London Oyster- free £5 credit

Riyazi

Thanks for this - just topped up my wife's account and mine and got the discount.

Hope they charge only £5 (£10 intial top up minus discount) rather than £15 (£20 top up minus discount) cos dont want to tie up that much since we use top up only a few times a month

tigerminxy

italiastar wrote:

Has the offer finished? - I can't find anything refering to it.

Just to confirm this, I got the reference to the offer right near the end, after typing in my credit card details.

Thanks to the original poster (and to Martin for mentioning it in the weekly newsletter). I've been thinking about getting the Oyster PAYG for a while and this was the final reason for me taking the plunge.

maryink

<rant> Oh! I have just spoken to the rudest customer service agent ever at Oyster!!!!! In trying to sign up for this it turns out my card has already been registered. I'm asked for my mother's maiden name. Not accepted. I tried my husband's. Not accepted. The guy on the phone tells me there's nothing I can do to retrieve this info and passwords are there for a reason! Arghhh what a bad start to the day. </rant> Cheers for letting me vent....

SickStu

Do you realise that your Oyster cards are used to track you wherever you go. That's why there's such an incentive price-wise to get you to carry one. Big Brother Red Ken is watching you !

tigerminxy

SickStu wrote:

Do you realise that your Oyster cards are used to track you wherever you go.

Err, yeah, because otherwise how would they work out the fare? If you're that paranoid, I suggest you also avoid carrying a mobile phone around with you.

Me, I'm such a small cog in the machine, I would be very surprised if anyone really bothered looking at my movement data.

tigerminxy

This news might make the Oyster Card useful to more people: http://www.londonist.com/archives/2007/01/oysters_for_all.php

System

I just registered and the offer is still on, 3 months after it appeared here!

Yay!

where2save

I've set up the auto top-up and got an e-mail: "We will email you again to confirm that your Auto top-up instruction is available for collection from a card reader at London Bridge station."

I'm confused. I currently have 40p on my card and just set the auto top-up. Does this mean I have to just use my Oyster Card first at London Bridge and then it will be automatically topped up because I am below the £5 threshold?

I don't see the point of nominating a station. I assume now I have to use London Bridge for the next Oyster swipe (which I probably will as that's why I chose that station)?

blanik

Just to confirm the offer is still valid but the website payment options are confusing.

You have to top-up your card with £10 NOW to enable the auto top-up in the future. You are immediately charged £5 against your credit card ( £10 top-up - £5 discount ). Auto top-ups will then be for £20 once your balance drops below £5.
These services have to be activated at a specified station within 8 days - however the auto top-up will then work in future at any station/bus/DLR etc.

I will be passing a tube station tomorrow ( but not using the tube ) so have asked tfl if I can activate the card at the ticket machine instead of the barrier - no reply yet so does anyone else know?

There is an alternative for people who want to take advantage of this offer, but cannot activate the card at a specified station because they don't know when or where they will use it next. Order a new card online with auto top-up for £8 (£10 immediate top-up + £3 deposit - £5 discount) this will be delivered by post for free. Then get a refund of the £3 deposit on their original card by handing it into any tube ticket office when they next travel.

littlemissmoney

blanik wrote:

I will be passing a tube station tomorrow ( but not using the tube ) so have asked tfl if I can activate the card at the ticket machine instead of the barrier - no reply yet so does anyone else know?

I've no idea (sorry!) but when you find out please can you let us know as I would like to do the same. Thanks :j