Complaint to Oyster and TFL
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bobwilson
Posts: 595 Forumite
Dear Oyster card / transport for london / whom it may concern,
I'm writing to complain my experience with your stations and the oyster card system.
Today, my friend invited me for a coffee in London Bridge. Being that Purley Station is only 20 minutes from London Bridge by train, it was possible to travel and get back in time for my meeting.
I walked to the station entrance to buy an Oyster card. Such a seemingly simple task was in fact more challenging than one would have hoped. There was a barrier blocking my way, but no service desk to purchase an oyster card. I went to the ticket machine outside the barrier, but it was broken. I went to the last available ticket machine, but they don't sell oyster cards. It would appear the only way to buy an oyster card is to go to the service desk on the other side of the station, however, there is no way to get past the barrier without a ticket. So, I had to buy a random £12.80 ticket from the machine. This was no simple task. The screen could not be seen under direct sunlight, and the machine appeared to freeze up, displaying "Please Wait..." for long periods of time. It would seem I was on my own.
After some time, skilled eye squinting and guess work, I managed to buy a ticket for £12.80, and used it to go through the barrier to get access to the other side of the station. I walked to the other side, only to be presented with another barrier. The service desk had no direct access from the outside. It would appear you have to buy a ticket in order to get to the ticket-selling desk! An interesting concept.
After using my ticket to get through the barrier, and queued up at the ticket point. When I reached the front of the queue, I asked how one is supposed to reach the ticket point to buy a ticket. The man didn't seem interested. He asked what I wanted in rather a demanding tone. I requested a refund of my ticket, and to buy an oyster card. After thinking about it for about 10 minutes, he finally agreed to refund my ticket and and gave me my oyster card in return for £5. He refused to top it up and told me I'd have to queue up at another machine to top it up.
So, I walked to another machine, but it was faulty, and the screen was again illegible in direct sunlight; you would need a huge dark umbrella to have any effect to see the screen this time. I joined a queue for the only other machine. The queue was moving surprisingly slowly. When I finally reached the machine, it was very difficult to see the screen. No wonder the people in front had been taking so long. After some more skilled eye squinting, time and guess work, I managed to top up the oyster card by £15.
By this point, over 45 minutes had passed since I arrived at the station and I had missed not only one but two of my trains, and it was too late for me to make it on time. So, I cancelled on my friend, and decided I never want to use this blasted system again. I headed back to the service desk to ask for a refund. Again I was greeted with a barrier, just to speak to the staff. The barrier charged me around £4.50 for the pleasure of going through, even though I had not used any transport. Then, there was no one manning the service desk.
I waited at the service desk for some time, and walked around looking for someone. Eventually, someone appeared and told me in a rather frustrated tone "I TOLD YA WE DON'T HAVE ANYFIN TO DO WIV OYSTA CARDS!". Apparently, having bought it from them, they then rid their hands of it. They don't process refunds, even if it was 5 minutes after the fact. You have to call up an 0843 number on the back of the card to request a refund. He did not know how much an 0843 number costs. The number is of course expensive and not permitted by some mobile phone contracts, such as mine with giff gaff on O2.
By this point, I had no choice but to walk home with my tail between my legs. By the time I got home, I had spent £20, and lost over an hour and a half of my time.
In years past, I have called this 0843 oyster number only to be kept on hold for over 30 minutes each time. I ended up paying as much in phone cost as the refund in the first place, not to mention the extra hassle.
A number of issues are raised here:
1. Why should customers have to buy a ticket in order to reach the ticket desk? This defeats the purpose. It would be easy to fix this; just place the barriers so that they stop people reaching the platforms, not the ticket desk.
2. Why is there no way to get from one side of the station to the other without a ticket? This again defeats the purpose of trying to reach the ticket desk. You already have inspectors on trains, but if you want to be more secure, just place the barriers to stop people accessing the platforms, not the walkway between one side and the other.
3. Why should the barrier charge your oyster card straight after buying it, when you haven't used any trains. Clearly, the time limit needs to be thought out more carefully, and refunds should be easier to process.
4. Why is it you can buy an oyster card from a service desk but not refund it? This system needs to be re-thought out and upgraded. There is a question mark over how legal this even is to sell someone something and then make them call an 0843 number for a refund. Why is oyster card not more integrated with service desks... they seem to sell them and then rid their hands of any problem. This needs to be sorted.
5. Machines should be serviced more regularly and always be legible in any weather. Have a sunlight barrier so you can see the screen in all weather, or place them indoors, and upgrade them to offer oyster cards.
6. There are many times that honest oyster card customers are overcharged, sometimes by the machine not swiping correctly, and the barrier staying open, so when the customer reaches their destination they end up being charged the maximum amount by default. Clearly, it's not fair to make customers call an 0843 number for refunds, especially when they're placed on hold for so long. This should be done at ticket desks. Better yet, just upgrade the barriers to be more clear as to whether the card has swiped or not. A big green or red light and a sound would do the trick.
7. Why do station staff so often have an attitude problem, and seem to act like they're doing you a favour by serving you. Other times, they are no where to be found. Do they go through customer service training? If not perhaps you should consider this.
