Advise: report your OV chipkaart as lost or stolen

Student OV-chip card broken? Don’t go through the official procedure of exchanging it for a new one, but report the card as lost or stolen. In this way you’ll get a new card much faster, advises the National Student Union (LSVb) and Rover.

In recent months, according to the organizations, there has been an increasing number of complaints about problems with the OV-chip cards. Cards get lost, customer service employees are poorly informed, and waiting times are increasing.

Rover and LSVb want an office where student can come with a broken chipkaart. Mostly to provide a solution for students with a broken card, so that they can continue using public transport. “For regular subscribers there are many solutions for a broken card, for example traveling with a copy of the card or with a temporary one. We find it unfair that students are exempt,” said LSVb  President Pascal ten Have.

Rover and LSVb advise students to provisionally boycott the whole procedure of replacing a broken card, and to report a broken card as missing or stole. It is a lot easier to replace a missing card, because there is no need to send  the broken one. “Reporting a stolen card will cost some money,” warns Rover spokeswoman Sanne van Galen. “But that is nothing compared to waiting for a few months for a new card and paying your own travel costs. Even if the student is entitled to a refund, you cannot count on this being paid.”