Recently there was a posting on Facebook that went viral made by a Malaysian user of Touch ‘n Go’s Smart Tag payment system. As seen in the actual posting attached below, a road user by the name Sai Yew Lee observed that the system deducted much more amount than necessary from his account.

Inquiries made by him to both Touch ‘n Go and PLUS Highway (the highway operator where this incident happened) revealed that “This is very common”, as well as “… the magnetic reader might be faulty…”.

He was then asked to go to any PLUS office to get a refund.

Allegedly, these companies also said to Sai Yew Lee that “If you don’t complain we won’t know and there will be no refund.”

Unsurprisingly, social media users were immediately questioning about the millions of times when Touch ‘n Go or Smart Tag is used daily. Both of these payment systems are digital/online/electronic and we expect (or rather, insist) to be secure and accurate. So how many times have this overcharging happened, then?

PLUS issued a press statement regarding this, explaining that the technical glitch that had occurred resulted in the system not being able to ‘detect entry information for several vehicles entering the highway through the Jalan Duta Toll Plaza.’ Apparently, this only happened on 2 June 2016 for three minutes from 3.23pm and 3.26pm.

As a result, the system penalised affected cardholders through automatic toll deductions from their Touch 'n Go cards.

The company also advise highway users who were affected by this glitch to apply for a refund, adding that the technical glitch is an anomaly, not a norm.

Okay, fair. And we applaud that PLUS took it in stride. But how many times have this happened unnoticed? This matter only came into the limelight after it went viral. The protocol is users have to make an official refund request before it is paid off, but of course, the user needs to notice the extra amount charged in the first place.

But, what if we don’t? What if a thousand people don’t?