Dear Auckland Transport,

I am writing with concerns about the inability to process refunds through the "Contactless Payment" system in a reasonable time-frame, and what efforts are being made to address this issue.

Timeframe: For the start of Year 2025 - to end of 2025

Firstly, what is a reasonable timeframe from Auckland Transport perspectives to handle and process a refund?

Have you met your reasonable expectations of resolving refund requests this year?
Has the AT Hop Management had any form of meetings discussing the Refunds? If so, what was the outcome of those meetings?

What is the number of refund requests received by disputing an AT HOP transaction through the AT HOP web site ("Request a Refund" for Contactless Payments), and if possible split out by the customer reason selected (Forgot to tag off/Wrong Fare/Another reason).
The number of these refund requests that were accepted and processed.
The number of these refund requests that were declined, and the proportion of these that the customer was informed and if possible, split out by the reasons why the refund was declined.
The average duration for a refund request to be responded to.

How many requests for a refund for incorrect charges have been created?
How many requests for a refund have been processed successfully?
How many requests for a refund have been processed unsuccessfully?
How many escalation cases has your management handled in regards to Payment disputes?

How many of these requests were made in regards to members of the public reporting "Random Charges" on their bank statements despite not taking Public Transport?
How many of these requests were made in regards to members of the public reporting "Duplicate Charges" on their bank statements despite taking a single fare?
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Regarding record-keeping, there are concerns that many of your Staff are not leaving notes of interactions with members of the public or phone calls. For example, one staff member shared that Outbound calls are not recorded and Managers do not take "transfers" - hence opting for a "Outbound" call.

Are calls made from employees and management working from home via “Outbound” recorded?
Are calls made to employees and management working from home via “Inbound” recorded?
Are calls made from employees and management working from Office via “Outbound” recorded?
Are calls made to employees and management working from Office via “Inbound” recorded?
Are all Front-line staff expected to leave a detailed note of an interaction?
Are all Manager's expected to leave a detailed note of an interaction?

Is it standard practice that a Contact Centre Manager refuses to take a phone call via "Transfer" and only offers "Callback" functionality? If so, why is that standard practice?
Is it unreasonable for a member of the public to ask to remain on "Hold" and wait for a callback - instead of being forced into a "Callback" despite the Manager being able and ready to take the call in real time?

Is it standard practice that a Manager does not know if what the "Public" email is for AT?
Can a manager refuse to provide an e-mail address for Public use to send queries?
Are managers familiar with their own organizations contact information?
Is it standard practice for a Manager to refuse to provide their "First" name? How about their last name?

Could you please also provide a full list of "Training Modules" that Contact Centre Manager's have taken in the year 2025?

Could you please provide a list of full names (first and last names) of management that operate in the Contact Centre including their professional email addresses?

Yours faithfully,

James Welsh