Ken Welsby wrote:

Expert advice needed - so this is obviously the place to ask.

Contrary to my advice, my wife bought her annual Zone 1-4 from the
national rail booking office at Liverpool Street, rather than the
Underground. [From South Park, Ilford she can travel via Ilford/Seven
Kings or Barking, so there's choice of national rail, Underground or
various permutations thereof]

She was sold a paper ticket, which has failed and had to be replaced
twice in less than a month, making the Gold Card a Q-builder rather
than a Q-buster.

How can she swap it for an Oyster, which will be more reliable and
quicker to use?

If the answer is surrender for refund and re-buy, what's the penalty
likely to be? I've been rummaging around the web without finding an
answer

Thanks

Ken

I can only help you with the basics on this one.

As she bought it from a National Rail ticket office she can't have it
swapped onto an Oyster card as NR ticket offices by and large don't
issue Travelcards loaded on Oyster - and no 'one' station does (various
TfL literature has claimed that Walthamstow Central does, but IIRC it's
been established on this group that that information is incorrect).

To get it on Oyster she needs to buy it from TfL - so from a Tube
station, TfL Info Centre, online from the website or down the phone.

I was going to say she won't be eligible for the 5% or 10% Passengers
Charter discount should it apply, but I've just remembered 'one' has
done away with that anyway.

So she'll need to apply for a refund for her present ticket (preferably
not mentioning that she intends to switch to Oyster - they might be
difficult if she does) then buy it anew from TfL. I don't know how easy
the process of surrendering it will be.