Props to the MBTA

So, my week of MBTA adventure customer service has taken a surprising turn.

I received an email on Wednesday morning from someone in their systems department, asking for more detail about my issue. I didn't have a chance to call back until Thursday afternoon. When we spoke, I learned that somehow a different Charlie Card was credited with my online transaction, and this probably caused the glitch. He asked if I had a second Charlie Card in my wallet at the time (which I didn't), as he attempted to troubleshoot.

I asked him if they monitored bloggers and twitterrers since he responded so quickly. Turns out that they do! He has a Google Alert set up, which caught my posting. Kudos for reaching out to me so quickly.

The second surprising turn was what I received in the mail yesterday - a new Charlie Card with a stored value of $16, and a letter apologizing for the inconvenience. What I expected to take four weeks (if at all), took two days. Just when I thought that I would be buried under public bureaucracy, I was pleasantly shocked.

The MBTA takes its lumps every day, but they deserve credit where credit is due. Thanks.