Oyster Woe

anyusernamenotinuse?

the london overland trains i use have recently installed oyster (unsurprisingly at a significantly lower price than non-oyster), but don't have barriers. over the last couple of months, as i'm getting used to the new system, i have forgotten to touch out a few times, leading to a maximum cash fare of £4 being charged. the first couple of times i phoned up and obtained refunds no problem. today however i was told there was a policy that after the first few times refunds are no longer available because it's my responsibility to touch in and out, and according to this policy i now have a 'no more refunds' alert on my account.

has anyone else experienced this? is it legal? don't i have a right to a refund if i've been overcharged? does this mean i can now keep any money that accidentally comes my way if the accident was someone else's responsibility?

not a happy bunny - Michelle

ticketcollector

You received ex gratia refunds.
Refunds but LUL do not accept responsibility for your actions.

It is advertised, quite well and annoyingly sometimes, that you must touch in and out.
Sorry but no one has done a test case on this policy (such as unfair terms in contracts act).

anyusernamenotinuse?

oh well - thank you.

am still annoyed about this tho. not accepting responsibility for somone else's actions is one thing, but charging them £3 a pop on a £1 train journey seems like making a tidy profit from them to me.

ticketcollector

Well they'd argue that charging you £1 on oyster is a discounted fare and £4 is the full public fare.
Kinda like fines on buses. The ticket you buy is a discounted ticket, the fine is the full standard fare.

gner_ex

Put another way, if you look at the machine carefully, you will notice that when you touch IN it charges £4 or £5 (max cash fare).

When you correctly touch OUT it then refunds £3 of this (dependent upon route and time of day).

The way to avoid this is to buy a travelcard (on paper or oyster) or to just buy paper tickets.

marksmith99

ticketcollector wrote: »

It is advertised, quite well and annoyingly sometimes, that you must touch in and out.

What about when you leave an event at Wembley and the station staff tell you barriers are open, just walk through, keep moving, keep the flow going etc.

When you ask them what about touching in an oyster pay as you go they say don't worry it will auto complete at the end station, just get out of the way.

It does auto complete but for £4 rather than £2.

You then phone for a refund and are told you have to collect this from a nominated station ticket barrier in the next 7 days, but you don't actually use the oyster daily as you have a paper zone 1-2 goldcard.

So you're told you will have to phone three days before the next time you plan to use the oyster and nominate the station then.

Wonder how many extra £2's TfL make at each Wembley event?

chuckley

if you cant be bothered to use the system properly then u should be charged.

gner_ex

Chuckley,

Mark Smith is using the system properly, by following instructions at the Wembley barriers.

Mark - even when the barriers are locked open, the Oyster readers should still work. Just touch and look out for the green light. As an alternative, go through the wheelchair barrier, where there is almost always a stand-alone oyster reader.

I think the main reason they do it thus is for football fans etc who are unlikely to have an Oyster card.

marksmith99

chuckley wrote: »

if you cant be bothered to use the system properly then u should be charged.

Did you actually read my post? Judging by your grasp of the English language my guess is it probably had too many big words, correct spellings and punctuation in it.

Just to make it easier for you, I've copied the most relevant bit below:

What about when you leave an event at Wembley and the station staff tell you barriers are open, just walk through, keep moving, keep the flow going etc.

When you ask them what about touching in an oyster pay as you go they say don't worry it will auto complete at the end station, just get out of the way.

GNER - thanks, just think the instructions given are misleading at Wembley. Madness is we could have walked through the barriers at Putney when we got back and the journey would be free, but my brother touched his card out and it deducted £4!

gner_ex

Always contact the Oyster helpline in this situation - they are obliged to give a refund (as you have followed staff instructions).