A tourist who recently visited Singapore expressed disappointment after learning he could not get a refund on his unused Anywheel bike-sharing credits.
Believing there is a problem with this policy, Sung, a 42-year-old office worker from South Korea, reached out to MS News, hoping to draw attention to the issue.
Mr Sung told MS News that he used Anywheel’s bike-sharing service once to explore Marina Bay Sands when he was in Singapore.
Even just to use it for one ride, he had to top up a S$10 minimum fee on the Anywheel app.
However, he was only able to use S$1 — the regular rate for rides up to 30 minutes — during his stay.
Before leaving Singapore, he reached out to customer service hoping to retrieve the money left in the account.
However, he was surprised to learn that the balance cannot be refunded or returned and can only remain in his account for future rides.
Image courtesy of Mr Sung.
“As a tourist, I don’t know when I will be back in Singapore, so the remaining credits aren’t particularly useful to me,” he expressed.
Mr Sung says he understands that the no-refund policy may be stated in the app’s terms and conditions.
However, he believes it is misleading, as it can only be found in fine print.
“I genuinely didn’t realise when topping up that I wouldn’t be able to withdraw my unused balance later,” he told MS News.
The experience made him wonder how many tourists or occasional users end up in the same situation.
Image courtesy of Mr Sung.
He added:
For a service where an individual ride can cost only a few dollars, having to leave unused money sitting inside an app feels unnecessarily restrictive.
Furthermore, Mr Sung said that many similar services in Singapore and abroad do not require top-ups.
He cited HelloRide, another bike-sharing company in Singapore, Lime in the United States, and GCOO and Swing in his home country, South Korea.
Mr Sung stressed that his issue with Anywheel’s top-up requirement is that the company does not make it clear for users like him, who only use the service once or twice, and the deposit is “gone forever”.
“I am very annoyed by this as I know that the issue of top up or deposit is very touchy with shared bicycle companies, since there is a history of users losing their deposit,” he shared.
Mr Sung added that Anywheel’s customer service was only able to give him “a very ridiculous explanation to ask me to come back and try their app”.
“No further resolution was offered,” he claimed.
In response to MS News enquiries, Anywheel said its bike-sharing credits remain in a user’s in-app wallet with no expiry date.
This means they can use them for future rides at their convenience.
Source: Anywheel on Facebook
They also added that the credits being generally non-refundable and non-transferable are outlined in their Service Agreement and are communicated to users at the point of purchase.
“We recognise that individual circumstances may vary and review customer enquiries on a case-by-case basis, with our Customer Service team providing assistance where appropriate,” they wrote.
Users who require further assistance can reach out to Anywheel at support@anywheel.sg.
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Featured image adapted from @anywheel.sg on Instagram.