For the last few days I've been using a PAYG Oyster card instead of my
normal paper Travelcard.

I did one of my usual journeys - tube from Waterloo to Balham, then
train to Thornton Heath - on Wednesday evening. But the Oyster card
reader at Balham didn't work properly. The gate opened but didn't record
my touch-out, so I've got an unresolved journey.

TfL, despite knowing my email address because that's what I use to sign
in to their website to make sure they haven't ripped me off, couldn't be
bothered to notify me. I only know about the unresolved journey because
I don't trust Oyster and went and checked.

And of course I can't submit my claim for a refund using my normal web
browser which works on every other site. I have to use Firefox instead.

It remains to be seen whether I actually end up being charged the right
amount or not. And, of course, I have to use Oyster again to pick up my
refund. I didn't see any option on the website for "refund my credit
card" or "send me a cheque", they just blithely assume that I use Oyster
all the time, when in fact I was planning on getting a Travelcard
again on Tuesday and not using the trains at all this weekend.

--
David Cantrell | top google result for "topless karaoke murders"

More people are driven insane through religious hysteria than
by drinking alcohol. -- W C Fields

On Friday, 18 April 2014 16:56:11 UTC+1, David Cantrell wrote:

TfL, despite knowing my email address because that's what I use to sign

in to their website to make sure they haven't ripped me off, couldn't be

bothered to notify me. I only know about the unresolved journey because

I don't trust Oyster and went and checked.

Perhaps the guy who is paid to monitor your usage was off for Easter.

I didn't see any option on the website for "refund my credit

card" or "send me a cheque", they just blithely assume that I use Oyster

all the time

They probably mentioned your case in the Thursday-night meeting at Pier Walk. Almost certainly they discussed sending cheques and refunding credit cards and probably a dozen other options.

We won't know how they reached their decision until 2064.

On Fri, 18 Apr 2014 16:56:11 +0100, David Cantrell
wrote:

For the last few days I've been using a PAYG Oyster card instead of my
normal paper Travelcard.

I did one of my usual journeys - tube from Waterloo to Balham, then
train to Thornton Heath - on Wednesday evening. But the Oyster card
reader at Balham didn't work properly. The gate opened but didn't record
my touch-out, so I've got an unresolved journey.

TfL, despite knowing my email address because that's what I use to sign
in to their website to make sure they haven't ripped me off, couldn't be
bothered to notify me. I only know about the unresolved journey because
I don't trust Oyster and went and checked.

And of course I can't submit my claim for a refund using my normal web
browser which works on every other site. I have to use Firefox instead.

It remains to be seen whether I actually end up being charged the right
amount or not. And, of course, I have to use Oyster again to pick up my
refund. I didn't see any option on the website for "refund my credit
card" or "send me a cheque", they just blithely assume that I use Oyster
all the time, when in fact I was planning on getting a Travelcard
again on Tuesday and not using the trains at all this weekend.

Sounds like what my Australian former flatmate used to call 'Pommie
over-reaction'. Tens of thousands of passengers use Oyster every day
without incident. It is a hugely useful facility. When I had a
difficulty (my own fault) it was corrected very quickly.

In article ,
(Scott) wrote:

On Fri, 18 Apr 2014 16:56:11 +0100, David Cantrell
wrote:

For the last few days I've been using a PAYG Oyster card instead of my
normal paper Travelcard.

I did one of my usual journeys - tube from Waterloo to Balham, then
train to Thornton Heath - on Wednesday evening. But the Oyster card
reader at Balham didn't work properly. The gate opened but didn't record
my touch-out, so I've got an unresolved journey.

TfL, despite knowing my email address because that's what I use to sign
in to their website to make sure they haven't ripped me off, couldn't be
bothered to notify me. I only know about the unresolved journey because
I don't trust Oyster and went and checked.

And of course I can't submit my claim for a refund using my normal web
browser which works on every other site. I have to use Firefox instead.

It remains to be seen whether I actually end up being charged the right
amount or not. And, of course, I have to use Oyster again to pick up my
refund. I didn't see any option on the website for "refund my credit
card" or "send me a cheque", they just blithely assume that I use Oyster
all the time, when in fact I was planning on getting a Travelcard
again on Tuesday and not using the trains at all this weekend.

Sounds like what my Australian former flatmate used to call 'Pommie
over-reaction'. Tens of thousands of passengers use Oyster every day
without incident. It is a hugely useful facility. When I had a
difficulty (my own fault) it was corrected very quickly.

Lucky you. For some types of completely innocent errors it is possible to be
left considerably out of pocket with no chance of redress. It happened to my
wife and me.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In message , at 22:28:28 on
Mon, 21 Apr 2014, Scott remarked:
Tens of thousands of passengers use Oyster every day
without incident. It is a hugely useful facility.

Especially when loaded with a season ticket. It also has the potential
to be useful as a "not very often" PAYG card.

When I had a difficulty (my own fault) it was corrected very quickly.

But too many people encounter problems, not always because they've
failed to take a degree in "advanced orienteering at Wimbledon station".
--
Roland Perry

On Tue, Apr 22, 2014 at 09:31:14AM +0100, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 22:28:28 on
Mon, 21 Apr 2014, Scott remarked:
When I had a difficulty (my own fault) it was corrected very quickly.
But too many people encounter problems, not always because they've
failed to take a degree in "advanced orienteering at Wimbledon station".

