Rico’s TICO BULL – How many of you have a Compass, the quick pass device by BAC? They’re great, aren’t they?
You can breeze through the tolls on the Ruta 27 and pay for parking at many places, such as Multiplaza and my favorite, a real time-saver, at the San Jose airport. No need to find a pay machine, make line during busy times, have people wait in your car why you do the pay thing and no headache sticking the ticket out your window waiting for the machine to read your ticket that sometimes it just won’t.
But there is a downside. All triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Compass comes with a US$3.50 plus VAT monthly cost. Use it or not, the billing continues.
Like many others, I have had little need to use the Compass. The vehicular restrictions limit the days I can drive, and my driving in the past five months has been almost nil, no longer am I measuring how many kilometers to a gallon or liter, rather how many months to a gallon or liter.
In my case, it was six months to half an 85-liter tank of gas. In fact, I have to get gas today, the last time I did that was in February.
Which brought my attention to my Quickpass. While I have only used it one, earlier this month, I have been paying the monthly.
Given that I don’t foresee using the device for more months to come, logical would be to suspend the service until, well we get back to some normality.
Getting in touch with my bank, BAC Credomatic, and did I get a shock: to cancel the service I would have to pay the bank US$45 plus tax if less than 24 months (as in my case) dropping to US$30 plus tax for 25-36 months or US$25 plus tax for more than 36 months.
And, the device has to be in perfect condition and with the windshield clip undamaged.
What?
I purchased the device outright, or at least I thought I had, about a year ago. Having been paying the monthly to keep it active and it has been very useful, without a doubt.
But now, in these times of COVID, the bank is automatically charging me almost US$4 a month, use or not, or pay them an atrocious penalty, for a device I paid for, to cancel the service. And it has to be done in person at a local branch.
Something is terribly wrong here. How many of you who have a Quickpass knew that? I didn’t.
I have tried to talk to the bank, online rather than go to the branch, and all I get is, “Those would be the conditions. If you don’t agree with the conditions, you can always file a complaint to https://www.baccredomatic.com/es-cr/people/quejas-y-sugerencias”.
This is the message in Spanish:
Puede devolver el dispositivo en cualquier sucursal física sin costo durante los 3 primeros meses de adquisición. Debe entregarlo completo (dispositivo y prensa nueva) y en buen estado, pasados los 3 meses; se aplicará el proceso de la devolución y se cobrará de la siguiente manera:
4 – 24 meses: $45 + IVA.
25- 36 meses: $30 + IVA.
Mayor a 36 meses: $25 + IVA.
La devolución se realiza en sucursal física.
Esas serian las condiciones anteriormente mencionadas. De no parecerle las condiciones, puede poner su inconformidad en: https://www.baccredomatic.com/es-cr/people/quejas-y-sugerencias.
All I want to do is suspend the billing (and use) until this we can work again.
I would appreciate your comments, send me an email, that I will use to build a case of conscience with the bank. I won’t use your name, just the message.