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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think £5 is a shameful fee to replace a school child's Squidcard

71 replies

5Foot5 · 10/04/2011 17:46

DDs school introduced a payment card (Squid) for the school canteen about a year ago.

About a week ago she came home and told me she thought she had lost her card. She had used it at lunch time and now couldn't find it anywhere. I had just topped it up that morning and it had about £16 of credit on it so I went online to see what to do.

It seemed fairly efficient. I could register the card as lost which meant that it was immediately blocked. Then the instructions said that she had to request a new one from school and the credit would be transferred to the new card. We did all of this -so far so good.

However, when she came to collect the replacement she was told there was a £5 fee! I was pretty shocked - occasionally DH or I have lost credit/debit cards and the bank always replaces them immediately with no suggestion of a fee.

When I checked the website the terms and conditions said that they might charge a fee where a card has been replaced twice in a six month period. Now this is the first time she has lost it so I sent an email querying the fee but they claim that when I reported it lost there were some FAQs that mentioned it.

Obviously we had to pay the £5 given the card was worth £16, but I think this is a pretty outrageous amount - especially given the cards are used for children's dinner money.

Has anyone else encountered this scheme?

OP posts:

MargoThreadbetter · 30/10/2012 07:40

And then we can have all the political prisoners we want.

Purpleprickles · 30/10/2012 07:41

Ophelia that's a bit Minority Report isn't it?

mutny · 30/10/2012 07:44

£5 sounds about right to replace it. Same as lockers keys etc.

TunaPastaBake · 30/10/2012 07:45

I see no problem in £5 fee for replacing card - next time it happens make DD pay for it - she may be a bit careful about it then.

We have the biometric fingerprint system - far easier and I tend to yawn at people who have then all this conspiracy theories about biometric fingerprints.

FangsGoForTheMaidensThroat · 30/10/2012 07:47

It is probably designed to be a deterrent to losing it, sorry but I think you need to suck it up this time :(

OpheliaPayneAgain · 30/10/2012 07:48

What do you think are done with cords at birth? Do you not think there is a big data bank somewhere?

The cat is microchipped I fail to see why I can't microchip the kids. (and not really wanting to turn the thread, recent news, small child lost, not found it would prevent a lot of uncertainty)

CaseyShraeger · 30/10/2012 07:48

They don't store the actual fingerprints on a fingerprint system - when the fingerprint is initially scanned it uses key points as input to a mathematical algorithm and then stores the resulting numbers as data, then it does the same thing when scanning the fingertip on subsequent occasions and compares the two outputs. It's completely impossible to reproduce a fingerprint (or even any part of a fingerprint) from the data stored. So from a "protecting your child's biometric data" point of view they coukd print out the information the system holds on your child's fingerprint and mail a copy to every household in the UK and it'd still be completely secure. It's a completely different approach from law enforcement databases which store the actual fingerprints.

Sometimes I could weep at the general lack of public understanding of fairly basic technology

RobotLover68 · 30/10/2012 07:52

I never saw what the problem was with using cash

I've got 3 children at senior school - try finding that amount of dinner money in coins every single day - I used to have to trundle to the bank once a month to withdraw it in pounds coins - every single time (even though I had authority from the bank manager) they used to roll their eyes, whinge that they might not have enough and have a little moan about it. I was so glad when our school went to fingerprints so I really can't be bothered to worry about the conspiracy theories of it

Purpleprickles · 30/10/2012 07:58

Casey thanks for explaining- that was helpful. With regard to your strike out, yes it's a shame that we don't all understand exactly the same things isn't it? Maybe schools should start introducing some kind of brain programming so we are all little clones of each other.

Ophelia I have no idea about cord data banks but I'd hope that wasn't the case. Off to research.

TunaPastaBake · 30/10/2012 08:01

I agree with Casey and her strike out.

ouryve · 30/10/2012 08:03

And the big problem with using cash is that some kids get free school meals. If that entitlement is loaded onto a dinner card or some other system, then their mates (and definitely not mates) need not know because all the kids look the same at the point where they select and pay for their meal.

