Cynic

We couldn't last summer, which is why we decided to re-open a Dutch bank account (we currently live in the UK) to get the card that does allow us to do things like buy train and bus tickets.

neurotic

Yes, but only if you already have a personal chipkaart, which, if you don't yet, you have to order online and pay for it online, and for those Visas aren't accepted.

StevieLW

sounds about right for dutch acceptance creditcards...
I remember when I first visited and went clothes shopping, picked up a really expensive leather jacket and they wouldn't accept credit cards, it shocked me as I was so used to being able to use my CC to build air miles!

neurotic

That's right, you can't even buy a bottle of water at a vending machine without a Dutch PIN card! They don't even take coins! It drives me nuts.

I'm going to the bank tomorrow, with my BSN and all, but I read in a post on here from 10 years ago that someone had to get their employer to talk to the bank because they got a short term fixed-term contract so I'm now totally paranoid about it because I honestly can't afford any more delay, I've been commuting to work at the high price for the last month with my salary on hold, and I'm on the edge here. Not just financially but mentally too.

My hope is that fixed term contracts have become a lot more common since then and that it's no bother anymore. Please. Please!

Happy New Year, here's hoping I finally get to enjoy this country.

Cynic

Fixed term contracts are now the norm (for the first twelve months at least); it shouldn't stop you opening an account, but will certainly make getting credit difficult. My daughter had to buy an old banger and run that until she could get bank-credit to borrow some money to get something better.

Red_Wine_Fairy

I guess this is a bad time to mention that there is a strike tomorrow so most of the public transport is unlikely to run?


You should be ok if you use only a train, and no connecting buses. 9292.nl is your friend

neurotic

I managed to open a bank account, woo! And I got paid for my last month too, but I'm still waiting for the debit card to arrive. But I feel much better already. Can't wait to purchase that season ticket!

And thanks for the warning on the buses but I don't take any so the trains were fine... so far it's only the snow that seemed to have stopped them, even through the holidays they were running as usual which was great.

neurotic

OK so I did purchase the season ticket but it has not yet arrived and its valid from tomorrow.... so tomorrow, because the postie is unlikely to be earlier than I have to head off, I will have to buy yet another full-price day-return, will I be able to claim a refund on these extra days when this card eventually arrives? Is the refund claim normally a long procedure?

Does any of you perhaps know how long do these newly made personalised OV chipkaarts usually take in the post?

neurotic

ARGH I genuinely think I'm cursed with this country's bloody public transport system! I am so angry right now I could explode....

My first personalised card, containing this mythical season ticket, did not arrive, it just got lost in the post or something, I don't know... so I contacted OV and I was told that it will just get blocked, I will be sent a new one and they will transfer the season ticket to the new one.

Straightforward, I thought, even if I have to purchase paper tickets in the meantime, at least for these, since I already had the subscription ticking, I would get a refund, I thought....

Except that the new card arrived today, but it's not in the NS system, the new card does not contain my subscription, it still belongs to the old one according to them. Apparently, they cannot transfer it and the customer assistant said that I can cancel it next month and ask for a refund at the end of the month (but then it's another month travelled with expensive tickets), or I will have to get a refund for the paper tickets I used so far but what's the point, I will I have to buy new ones again since I have no access to my subscription.

I want neither, I just want to use my bloody season ticket AND I want a refund for the extra paper tickets from the start of my paid subscription! It's NOT MY FAULT that the card NEVER ARRIVED and NEITHER IS MY FAULT that OV failed to transfer the ticket to the new one!

I can't phone OV now because it's too late but surely, surely, they will be able to do something if I phone them tomorrow? This can't be right, that it's the two options I have? People lose their cards all the time don't they? Surely you can transfer subscriptions to new cards all the time even after they arrive? OV must be able to move them any time?

(It's another stupid thing to have to go back and forth between two companies and that you always have to phone, even if I wrote an email last time, I got the reply that I needed to phone them.)

I just HATE public transport! I'm starting to think buying a bloody car would be cheaper, I'm so FED THE ***** UP with losing money on this... Every day there is something to make me sob, when will it be free of these complications?

StevieLW

that all sounds incorrect.

https://www.ov-chipkaart.nl/terminat...-or-stolen.htm

when reporting your lost card through OV chipkaart you got the option to get a new card, and your abonnement was transferred to this one.

Just call again and get someone else, be clear in your facts and it should get resolved.

Otherwise post a message on their facebook or twitter, that can usually help to get something resolved also.

Red_Wine_Fairy

I'm replacing my kid's OV cards almost on a weekly basis and they always come with the remainder of monthly abonnement still on them - although they have the Randstad North (everything except the train) so this might be different for NS. NS are incompetent and are fined annually by the government for failed targets (a cost which naturally is passed on to us because we don't pay enough to the gov't already >.< )

OV customer services is exactly as good as the representative you get through to: One will go out of their way to help, but the next is dismissive and unhelpful (I've even been hung up on by some lazy oiks there). Calling once again could yield different results. Alternatively, if you have twitter, Dutch companies are particularly sensitive to public criticism and repeating your story directly at them (on a feed thousands follow) might just spur them into action.

neurotic

Thanks for your sympathetic replies. I'm sorry for the previous, somewhat angry post haha! It's just the mental state I'm in due to previous experiences, so when it comes to these money frustrations, it only takes a very little additional inconvenience for me to just snap.

I didn't even phone OV in the end, I decided to just chip my card anyway at the train station and see what happens and to my surprise, it worked! I was so happy. Perhaps it just needed to be activated or something for NS to see, but it worked and I logged on to the NS website and deleted the old, unused card from my profile so I only have this one now, and I wrote to them and asked for the refund for the paper tickets. I didn't have the mental strength to phone them again but I got through the online chat, and it's all fine and being processed, they said it will take 4 weeks (lol...) but it's DONE!

I am SO relieved, thanks for your patience!