Oyster Card Overcharging

Beige

I've had a feeling for a while that Transport for London have been stinging me for using Oyster Pay As You Go... and I finally got around to seeing the extent of it, so I thought I would share this with others in a similar position (They only seem to provide 2 months journey history, so I've probably been done for a fair amount more than this).

Latest Oyster Fare List (I'm not allowed to post the whole link)
tfl.gov.uk/tickets/14416

I've put £100 on my card in the last 2 months and think about £20 of this has been OVERCHARGING.

Examples:

Missing last train
Scanned in only to find I had missed last train - charged £4.40 (not refunded when you scan out!)

Trains not running
Scanned in only to find I my train was not running due to engineering work - charged £4.30 (not refunded when you scan out!)

Scan out interpreted as scan in
Intended to scan out at a station with no barriers - Oyster saw this as a scan in so charged me for 2 incomplete journeys... £8.80

Mixing London Overground and Underground
Making a journey from a zone 2 overground station to zone 1 underground station saw me charged £2.90 instead of £1.90

Other
Whenever I come back from my girlfriends by London Overground I get overcharged by 10p or 20p (depending on off or on peak)... I don't get overcharged on the way there though!
I've also seen days where I was charged more than the Price Cap.


I've submitted complains about all these, so we'll see where it takes us... I'm actually annoyed that I have to spend my time doing this to make sure I don't get stung when the whole point of Oyster is to save time....

choc_mouse

I suspected that too but haven't bothered to check if that is the case. Now I look at my journey history:

19:04 Paddington (Circle/District and Bakerloo gates only) Exit £0.00
19:03 Paddington (Circle/District and Bakerloo gates only) Entry -£4.40

Definitely doesn't seem fair. There should be some grace period or something. Anyone actually know the rules?

*Reason for exit. Circle lines weren't running.

Beige

Yeah - I think the reason they charge for entry/exit at same station is to prevent unscrupulous sorts swiping in, reaching over the barriers and swiping out while remaining in the station and then travelling to somewhere without barriers for free....

doesn't mean they can charge us for not taking journeys we were unable to though!

Jeff_Bridges_hair

I cant remember the full ins and outs of oyster as it gets quite confusing but there is something about them totalling up at end of the day.

though im surprised you actually passed through the gates without looking to see if any trains are running..

Go to http://www.railforums.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=105 as there is a dedicated Oyster man on there who will answer all your queries regarding oyster...

Or maybe Yorkie2 will pop along

wealdroam

Get the best out of Oyster.

chuckley

i too have noticed this. more so since the fares went up and its been shown online to be more complicated with the single fare finder.

the in out thing where trains aren't running happened to me where i swiped out @ the same staion 3 minutes later, only to be charged 85p. I called them up and they said 'well u made a journey', after an argument they refunded me.

not to mention I have no oyster online activity showing for 24/12/10 - 04/01/11. I emailed a complaint, of course no reply so when I phone regarding another incorrect fare I got them to email me a statement.

Their online complaints thing is NEVER LOOKED at!!

danny_x

I noticed that my Oystercard has been continuously overcharging me for the last month or so. It seems it's because I got a contactless credit card which I put in the same wallet, and has been interfering with it. Problem appears solved (don't speak too soon!), since I have left that cc at home. I only realised after I thought my Oystercard must have developed a fault, but the problem continued with the replacement.
TFL never suggested that this might be the problem. They don't have any incentive to tell people, as Oyster has been overcharging passengers by £60 million/year.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/​uk-england-london-12139796

Perhaps MSE could publicise it?

I've still got to get my refund, which didn't appear at the staion as promised....

dzug1

Marty13 wrote: »

Mixing London Overground and Underground
Making a journey from a zone 2 overground station to zone 1 underground station saw me charged £2.90 instead of £1.90

Do you actually mean 'Overground' or 'National Rail'? If the latter then the fare is correctly higher