Oyster Card Refund

enigma368

I bought an annual oyster card in May 2009 that was due to expire on May 1st of this year.

As I was due to be away for most of this month, April 2010, I emailed TFL last month asking if it was possible to cancel the remainder of my annual season ticket from April 10th and receive a partial refund for the outstanding period.

I received a response clearly stating that I would receive a partial refund for the unused days less a £10 admin fee if I posted the card to their refunds department (the refund would be calculated from the date postmarked on the letter).

I figured it made more sense to do this than to keep the card and use it for the few days at the end of April I would be in the country and so I followed their instructions and posted the card to be cancelled in order to receive a refund for the remaining days on the card as promised.

A week or so later, I receive a reply saying that my card had been cancelled but no refund would be issued as refunds are not issued on annual cards that are within their last 6 weeks of validity(as buying an annual season ticket saves you roughly the cost of 6 weeks on buying 12 monthly tickets).

Now I have no problem at all with this policy as I can see their reasoning on it. However I had clearly told TFL in my initial request that my season ticket would expire on May 1st and that I wanted to cancel it from April 10th and they told me to send it in and that I WOULD receive a refund based on these dates. Nothing regarding their policy of not refunding annual season tickets within their last 6 weeks was mentioned. I am quite annoyed because due to their misinformation, I have now had a perfectly valid oyster card with 3 weeks of valid season ticket left on it, cancelled with absolutely nothing in return.

I am quite angry with this and have requested that something be done about it, perhaps for example - a new oyster card with 3 weeks validity be issued to me.

Any advice on what I should do would be appreciated.

Hintza

I imagine you might lose the will to live before you sort it out. It sounds a reasonable request though.

cally6008

print the email (or letter) from them that you got .. the one that says you will receive refund etc

send this back to them with a copy of the letter they sent u .. the one that says you cant have refund

request that some form of compo (3 week oyster card) is sent to you due to a !!!! up at their end

williham

Why on earth would they cancel the card if you got no refund.. they should at least have sent it back saying there's no point in cancelling as you won't get any money back.
Forward them the email they sent explaining you would get a refund, hopefully you'll get something in return.

wealdroam

Write back saying that as they are refusing a refund, can they please return your card so that you can continue to use it. And as they have had the card for xx days, maybe they would like to extend the validity by that number of days.

Agree totally with Williham.

nomoneytoday

When you cash in a season ticket they work out the cost of the tickets you would have bought instead.
For example if an annual pass is £1000, monthly is £100 and weekly is £30, using the card for 3.5 months would result in £1000 minus -(3x100)+(2x30) = £1000 - 360 = £640

An annual is based on 40 weeklies, so around month 10 there is no residual value left on a season ticket.

DVardysShadow

williham wrote: »

Why on earth would they cancel the card if you got no refund.. they should at least have sent it back saying there's no point in cancelling as you won't get any money back.
Forward them the email they sent explaining you would get a refund, hopefully you'll get something in return.

Why on earth? Because in our 'Computer says No' world, no one is allowed or dares to use their common sense

enigma368

There was a roughly £3 pay as you go balance on the card which the guy I have been dealing with says has been refunded.

nomoneytoday: I have no problem with their formula/policy for refunding season tickets. My problem is that I explained carefully I had an annual travelcard with 3-4 weeks left on it and the person at TFL told me without pre-condition if I sent it in I would get a refund.

Anyway, I emailed him back saying that i thought it was completely unfair to tell me to send my card in for a refund and then to cancel it and say I'm not eligible for a refund.

He says he did not calculate whether I was eligible for a refund but simply answered my question in the general sense.

I feel like I will be wasting my time trying to fight this, yet on principle I am frustrated about it. I mean saying "yes send in your card and we will refund you" and then saying "thanks for sending in the card, but sorry you are not eligible for a refund and we have cancelled your card for you anyway", is just plain infuriating.

enigma368

Just to follow this up. Even though I didnt think i would get anywhere on this, I was p***ed off with the way they had treated me so I complained to TFL - which got nowhere.

I appealed to travelwatch who were much more helpful and after reading the emails, agreed that I had received poor customer service. They got onto to TFL and in the end TFL apologised for their "misleading" customer service and offered me a £15 goodwill gesture.

Now the compensation is crap but at least I got an apology, even if they probably dont mean it. My real hope is that the snotty TFL guy I dealt with by email got a load of hassle for it.

I could possibly take it further but I think I would lose the will to live so I have accepted their offer.