolen or damaged to the Clipper® Customer Service Center," the cardholder agreement reads.
John Goodwin, a spokesperson with Clipper, told ABC 7 that even though the fine print still needs to be changed (they need a Chinese translation), the rule has been updated effective immediately.
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