8. Why does Oyster and Transport for London continue denying these issues, and not do anything about them? Just because most Londoners don't have time to complain doesn't mean the issues don't exist. Please listen and take action on this complaint.
Please take note that although this particular experience was at Purley Station in London on 11th July 2013, it is not a one-off event, and is representative of similar situations at other rail and tube stations, in all zones 1-6 around London. I've spoken to friends who have all speak of similar incidents but have, like myself, not had time to complain.
I have to date lost around £100 on the oyster card and public transport system in London. I had last year decided not to use public transport again based on years of past experience with issues like this. Today I made an exception, and by doing so lost £20 and over an hour and a half of my time. Yes, there are times when the system works without fault, but if the station and systems were designed properly, the type of events described above should never even happen.
Do I have time to call an 0843 number and be kept on hold for over 30 minutes paying goodness knows how much? No. But I will make time to end my relationship with London transport once and for all with this complaint, and I know it will cost around 30p.
I'm happy to send my £20 oyster card in to you and you can do what you wish with it. Shred it, use as a small beer mat, or squash flies with it.
Yours sincerely,
I'm writing to complain my experience with your stations and the oyster card system.
Today, my friend invited me for a coffee in London Bridge. Being that Purley Station is only 20 minutes from London Bridge by train, it was possible to travel and get back in time for my meeting.
I walked to the station entrance to buy an Oyster card. Such a seemingly simple task was in fact more challenging than one would have hoped. There was a barrier blocking my way, but no service desk to purchase an oyster card. I went to the ticket machine outside the barrier, but it was broken. I went to the last available ticket machine, but they don't sell oyster cards. It would appear the only way to buy an oyster card is to go to the service desk on the other side of the station, however, there is no way to get past the barrier without a ticket. So, I had to buy a random £12.80 ticket from the machine. This was no simple task. The screen could not be seen under direct sunlight, and the machine appeared to freeze up, displaying "Please Wait..." for long periods of time. It would seem I was on my own.
After some time, skilled eye squinting and guess work, I managed to buy a ticket for £12.80, and used it to go through the barrier to get access to the other side of the station. I walked to the other side, only to be presented with another barrier. The service desk had no direct access from the outside. It would appear you have to buy a ticket in order to get to the ticket-selling desk! An interesting concept.
After using my ticket to get through the barrier, and queued up at the ticket point. When I reached the front of the queue, I asked how one is supposed to reach the ticket point to buy a ticket. The man didn't seem interested. He asked what I wanted in rather a demanding tone. I requested a refund of my ticket, and to buy an oyster card. After thinking about it for about 10 minutes, he finally agreed to refund my ticket and and gave me my oyster card in return for £5. He refused to top it up and told me I'd have to queue up at another machine to top it up.
So, I walked to another machine, but it was faulty, and the screen was again illegible in direct sunlight; you would need a huge dark umbrella to have any effect to see the screen this time. I joined a queue for the only other machine. The queue was moving surprisingly slowly. When I finally reached the machine, it was very difficult to see the screen. No wonder the people in front had been taking so long. After some more skilled eye squinting, time and guess work, I managed to top up the oyster card by £15.
By this point, over 45 minutes had passed since I arrived at the station and I had missed not only one but two of my trains, and it was too late for me to make it on time. So, I cancelled on my friend, and decided I never want to use this blasted system again. I headed back to the service desk to ask for a refund. Again I was greeted with a barrier, just to speak to the staff. The barrier charged me around £4.50 for the pleasure of going through, even though I had not used any transport. Then, there was no one manning the service desk.
I waited at the service desk for some time, and walked around looking for someone. Eventually, someone appeared and told me in a rather frustrated tone "I TOLD YA WE DON'T HAVE ANYFIN TO DO WIV OYSTA CARDS!". Apparently, having bought it from them, they then rid their hands of it. They don't process refunds, even if it was 5 minutes after the fact. You have to call up an 0843 number on the back of the card to request a refund. He did not know how much an 0843 number costs. The number is of course expensive and not permitted by some mobile phone contracts, such as mine with giff gaff on O2.
By this point, I had no choice but to walk home with my tail between my legs. By the time I got home, I had spent £20, and lost over an hour and a half of my time.
In years past, I have called this 0843 oyster number only to be kept on hold for over 30 minutes each time. I ended up paying as much in phone cost as the refund in the first place, not to mention the extra hassle.
A number of issues are raised here:
1. Why should customers have to buy a ticket in order to reach the ticket desk? This defeats the purpose. It would be easy to fix this; just place the barriers so that they stop people reaching the platforms, not the ticket desk.
2. Why is there no way to get from one side of the station to the other without a ticket? This again defeats the purpose of trying to reach the ticket desk. You already have inspectors on trains, but if you want to be more secure, just place the barriers to stop people accessing the platforms, not the walkway between one side and the other.
3. Why should the barrier charge your oyster card straight after buying it, when you haven't used any trains. Clearly, the time limit needs to be thought out more carefully, and refunds should be easier to process.
