MSE News: Have you got an unused Oyster card lying around? You can claim part of £223

Legacy_user

Transport for London is now sitting on £223m in unused Oyster card credit, its latest figures have revealed...

Read the full story:
'Have you got an unused Oyster card lying around? You can claim part of £223m if so'

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Pincher

They need to make it a bit more competitive, since I can get 5% cashback with the TSB debit card.

I have been wondering whether TSB will withdraw the 5% cashback soon.

The Amex 1.25% cashback card is also contactless, but I haven't tried it with London Transport yet.

Pier

Pincher wrote: »

I have been wondering whether TSB will withdraw the 5% cashback soon.

As stated in the 5% cashback terms and conditions:

3. Timings and ending the offer
3.1 For accounts opened before 1 June 2016 , cashback is paid up to and including 31 December 2016 and for accounts opened from 1 June 2016, cashback is paid up to and including 30 September 2017, unless we tell you otherwise.

lyster101

It's not as simple as described.


I've just tried to follow the online 'apply for a product refund' steps for two dormant cards I have. I get this helpful message on both cards:





Error


Unexpected error


Sorry, an unexpected error means we were unable to process your request at this time.


Please call TfL Customer Services on 0343 222 1234 or go back and try again.








I wonder how much of the balance on these cards is inaccessible like this.

Pincher

Pier wrote: »

As stated in the 5% cashback terms and conditions:

I had it in the back of my mind it was December 2016, but it's not that important to actually check. Thanks.

The_Groat_Counter

MSE News: Have you got an unused Oyster card lying around? You can claim part of £223

MSE_Callum wrote: »

Transport for London is now sitting on £223m in unused Oyster card credit, its latest figures have revealed...

(My underlining.)

£223 or £223m... what's a million here and there between friends!

agrinnall

The_Groat_Counter wrote: »

(My underlining.)

£223 or £223m... what's a million here and there between friends!

Or £222,999,777.

anotheruser

Shame.

I have access to loads of lost cards but I've checked - there's no way to release the funds from them.

I'll take them to the charity box next time I'm in London.

tiny_girl

I've had a bit of an experience with an old Oyster card and wondered if anyone else had had anything similar?

I had an Oyster card with auto top-up enabled but stopped needing to use it 2 years ago, so I cancelled the auto top-up online but, because of Oyster's stupid system, the only way to "activate" the cancellation was to tap in at a station. However, since the reason I cancelled the auto top-up was that I wasn't using it any more, I had no need to tap in and didn't want to do so because I'd then be charged for making a journey I had no need to make! In the end I left it, because the credit card associated with the auto top-up had expired and I only had £3 credit on the Oyster card so I wrote that off and forgot all about it.

I then got an email and a phonecall a few days ago from tfl, saying I "owed" £40 because they'd tried to top up my card because I'd failed to fully cancel it and they'd credited my Oyster card with £40 even though they hadn't been able to take it from my credit card!

Being wary of giving details over the phone on an incoming call, I phoned the official tfl number back and asked if they could just cancel the £40, because they hadn't actually taken it and I hadn't actually used it, as it was just sitting there on my account, but they insisted I had to *pay * the £40 in order for them to be able to refund it + the £3 credit remaining on the card! If I didn't do this, they said my Oyster card would be cancelled next week and I wouldn't be able to claim the £3 balance or the £3 deposit, which I had completely forgotten about. I was initially reluctant to part with £40 for the sake of £6, but they assured me it would be in my bank account within 3-5 days, so I did. However, there was then some kind of problem with them taking the payment over the phone, so I was put on hold, then finally the person said their supervisor had agreed to waive the £40 and give me £25 compensation for the inconvenience because I'd been on the phone for 20 minutes trying to sort it out! They also said they would refund me the £40 (which I'm still not sure whether or not they actually took) + the £6 outstanding credit + deposit!

So somehow, in the space of 20 minutes, I went from owing tfl £40 (which I didn't actually owe them because they hadn't taken it and I hadn't spent it), to them promising me over £70. I'm utterly bamboozled!

Has anyone else had a similar experience? If I hadn't phoned the official tfl number and they hadn't confirmed details of my account, I would think it was some kind of scam!!