OVChipkaart card blocked

This is not Oyster related but as it’s a similar system I thought the anecdote might be of interest!

I was in the Netherlands last week and used an OVChipkaart (their version of an Oyster Card) that I have held for some time, purchased 2018, last used May 2020, with an expiry date of 2024.

It worked successfully for 3 days and then it stopped working on the 4th day with the machines reading “Card blocked”. Apparently cards only get blocked there after 12 incomplete journeys or a failed direct debit, neither of which happened. Looking up the card online failed to retrieve the balance or status, as it said the card had expired.

I finally got through to the Helpdesk (which is not as efficient as the Oyster one!) whereupon a back office team investigated and confirmed they can’t see anything about the card, and wanted a photo of the card to prove the expiry date and an estimate as to the balance held.

I expect it will be concluded with a refund, presumably after verifying a balance logged in a recent touch or something; but it struck me as a bizarre crack for a PAYG transport system if they don’t have an authoritative database of card states and balances; and I can’t imagine what would cause a card that isn’t expired to display touch. I expect it implies the system is much closer to v1 Oyster, which is odd as I always imagined the Dutch PAYG system was more advanced.

• This topic was modified 3 years ago by Chris D..