I don't even mind that there are problems. What I object to is:

* TfL's computers knew that there was a problem with this journey;
* TfL's computers knew an email address associated with that card;
* TfL's computers could have notified me automatically but didn't.

If they'd emailed me to notify me that there was a problem I'd be happy.

Well, mostly happy. Once I'd found out that they'd ****ed up, and I'd
filled in a form on their website, there was an additional step
required. Before they could refund me, they had to talk to me on the
phone. Which is a bit of a problem, because I'm deaf, but eventually and
with the nice gentleman in the call-centre repeating himself a lot we
got it sorted.

It's still not obvious that I've been charged the right amount, because
working out what the fares should be requires an advanced degree in
non-Euclidean economics*, but I did at least get *some* money refunded.
Given that I'm not a conspiracy theorist I'm going to assume that I was
refunded the right amount.

* yes, really. Explain this:

Tue 15 Apr
09:15 - 10:14 Thornton Heath - Aldgate East: GBP 5.30
18:49 - 19:56 Aldgate East - Thornton Heath: GBP 5.30
Total: GBP10.60

OK, that looks sane. Same amount in both directions.

Thu 17 Apr
09:07 - 10:16 Thornton Heath - Aldgate East: GBP 5.30
18:41 - 19:01 Aldgate East - Victoria : GBP 2.20
19:50 - 20:26 Victoria - Thornton Heath : GBP 2.60
Total: GBP10.10

Apparently if I spend too long hanging around at Victoria, making it
think that I made three journeys instead of two, the price goes down.

--
David Cantrell | Official London Perl Mongers Bad Influence

Erudite is when you make a classical allusion to a
feather. Kinky is when you use the whole chicken.

In article ,
David Cantrell wrote:
* yes, really. Explain this:

Tue 15 Apr
09:15 - 10:14 Thornton Heath - Aldgate East: GBP 5.30
18:49 - 19:56 Aldgate East - Thornton Heath: GBP 5.30
Total: GBP10.60

OK, that looks sane. Same amount in both directions.

Thu 17 Apr
09:07 - 10:16 Thornton Heath - Aldgate East: GBP 5.30
18:41 - 19:01 Aldgate East - Victoria : GBP 2.20
19:50 - 20:26 Victoria - Thornton Heath : GBP 2.60
Total: GBP10.10


The Thornton Heath - Aldgate East fare is 5.30 (peak) and 4.10 (offpeak)

The Aldgate East - Victoria Fare is 2.20 peak/offpeak.
The Victoria - Thornton Heath fare is 3.70 peak, 2.60 offpeak.

Off peak starts in the evening at 19:00.

So there are _four_ possible fares for the journey home:

as a "two leg" trip, with both legs peak: 5.90.
as a "single leg" trip at peak time: 5.30.
as a "two leg trip", with the Vic - Thornton leg offpeak: 4.80
as a "single leg" trip at offpeak: 4.10

I'm not entirely sure that the introduction of "offpeak" fares
qualifies for "non-eclidean fares", but there you go.



--
Mike Bristow

On Wed, Apr 23, 2014 at 02:50:13PM +0100, Mike Bristow wrote:
In article ,
David Cantrell wrote:
Tue 15 Apr
09:15 - 10:14 Thornton Heath - Aldgate East: GBP 5.30
18:49 - 19:56 Aldgate East - Thornton Heath: GBP 5.30

The Aldgate East - Victoria Fare is 2.20 peak/offpeak.
The Victoria - Thornton Heath fare is 3.70 peak, 2.60 offpeak.
Off peak starts in the evening at 19:00.
So there are _four_ possible fares for the journey home:
as a "two leg" trip, with both legs peak: 5.90.
as a "single leg" trip at peak time: 5.30.
as a "two leg trip", with the Vic - Thornton leg offpeak: 4.80
as a "single leg" trip at offpeak: 4.10

That means that if I leave Aldgate East at 18:49 I should be charged
a total of 4.80, because I won't go through the NR barriers at Victoria
until after 19:00. But I'm actually charged 5.30.

--
David Cantrell | A machine for turning tea into grumpiness

Immigration: making Britain great since AD43

On Wed, 23 Apr 2014 14:01:08 +0100, David Cantrell wrote:
Well, mostly happy. Once I'd found out that they'd ****ed up, and I'd
filled in a form on their website, there was an additional step
required. Before they could refund me, they had to talk to me on the
phone. Which is a bit of a problem, because I'm deaf, but eventually and
with the nice gentleman in the call-centre repeating himself a lot we
got it sorted.

They claim to have a Textphone. Is that any help in these situations?

On Wed, Apr 23, 2014 at 03:25:23PM +0100, David Walters wrote:
On Wed, 23 Apr 2014 14:01:08 +0100, David Cantrell wrote:
Well, mostly happy. Once I'd found out that they'd ****ed up, and I'd
filled in a form on their website, there was an additional step
required. Before they could refund me, they had to talk to me on the
phone. Which is a bit of a problem, because I'm deaf, but eventually and
with the nice gentleman in the call-centre repeating himself a lot we
got it sorted.
They claim to have a Textphone. Is that any help in these situations?

Not really, because I'm not deaf enough to make such an expensive device
necessary. And if someone is going to communicate using text, the
interweb is a much better medium. And because as far as I can tell all
textphones are designed to work with those obsolete fixed line things. I
don't even remember where the BT socket is in my flat!

--
David Cantrell | A machine for turning tea into grumpiness

Longum iter est per praecepta, breve et efficax per exempla.