The person behind the window at the station was very helpful, and tried to touch the card off so I wouldn't lose credit. When this came to nought, he said to go to Spencer Street Station (er, um, Southern Cross Station to the more recent Melburnian) and visit the Myki Shop, where they would be able to fix the issue on the spot by transferring my existing balance to a fresh card.
Duly referred, I went and did what I'd come into the city to do before making my way back to Spencer St. It seems that things change rapidly in public transport services, even as the trains move more slowly at times. One of these rapid changes is the withdrawal of a walk-up centre for Myki.
My fuse was becoming a little short by the time I discovered the new Public Transport Hub, where I was stunned to discover that this exciting new initiative (housed where the Myki Shop once dwelt) does everything except resolve problems with faulty smartcards. The lovely, if grandly titled, customer service consultants will happily assist in filling out a claim form and issue a complimentary replacement card, which you will then have to shell out and load up with credit to complete your onward journey.
One thing that irritates me increasingly as time goes on is the mantra that services are here for the customer in almost any possible way, be it through the internet or telephone or carrier pigeon, just not in the form of a single shopfront one can visit and have a relatively minor issue resolved in a quick and amicable way. The rhetoric of commitment to satisfying the customer seems to travel in inverse proportion to the likelihood of the customer being able to access to the service. The commitment to customer service seems to extend to anything other than actually being available in the flesh, and willing to do something as simple as provide a complimentary replacement card that actually has some credit in it. Fortunately I have a spare card anyway (legacy of forgetting to put the original back in my pocket once), so that's how I traveled home. The not-quite-complimentary card has probably been passed on to some other hapless soul by now.
I do look forward to receiving the new card, hopefully without having lost too much credit through the thing not having been touched off before crashing. One thing I know is that what goes around comes around -- there will be probably be a Myki Shop back at Spencer St some time in the next decade or so. It's just dreadful to think how much customer frustration it will take to make it happen.
