As far as I know no refunds are issued directly to the card. At least the
customer charter vouchers can be used when you choose.

But they are, it's just they send you the vouchers which you then take to a
ticket office (when you remember, have the time and find one that's open),
hand them over to a member of staff who then credits your Oyster card.
Surely, it would be more sensible to cut out the middle man and just credit
the Oyster card in the first instance (and save paper and postage).


To get an Oyster refund you have to make a journey by rail, to know that
you're going to do so and which station you're going to start from, and to
inform the helpline of the fact 5-11 days in advance. This is
spectacularly inconvenient for those who rarely use train or tube.

The paper vouchers are inconvenient for those of us who do regularly use the
underground, so why don't they give people the option of chosing their
preferred method of refunds?