Purpleprickles · 30/10/2012 08:07

Good for you Tuna, you and Casey can be very proud of your knowledge.

Purpleprickles · 30/10/2012 08:09

Ouryve that's a fair point. My worry was that the dc in question in my post had gone all day with no food or drink. But then I guess it is the child's responsibility at secondary school to say they have no credit rather than the schools to ensure they have eaten.

TunaPastaBake · 30/10/2012 08:10

Thank you Purpleprickles

vodkaanddietirnbru · 30/10/2012 08:11

ours use a dinner card but dont take it about with them as it is stored in a tub (one for each class) at the office. When paying for their school lunch they are asked for their name and primary year (e.g. primary 5) rather than handing the card over. Children getting free school meals get their card automatically loaded with £1.75 each day so they are treated the same as everyone else when paying for their lunch at the till.

If they dont have money on the card, the child still gets a meal and then the parents are chased up later to get the money for the meal that they had. At present money has to be taken in to load the cards up at machines in the school but they are going to start making it possible to load it up online which would be helpful.

CaseyShraeger · 30/10/2012 08:12

Purpleprickles - or, as an even more wacky and off-the-wall idea, the mass media could actually explain science stories properly when they report them. But that's just crazy talk; let's go with your brain programming scheme instead. Sadly, it seems more likely to actually happen than the responsible reporting idea.

VivaLeBeaver · 30/10/2012 08:12

DD is fingerprinted. Apparantly the system doesn't store the whole fingerprint but just enough points on it to reference the child for dinner, but not enough data to be of use in any murder investigations, etc.

Doubters can have a card instead and risk losing it and having to pay £5 to replace it.

I think schools that haven't gone onto finger printing should do, no problem of losing it, it being stolen, etc.

WMittens · 30/10/2012 08:17

It's not unreasonable to charge fiver replacement fee. It's a tad unreasonable that they didn't inform you of that at any point during the process, right up until the card was to be collected.

Purpleprickles · 30/10/2012 08:19

Casey I agree with you, the media goes for sensationalism not truth about so many things. Additionally though people who are 'in the know' could explain their knowledge to others, thus sharing the knowledge. Only that sharing becomes less sharing and more criticism in a 'fuck you are thick way' if a caveat at weeping at the general ignorance of the people who didn't know already is added at the end. Don't you think?

Trills · 30/10/2012 08:22

YABU.

I agree worth WMittens. Perfectly sensible to charge a replacement fee. Not so acceptable to have not informed you of it at the time you signed up.

Your bank make money out of you. That's why they do things for free. This is not the same.

OpheliaPayneAgain · 30/10/2012 08:28

We, as tax payers, would save a lot of money (tongue in cheek) if they did indeed microchip and upload information. As my 12yo points out, he wouldnt have to go to school, everything could just be imported across to his brain that he needed to know and he'd have lots more time to ride his bike!

Purpleprickles · 30/10/2012 08:33

Bike riding is an essential life skill Ophelia

2gorgeousboys · 30/10/2012 08:38

DS1's school has the fingerprinting system, which works really well. I top him up on line (or he can take cash to school and use one of the machines sited around school to top his account up) and can also see, if I want to, exactly what he has had for lunch.

CaseyShraeger · 30/10/2012 08:53

Well, no, I don't think. By definition, if there's a general lack of understanding or knowledge then the problem is a systemic one (with education, media, whatever) rather than a thickness problem with individuals. And if no one is allowed to express sadness at the shortcomings of the system because doing so is apparently tantamount to telling victims of the system that they are thick then nothing's ever going to bloody change.

(By the way, some other systemic issues that sadden me are the general lack of a culture that encourages British people to learn additional languages, the general lack of detailed information given to girls (and boys, for that matter) about normal menstrual cycles and normal variability when the subject is covered at school, and the general lack of expertise of GPs in breastfeeding and infant nutrition after a whopping half hour on the subject in training. I don't think any of those are your fault, either. But I have my suspicions that you are personally behind the postcode lottery in provision of NHS services.)

Adversecamber · 30/10/2012 09:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

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