TFL at it yet again

Mr_Singleton

Failed OysterCard and you have to jump through hoops to get it replaced. You obviously end up losing the capping and you may or may not get back any aditional travel costs.

Chino

Mr_Singleton wrote: »

Failed OysterCard and you have to jump through hoops to get it replaced.

OK, I'll bite. Exactly what hoops did you have to jump through to ask for a replacement Oyster card? Did it, for example, require more than one telephone call?

Mr_Singleton

Why should it require any phone call at all it didn't use to. I'm betting it's to negate any capping which looking at TFL fares going likely to make them a pretty tidy sum.

zerog

If you want to waste TfL's money, and not have your Oysters fail, just buy a new Oyster every month and refund the old one.

Make sure you top up 5p at a national rail station and TfL will round up the refund to 10p!

Mr_Singleton

zerog wrote: »

Make sure you top up 5p at a national rail station and TfL will round up the refund to 10p!

Gave the extremely temperament card to a colleague as he only needed it for 1 journey. There was £6.50ish on it inc. the £5 deposit.

Turns out his fare was £11.20* but try as he might he said he was completely unable to top it up as the machine wouldn't recognize the card. He promised me that next time he was in the UK he'd try again as the thought of TFL being £4.50 out of pocket was giving him sleepless nights.

* That or a zone 9 maximum cash fare. £19.80??.... being foreign he isn't sure.

t0rt0ise

Staff at underground stations can replace cards as long as they can see how much is on it. A temperamental card can usually be read with patience.

giraffe69

Staff at underground stations can replace cards as long as they can see how much is on it. A temperamental card can usually be read with patience.

When it comes to TfL and several other largeish institutions patience is not Mr_Singleton's strong suit.

Nick_C

Not sure why anyone still uses an Oyster Card for pay as you go, when you can enjoy the same fares (and capping) with most credit cards. I use an Amex card when traveling on TFL. Not only do I earn Avios, but currently I'm also getting 10% cashback.

TFL leads the world in accepting most contactless credit cards.

Compare this with the hassle of having to buy a Metro Card when getting off the Air Train at JFK. And then immediately having to buy another one to get onto the Subway.

Or having to buy a SUICA card in Japan, and only being allowed to pay with cash. Then finding you only need to top up with £3.50 for your final journey but the minimum top up is £7. And unless you are flying home from Tokyo, you can't return the card and recover your £3.50 deposit.

There is a lot wrong with TFL, but their contactless payment options are world class.

Mr_Singleton

Nick_C wrote: »

There is a lot wrong with TFL, but their contactless payment options are world class.

TFL is making £100's millions from "incomplete" journey. By giving them direct access to your bank account your left at the mercy of TFL for a refund. I've posted about this before and when presented with the evidence people have become strangely silent.

If you absolutely must use contactless I very strongly suggest you use AndroidPay or similar which gives gate receipts. As I said "incomplete" journeys are hugely profitable for TFL.

I've travelled all over the world using the public transport systems of just about every world city on the planet and hand on heart London is by far the most confusing, broken and extortionately expensive I've had the displeasure of using.

Mr_Singleton

giraffe69 wrote: »

When it comes to TfL and several other largeish institutions patience is not Mr_Singleton's strong suit.

Was talking to a colleague based in Zurich, Switzerland a few days ago and he remarked that everything in Switzerland was markedly more expensive than London the only exception was public transport where Londoners pay a near 50% premium* over residents of Zurich. Oddly the thing that brought the subject up was he'd forgotten his travelcard when stopped by ticket inspectors. They gave him 10 days to present it at which point he had to pay a £3.50 admin(??) fee. With TFL it's an £80 fine/prosecution criminal record.

..... and you wonder why I "flipping" hate them.

* TFL the money making machine thats leveraging it's abusive monopoly because people let them get away with it.

martindow

Nick_C wrote: »

Not sure why anyone still uses an Oyster Card for pay as you go, when you can enjoy the same fares (and capping) with most credit cards.

I still use an Oyster as station staff have linked it to my railcard. I can then get reduced fares. It is not possible to link railcards to credit cards.