4. Why is it you can buy an oyster card from a service desk but not refund it? This system needs to be re-thought out and upgraded. There is a question mark over how legal this even is to sell someone something and then make them call an 0843 number for a refund. Why is oyster card not more integrated with service desks... they seem to sell them and then rid their hands of any problem. This needs to be sorted.
5. Machines should be serviced more regularly and always be legible in any weather. Have a sunlight barrier so you can see the screen in all weather, or place them indoors, and upgrade them to offer oyster cards.
6. There are many times that honest oyster card customers are overcharged, sometimes by the machine not swiping correctly, and the barrier staying open, so when the customer reaches their destination they end up being charged the maximum amount by default. Clearly, it's not fair to make customers call an 0843 number for refunds, especially when they're placed on hold for so long. This should be done at ticket desks. Better yet, just upgrade the barriers to be more clear as to whether the card has swiped or not. A big green or red light and a sound would do the trick.
7. Why do station staff so often have an attitude problem, and seem to act like they're doing you a favour by serving you. Other times, they are no where to be found. Do they go through customer service training? If not perhaps you should consider this.
8. Why does Oyster and Transport for London continue denying these issues, and not do anything about them? Just because most Londoners don't have time to complain doesn't mean the issues don't exist. Please listen and take action on this complaint.
Please take note that although this particular experience was at Purley Station in London on 11th July 2013, it is not a one-off event, and is representative of similar situations at other rail and tube stations, in all zones 1-6 around London. I've spoken to friends who have all speak of similar incidents but have, like myself, not had time to complain.
I have to date lost around £100 on the oyster card and public transport system in London. I had last year decided not to use public transport again based on years of past experience with issues like this. Today I made an exception, and by doing so lost £20 and over an hour and a half of my time. Yes, there are times when the system works without fault, but if the station and systems were designed properly, the type of events described above should never even happen.
Do I have time to call an 0843 number and be kept on hold for over 30 minutes paying goodness knows how much? No. But I will make time to end my relationship with London transport once and for all with this complaint, and I know it will cost around 30p.
I'm happy to send my £20 oyster card in to you and you can do what you wish with it. Shred it, use as a small beer mat, or squash flies with it.
Yours sincerely,
0
Comments
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I will post back any reply I receive from them... 0 -
Tl;Dr most of it after I saw you say you were departing from Purely.
Purely station has nothing to do with TFL as it is a national rail station managed by Southern Railway so it is you you would have to take up your complaint with I'm afraid.
Its also very strange that you say you have to purchase a ticket to get past the barriers to get to the ticket office. Why did you not walk round to the main office? Also if they gates were closed and not manned then there should be a help point to assist you as this is a requirement if they are closed.
Have a look at the station map
here http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/pur/details.html
So in essence don't waste your time with Tfl, send it to Southern, but try not to make it so long this time.one of the famous 5
0 -
Now im on me PC Ive looked closely at the station plan and you do have to cross to get to the main building via a corridor and look, theres a help point
And southern dont do refunds for Oyster as they are not TfL. But I already said that didnt I,sorry.one of the famous 50 -
Sorry to hear you've had a bad experience, and I agree that it should be simpler to get refunds and overcharges dealt with, but TfL aren't going to be able to help you with points 1, 2 & 7 as TfL doesn't manage Purley station - it's part of the overground network and it's managed by Southern Trains. The design of the station and their staff's training and attitude will fall to them.2015 comp wins - £370.25
Recent wins: gym class, baby stuff
Thanks to everyone who posts freebies and comps! :j0 -
tl; dr .......0
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tl;dr indeed.
I would re-write in 100 words or less and send to Southern.
Barriers must be attended at all times, either in person or in some cases by a camera/voice link; in either case you could have been advised how to get to the ticket office and let through if appropriate. If this was not the case then that is concerning.
Well, it's not part of London Overground but it was part of the (now defunct) Overground Network, which was more a TfL-run branding of suburban stations than any real service improvements. This is probably the cause of the confusion as it gives the appearance of TfL involvement where there isn't any (on the operational side anyway).But it ISN'T part of the 'overground network' - which IS managed by TfL. It's part of national rail and as you say is managed by Southern0 -
In years past, I have called this 0843 oyster number only to be kept on hold for over 30 minutes each time. I ended up paying as much in phone cost as the refund in the first place, not to mention the extra hassle.
I have to date lost around £100 on the oyster card and public transport system in London. I had last year decided not to use public transport again based on years of past experience with issues like this. Today I made an exception, and by doing so lost £20 and over an hour and a half of my time.
Why, if you've had so much trouble in the past with Oyster, didn't you buy an off peak travel card for £8.90 (assuming it was after peak hours), or use the £12.90 ticket that you'd already bought (if in peak hours), which was less than the £20.00 you put on the Oyster?Accept your past without regret, handle your present with confidence and face your future without fear0 -
Do hope you're not actually planning to send this "letter" to TFL. Most of this info is of no interest to them. Get to the point quickly if you're actually hoping for a response from them.0
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This discussion has been closed.
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