“Paying for insurance is voluntary”
Posted by: Roy in Announcement, Business, Philippine, Reaction, Transportation, feedback & reviews, management, money, scam, warning, tags: cashier, cheater, iBlog5 aftermath, insurance, involuntary, management, mandatory insurance, passenger feedback, Philippine company, scam, trasportation, victim, victory liner, voluntary?
Last Saturday, after attending iBlog5, my friend Zorlone was kind enough to drop me off in Monumento so I can conveniently ride the bus at the Victory Liner terminal.
As I went towards the cashier to get my ticket, I noticed a sign on the cashier’s window which says something like “paying for insurance is voluntary” and I remembered that Victory Liner charge their passengers for insurance when you pay for your fare at the terminal.
Since I haven’t been travelling for quite a long time, I asked the cashier how much is the fare up to Dau, where I would get off (the bus I’m riding will be going to Dagupan), to which she answered P122.00, so I gave her P125.
She gave me my P3 change and two tickets… wait! Two tickets?!
Yes, the cashier gave me two tickets — one for the bus fare and the other one as a receipt and certificate for the insurance coverage. I could have given it back easily and say that I don’t want it, but I just want to sit down on the bus so I can rest. It was after all, a mere P5 additional charge.
When you think of it though, P5 per passenger, and how many passenger does they cater to everyday? Easily there’s big money there! An additional income derived from tricking passengers into paying something that they didn’t ask!
Why did I say ‘trick?’
If you remember, my question to the cashier was specifically for the fare… and the fare alone. She answered P122, referring to the transportation fare. But it was actually a total of two components - P117 for the fare, and P5 for the so-called insurance.
So, what’s with the sign which says that paying for insurance is voluntary, when they charge for it without even asking you whether you want it or not?
If that is not a cheap trick, I don’t know what it is.
I thought this has been looked into by our DTI… I guess they did, they just didn’t do anything. I’m not surprised.
This is definitely not a fair trade practice. A misrepresentation and definitely not one that you can call being done ‘in good faith.’ I don’t think the management of that bus company isn’t aware of the ‘technique’ being employed by their cashiers.
Can you define to me what voluntary means again? Right now, I’m confused.
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These are cheap tricks to unsuspecting passengers, for them to extract easy money. I hate it when people become unscrupulous just for money. That’s a bad experience.
and this practice of VL has been going for the longest time!