Vail and Breckenridge - a ski pass that leaks money

Ski resorts are using RFID chips in the ski pass such that there is no need to fumble or remove gloves as you enter entrance turnstiles. Instead an assistant scans your midriff with a handheld unit and on detecting the chip they see your photo, name and the validity of your pass. At Vail and Breckenridge in Colorado, there is also the option to have your credit card attached to the pass. Thus you or the kids can use their ski pass to purchase meals or drinks in the mountain cafes. It all works well in theory but it went wrong for me. I’ll not be taking up the option to add the ‘resort charge’ facility to my Vail ski pass while the system is so experimental.

To buy the passes online I entered excess private data about myself as well as a photo. Half an hour later, having done so for four people the shopping cart system breaks because of all the countries not on the list, the UK is one. No worries, because a half hour phone call to the US resolves this. I gave my card details over the phone. The last time I did this overseas my card was subjected to numerous fraud transactions. And that happened again this time. It’s not that the ski pass people are responsible but there’s a risk when your card or its details are handed over whilst abroad.

A final annoyance occurred when one of our party skied outside of the area covered by the pass. Although they carried with them a paper ticket that allowed free skiing, their RFID chip was scanned and charges appeared on the credit card without notice. Back home, a call to Vail was met by a blunt refusal to refund the charge. My firm letter explaining the circumstance elicited a weak apology and a refund to the original card. That original card had been cancelled because of the fraud-thing but mentioning this failed to develop any local understanding. Thus I must ask yet again for the refund. Irritatingly, staff at Vail were speedily unhelpful in putting this right – see the notes below. They are just doing a job. And they are doing it as badly as does their technology.

Hello Mr. F,

We do apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced. The charges have been returned to the original credit card. Have a nice day.

Thanks,

Melinda

Vail Resorts

Please check that the transaction has happened as nothing shows on my account.

The card number was changed due to fraud from its use locally. The card number now is XXX

Thanks

Dear Mr. F,

We refunded $178 to a MasterCard ending in 3354 on 03/11/10. This was the credit card the charges were originally charged too, and therefore the only one we can refund.

Kind Regards,

Angela

Vail Resorts