Coo, was I really all fired up about Dexit, like I appear to have been in January 2004? ‘Cos, basically, Dexit sucks.
The coffee place I get my morning fix got rid of its unreliable Dexit machine when it changed hands. So I’ve got nearly $70 sitting on the useless Dexit tag, doing nothing.
Today I called for a refund, and discovered that Dexit won’t refund your balance. I wouldn’t have signed up for it if I’d known there’d be this in the ultra-sneaky Dexit user agreement (PDF):
Only in the event of your death (and upon receipt of such documents as Dexit reasonably requires in such circumstances as to whom is entitled to your estate funds), or Dexit closing your Dexit Account without cause, will the remaining funds in your Dexit Account be repaid to you. “Cause” will include any violation of this Agreement, any fraud or attempted fraud, any other operation of the Dexit Account or use of a Dexit Tag in an unsatisfactory manner, or non-use of your Dexit Account for over three (3) years.
So, do I hafta kill myself to get my money back?
Oh, and Dexit’s phone support staff are untruthful. I needed to speak to a supervisor. They promised one would call before 8pm this evening. It’s 9:55 now, and I’ve heard nothing.
I suspect that they were thinking of stopping fraud with that clause, but any system that says “we store cash for you… but we take no responsability for it if you lose the key” is something to run away from, preferably screaming all the while.
Mondex had the same issues, they’ve never made much of an impact either. I think RBC was trialing it with their staff at their HQ office, but that’s all disappeared now.
There was a successful smartcard-based system in place in Belgium that had most of the characteristics of Dexit and Mondex, but it had a very high penetration level, similar to Interac over here. The banks all played along, so it was integrated into your ATM card. You could use it in payphones too.
Lot’s of stores accept Dexit now. Like Pizza Pizza. Buy some Pizza with your $70.
That’s as maybe, Randy — but I’d rather eat damp cardboard than Pizza Pizza pizza.