7 On Your Side helps couple with Clipper card problem

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. (KGO) -- If you take public transportation, you know about the Clipper card that gets you onto BART and most Bay Area bus systems. For a retired couple in Walnut Creek, it gave them freedom to travel, until they hit a roadblock.

The Clipper cards were a lifesaver for the couple. When one spouse began experiencing memory loss, they could still use public transit with ease. That is, until they were told their card was no good and they couldn't fix it.

Gillian McBreen and her husband have always enjoyed traveling. Now, it's a little harder.

"David has Alzheimer's," Gillian said. "His attention span and memory is so short."

However, with a swipe of their Clipper cards, they can still roam the Bay Area.

"It makes it so simple. I could just take both cards and tap mine, tap David's and we could be on our way," Gillian explained.

However, it all stopped one day when David' card didn't work. A BART agent said it had been stolen.

"I said, 'it couldn't possibly, could you check it again?'" Gillian said. "He said, 'no, there's no point in that.'"

Gillian figured she'd correct the mistake later, but it wasn't so simple.

"Because I didn't have his Clipper password, I didn't have his email password," she said.

David couldn't recall those details. And under privacy rules, Clipper wouldn't give Gillian access to his account.

"I'm acting for him, but they wouldn't let me do that just on my word alone," she said.

Gillian first had to provide David's account number and his mother's maiden name, then get him to sign an authorization form.

"It was very difficult for David to sign his name," she said. "And what he writes now is nothing like his original signature."

She finally sent in the paperwork. But weeks later, Clipper said it never received it. Gillian had to start all over again.

"I just wanted the card back," she said.

Clipper suggested David verify his account. Gillian repeated, he can't.

"This must happen to other people. "That's what I thought, I'm not the only person married to someone with Alzheimer's," Gillian said.

She sent the forms again. But a Clipper agent said she had to set up an account online and warned "this is tricky."

Gillian gave up.

"I wrote back and said -- you win I can't take any more of this," she said.

She called 7 On Your Side and we contacted Clipper. That very day a Clipper agent called to say the paperwork was enough and he would mail a new card.

Clipper says customer service was following the law, telling us: "All parties wish this resolution could have been speedier, but state law is set up to ensure protection of customers' privacy rather than speed of customers' satisfaction."

Now Gillian and David are off to the city again.

"It's lovely, I'm so appreciative," Gillian said.

It turns out David's card was reported stolen years ago when he lost his wallet. Clipper sent him a new card but a Good Samaritan also mailed his wallet back. David apparently didn't realize he was using the old card that day at BART.