A Malaysian’s journey to Singapore unexpectedly cost him a loss of RM10,000 thanks to a system error. Travelers, if you drive to Singapore frequently or planning to do so, you might want to take note of this.
On his Instagram reel @the.timestamps, Wei Jun shared his encounter with a “system error” at the Land Authority Transport (LTA) office when he wanted to re-enter Malaysia. Frequent visitors who drive to Singapore will need to scan the Autopass card – a vehicle entry permit that has the records of your entrance to, and exit from Singapore, as well as charges for each day.
Wei Jun and his friend, Daniel couldn’t exit Singapore when they were told that the vehicle had an outstanding fee of SGD2,700 (around RM10,000). This amount was brought up after the pair had an issue with their Autopass card.
“Their system somehow doesn’t have the record of us leaving Singapore since 4 months ago, which was the last time we visited the country,” Wei Jun explained.
The “error” involved a large amount of money, so Wei Jun asked the officers to check with immigration to confirm their exit. The officers, however, did not do so.
“I was told that they were using different systems, so they couldn’t synchronise the information.”
After 2 hours of argument, Wei Jun and Daniel decided to pay the fine. They only had 2 options – pay, or their vehicle would be confiscated.
Speaking to WORLD OF BUZZ, Wei Jun said the officers did not check on the CCTV to confirm their exit, and only did so by checking their passports. However, since the passports are under immigration and their vehicle is under the LTA, the officers told the pair that they couldn’t accept that as a confirmation.
“We were told that despite the information in our passports, it doesn’t prove that our vehicle left Singapore. We could have left it there for 4 months.”
“We’re not obligated to tell you about the error”
Wei Jun also told WORLD OF BUZZ that he was baffled by one of the LTA officer’s answers when he asked,
“How could we exit in August and re-enter in December if our card had an error? The immigration officer opened the boom gate for us to drive through, regardless.”
The LTA officer allegedly told Wei Jun,
“It’s not the immigration’s responsibility to inform you that there’s an error.”
To this day, Wei Jun found it hard to accept the answer and said that some people have DM-ed him about the same experiences. He also hoped that his post would be awareness among others.
“Hope our RM10,000 can save some of you from seeing the same fate.”
To those who frequently travel to Singapore with an Autopass card, have you experienced the same thing?
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