London Banter - Auto topup

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Hi,

I asked the oystercard people if it was possible to set the top up
threshold higher than £5. I mainly use buses, live a mile from a tube
station and the local newsagent charges 80p for an Oyster top up.
Their response was:

"
Please be advised that unfortunately it is not possible to change this
to £10, however if you know that your card is below £5 and want to
top it up you can go to an underground station and swipe your card on
the yellow readers and it will top up, you do not have to make a
journey.

If you are not making a journey you will be charged a small fee however
this can be refunded from the ticket desk.
"

How much is the "small fee" for topping up? What advantages does this
have over just going to the ticket desk? Anyways I don't live near
enough to a tube station for this to be an option.

" typed

Hi,

I live a mile from a tube
station and the local newsagent charges 80p for an Oyster top up.
Their response was:

WHAT?!?!

Are they allowed to do this?

My local newsagent does not charge. Which newsagents do?

Baffled of Burnt Oak.

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

Paul Corfield wrote:

On 14 May 2006 03:53:48 -0700, "
wrote:

I asked the oystercard people if it was possible to set the top up
threshold higher than £5. I mainly use buses, live a mile from a
tube station and the local newsagent charges 80p for an Oyster top
up. Their response was:

"
Please be advised that unfortunately it is not possible to change
this to £10, however if you know that your card is below £5 and want
to
top it up you can go to an underground station and swipe your card on
the yellow readers and it will top up, you do not have to make a
journey.

If you are not making a journey you will be charged a small fee
however this can be refunded from the ticket desk.
"

How much is the "small fee" for topping up? What advantages does
this have over just going to the ticket desk? Anyways I don't live
near enough to a tube station for this to be an option.

a) Since when did newsagents have the right to charge passengers
for topping up?

They don't. They don't charge. Nobody said they did.

--
Bob

On 14 May 2006 03:53:48 -0700, "
wrote:

Hi,

I asked the oystercard people if it was possible to set the top up
threshold higher than £5. I mainly use buses, live a mile from a tube
station and the local newsagent charges 80p for an Oyster top up.
Their response was:

"
Please be advised that unfortunately it is not possible to change this
to £10, however if you know that your card is below £5 and want to
top it up you can go to an underground station and swipe your card on
the yellow readers and it will top up, you do not have to make a
journey.

If you are not making a journey you will be charged a small fee however
this can be refunded from the ticket desk.
"

How much is the "small fee" for topping up? What advantages does this
have over just going to the ticket desk? Anyways I don't live near
enough to a tube station for this to be an option.

A few comments :-

a) Since when did newsagents have the right to charge passengers
for topping up? They get paid a commission per transaction *by TfL* so
have no need whatsoever to charge the passenger. I would formally
complain about this as this is a scam by the newsagent.

b) Heaven help the poor passenger is the Oyster unhelpful desk can
only provide half an answer. I assume that what they mean is that when
you swipe to top up the gate also deducts the minimum fare at the start
of the journey - the ticket office would have to cancel this charge.

c) There is absolutely no advantage at all of using the gate if you
are not otherwise travelling by Tube. If you solely need to top up then
go to the machine or window - assuming the ticket office is open.
--
Paul C

Admits to working for London Underground!

"Bob Wood" wrote in news:AEG9g.9414$fS1.5263
@newsfe6-win.ntli.net:

Paul Corfield wrote:

On 14 May 2006 03:53:48 -0700, "
wrote:

I asked the oystercard people if it was possible to set the top up
threshold higher than £5. I mainly use buses, live a mile from a
tube station and the local newsagent charges 80p for an Oyster top
up. Their response was:

"
Please be advised that unfortunately it is not possible to change
this to £10, however if you know that your card is below £5 and want
to
top it up you can go to an underground station and swipe your card
on
the yellow readers and it will top up, you do not have to make a
journey.

If you are not making a journey you will be charged a small fee
however this can be refunded from the ticket desk.
"

How much is the "small fee" for topping up? What advantages does
this have over just going to the ticket desk? Anyways I don't live
near enough to a tube station for this to be an option.

a) Since when did newsagents have the right to charge passengers
for topping up?

They don't. They don't charge. Nobody said they did.

The OP said that his local newsagent charges.

QUOTE
tube station and the local newsagent charges 80p for an Oyster top
up. Their response was:
/QUOTE

Which I think is outrageous. Unless the OP was paying by cheque or
something, I am sure that this is not right. Can anyone check the
legality of this?

I top mine up (for free) at a newsagent, but I wouldn't want to see
charging become commonplace. This needs to be nipped in the bud asap.

I hate these extra charges. My local offlicence near my house sells beer
and wine 24 hours a day, which is dead handy if I want a bottle of wine
at three in the morning during a party or something. But they charge
about £3 extra a bottle of wine. I ask why, since they're legally
allowed to sell alcohol all night as they were given one of the 24 hour
licences in my borough. They say they need to recoup the prices of the
license, and also pay for all the staff who work at night. But the shop
was always a 24 hour shop (and actually a 24 hour off licence, although
back then it was under-the-counter and people expected to pay the
surcharge because it was illegal).

So I don't buy that at all. After all, their fags don't go up 30p after
11, so why should their beer and wine.

Tristán White wrote:
The OP said that his local newsagent charges.

QUOTE
tube station and the local newsagent charges 80p for an Oyster top
up. Their response was:
/QUOTE

Which I think is outrageous. Unless the OP was paying by cheque or
something, I am sure that this is not right. Can anyone check the
legality of this?

Sorry, may not of been absoloutely clear in the original post. The
charge is for paying by card for Oyster... They often charge 80p for
paying by credit/debit card on any transaction that includes an Oyster
part but not on transactions which don't include Oyster. As I don't
very often carry £40 with me I regard it as a charge for using topping
up Oyster.

On 14 May 2006 03:53:48 -0700, "
wrote:

Hi,

I asked the oystercard people if it was possible to set the top up
threshold higher than £5. I mainly use buses, live a mile from a tube
station and the local newsagent charges 80p for an Oyster top up.

This having to check in at a Tube station is a real pain. You can top
up on line - but again have to check in at a tube station to collect
it. It's particularly a pain for people like me who live outside
London and therefore can't top up at a local newsagent.