Free (bus) transfer vanished after I refilled my MetroCard

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I went to Whole Foods Market yesterday and before exiting the train station I was going to refill my MetroCard because the balance was getting pretty low. But then I decided not to do it and wait until I was on the way back home from the store to get it done. I left the store with three heavy bags and when I got down to the train station there was no MetroCard vending machine there nor the booth with a clerk either. I must have went down the entrance that wasn't the main one. Since my bags were very heavy there was no way I was going to go back up and walk in search of the main entrance so I just went into the train and chose to refill the card when I got to my stop before going up to the street. That is exactly what I did. I had a free transfer on the card, which I needed to use for the bus. I had a feeling that if I refilled my MetroCard that the transfer would vanish but chose to try it anyway. Unfortunately, my feeling was correct. Swiping my card on the bus the full bus fare was deducted from the card. I was upset. An extra $2.75 wasted for nothing. Lesson learned! Do not refill the MetroCard until you use your transfer, if you need to use it. And another lesson learned is that you should not put things off for later if you can get them done now.