London Underground Contactless Payment

Jaffabfc

Good Morning,

Went to London at the weekend and used the underground/overground from Houston (i think at side of kings cross) to Wembley then the other Wembley station back to Kings Cross.

The problem is i used my Halifax contactless card to get threw the barriers and got told if i didnt scan at the other side it would charge me for a full day pass so i made sure i did.

But what i did was i scanned then gave it my girlfriend to scan and then my friends girlfriend as they didnt have contactless ones (even though the staff said you can only scan once it allowed me 3 times) i then got to Wembley and it wouldnt let me scan back out more than once which as resulted in myself getting 2 full day charges and one short journey.

Advice please?

Should i just bite my tongue and let it lie or put a letter of complaint in to get it back.

wealdroam

Jaffabfc wrote: »

Good Morning,

Went to London at the weekend and used the underground/overground from Houston (i think at side of kings cross) to Wembley then the other Wembley station back to Kings Cross.

The problem is i used my Halifax contactless card to get threw the barriers and got told if i didnt scan at the other side it would charge me for a full day pass so i made sure i did.

But what i did was i scanned then gave it my girlfriend to scan and then my friends girlfriend as they didnt have contactless ones (even though the staff said you can only scan once it allowed me 3 times) i then got to Wembley and it wouldnt let me scan back out more than once which as resulted in myself getting 2 full day charges and one short journey.

Advice please?

Should i just bite my tongue and let it lie or put a letter of complaint in to get it back.

Each traveller needs a seperate contactless payment card.

You now know what happens when three people use the same card.

From this TfL page - Is contactless for me?

You can only pay for one person per journey with contactless. That means if you are travelling in a group, each person will have to use a separate contactless payment card, or another method of payment.

Write it down to experience.

agrinnall

You didn't really have a very good trip all round did you?

pompeyrich

agrinnall wrote: »

You didn't really have a very good trip all round did you?

Well Barnsley won, so not all bad.

agrinnall

Ah, yes, now you mention it I can see how the username fits in.

shaun_from_Africa

Jaffabfc wrote: »

.But what i did was i scanned then gave it my girlfriend to scan and then my friends girlfriend as they didnt have contactless ones (even though the staff said you can only scan once it allowed me 3 times)

Why, when you had already been told that you could only scan your card once did you then do it 3 times?

If I was to buy a paper ticket for a non time specific day return, I could use that ticket and provided it hadn't been clipped (if this is still done) or collected following my return, hand it over to another person for them to do the same journey. (illegal, but I could still physically do it).
Just because something can be done (just as you were initially able to scan for 3 tickets), doesn't mean that it is legal or within the T&C's of the rail company to do it.

colcheslad

Jaffabfc wrote: »

Good Morning,

Went to London at the weekend and used the underground/overground from Houston (i think at side of kings cross) to Wembley then the other Wembley station back to Kings Cross.

The problem is i used my Halifax contactless card to get threw the barriers and got told if i didnt scan at the other side it would charge me for a full day pass so i made sure i did.

But what i did was i scanned then gave it my girlfriend to scan and then my friends girlfriend as they didnt have contactless ones (even though the staff said you can only scan once it allowed me 3 times) i then got to Wembley and it wouldnt let me scan back out more than once which as resulted in myself getting 2 full day charges and one short journey.

Advice please?

Should i just bite my tongue and let it lie or put a letter of complaint in to get it back.

They have Contactless / Oyster at Houston now? I know they say London is growing but that's ridiculous! How much is PAYG for the transatlantic journey?

NBLondon

Maybe he means Heuston - were the staff Irish?


But anyway.... The problem of using the same card multiple times is that Oyster can't tell whether you have gone in - travelled to the next stop - come out without touching a gate and walked back - gone in again or just given the card to another person. The actual yellow reader doesn't always know whether you are entering or exiting.
You could probably write a rule that checked for time between the two entry points but if the two exit points were far apart in time and distance would it be able to match up?

Stigy

Jaffabfc wrote: »

Good Morning,

Went to London at the weekend and used the underground/overground from Houston (i think at side of kings cross) to Wembley then the other Wembley station back to Kings Cross.

You mean Euston? Houston is in Texas.

You have to be careful with contactless payment in London, although unless you use the system frequently, it's nye on impossible to be reported for fare evasion or issued a Penalty Fare Notice.

This is because of the nature of contactless payment, and being rightly very secure, staff have to put up with a delay on the system until it updates on the back office system with TfL. Unlike Oyster Cards, staff can't seize bank cards if they're misused either (obviously). If a card isn't tapped out, or in but is swiped by staff using their machines, the card will give you the okay, only realising something is wrong later. Three of these 'anomalies' and the card is blocked for rail use and that's when offenders should be reported, as they've potentially had two free rides on TfL.