Oyster Helpline Cost
 

Does TfL make any money from calls to 08453309876?

Is there any means of claiming back the cost of calls in any case,
when this is the only way of resolving problems caused by TfL and
Oyster?

Why is there not a free number, given the punitive extractions of
money faced by TfL "customers" and the limited means of redress?

Oyster Helpline Cost
 

MIG wrote:
Is there any means of claiming back the cost of calls in any case,
when this is the only way of resolving problems caused by TfL and
Oyster?

Does 020 72277886 work? (from saynoto0870.com)

Why is there not a free number, given the punitive extractions of
money faced by TfL "customers" and the limited means of redress?

Probably because the 0845 issue is poorly understood in most circles?

If it still bothers you, write TfL, and then your London Assembly person
if they don't provide an adequate response.
--
Michael Hoffman

Oyster Helpline Cost
 

On 27 Feb 2007 16:10:43 -0800, MIG wrote:

Does TfL make any money from calls to 08453309876?

When you call an 0845 number, the recipient does receive a portion of
the cost of the call, so I presume the answer is yes.

Oyster Helpline Cost
 

In message , asdf
writes

When you call an 0845 number, the recipient does receive a portion of
the cost of the call, so I presume the answer is yes.

Its not quite that simple. With an 0845 number the charge to the caller
is fixed, whatever the distance of the call, and the recipient pays or
receives any difference in the actual cost of the call.

But in the case of the Oyster helpline, I would imagine that the
overwhelming majority of calls are local (from the London area) and so I
would expect that they make a profit from using an 0845.

--
Paul Terry

Oyster Helpline Cost
 

On Wed, 28 Feb 2007 08:08:24 +0000, Paul Terry
wrote:

In message , asdf
writes

When you call an 0845 number, the recipient does receive a portion of
the cost of the call, so I presume the answer is yes.

Its not quite that simple. With an 0845 number the charge to the caller
is fixed, whatever the distance of the call, and the recipient pays or
receives any difference in the actual cost of the call.

Little more complicated than that. 0845 has day/eve/weekend rates, and
the recipient can get benefits (call patterns, rerouting) as well as
or instead of cash. A crack down is overdue in 2008. Calls to geo
numbers are also now irrespective of distance for most people so the
excuse of "lo-call" is long blown.

FOI request is probably needed to find out why 0845 is more and more
in use: they have probably been sold a pup. TfL are better than most
in having geo numbers, v. useful when on hold which is a normal
situation for Oyster. Why they don't give priority to emails, or even
answer them, is a mystery. Any call centre should love emails. But at
least the web site is in more robust health than poor old cclondon
(not wildcarded as *.cclondon.com and regular outages).
--
Old anti-spam address cmylod at despammed dot com appears broke
So back to cmylod at bigfoot dot com

Oyster Helpline Cost
 

On Feb 28, 12:10 am, "MIG" wrote:
Does TfL make any money from calls to 08453309876?
Is there any means of claiming back the cost of calls in any case,
when this is the only way of resolving problems caused by TfL and
Oyster?
Why is there not a free number, given the punitive extractions of
money faced by TfL "customers" and the limited means of redress?

When I last called them, I was planning to ask for the call costs, but
the man nicely said "lets just make it £1.50 to cover the costs and
annoyance of the call." It was put on my debit card.

If the Oystercard system has fouled up, ALWAYS ask for your money
back. Through no fault of my own, I have been overcharged at least
five times through small amounts (under £1) - I can only assume TfL
think they'll get away with it.

A friend of mine was overcharged the same amount on a trip before
christmas. As a non-London resident, he couldn't have it added to his
Oystercard so was told to call back when he was next going. As this
was unsatisfactory to him, he wrote a letter, to which he sent two
months ago. No response. At the start of the month, a letter was hand-
delivered to Albany House. Still no response. Letter now being sent to
Uncle Ken - reclaiming the costs of the phone call & a stamp. If it
were me, I'd be tempted to charge a £5 "Administration" fee.

Oyster Helpline Cost
 

On Feb 28, 11:09 am, wrote:
On Feb 28, 12:10 am, "MIG" wrote:

Does TfL make any money from calls to 08453309876?
Is there any means of claiming back the cost of calls in any case,
when this is the only way of resolving problems caused by TfL and
Oyster?
Why is there not a free number, given the punitive extractions of
money faced by TfL "customers" and the limited means of redress?

When I last called them, I was planning to ask for the call costs, but
the man nicely said "lets just make it £1.50 to cover the costs and
annoyance of the call." It was put on my debit card.

If the Oystercard system has fouled up, ALWAYS ask for your money
back. Through no fault of my own, I have been overcharged at least
five times through small amounts (under £1) - I can only assume TfL
think they'll get away with it.

A friend of mine was overcharged the same amount on a trip before
christmas. As a non-London resident, he couldn't have it added to his
Oystercard so was told to call back when he was next going. As this
was unsatisfactory to him, he wrote a letter, to which he sent two
months ago. No response. At the start of the month, a letter was hand-
delivered to Albany House. Still no response. Letter now being sent to
Uncle Ken - reclaiming the costs of the phone call & a stamp. If it
were me, I'd be tempted to charge a £5 "Administration" fee.


In my case, given that my card was refused by the reader on a bus (I
travelled anyway) after I had passed the capping limit, I want to find
out if it is safe to put any more credit on the card or whether it
will be gobbled up by a penalty £4 fare due to there having been a
problem (whoever's fault the problem was).

I don't see why I should pay for a phone call to find this out, but
the bus driver was not able to help. However, as far as I know there
is no money to be refunded at this point.

I am tempted to dump the card and get another one, as long as I can
avoid the deposit again.

Oyster Helpline Cost
 

Does TfL make any money from calls to 08453309876?

Is there any means of claiming back the cost of calls in any case,
when this is the only way of resolving problems caused by TfL and
Oyster?

Why is there not a free number, given the punitive extractions of
money faced by TfL "customers" and the limited means of redress?

On the few occasions I've had problems with Oyster I've found it more
satisfactory to use what used to be called 'Ask Oyster' to submit a query
online (sales.oystercard.com Help My Oyster).

G.

Oyster Helpline Cost
 

Colum Mylod wrote:

FOI request is probably needed to find out why 0845 is more and more
in use: they have probably been sold a pup.

I think an inquiry to the mayor from a London Asssembly member would be
even more effective. ;)
--
Michael Hoffman

Oyster Helpline Cost
 

On Feb 28, 12:11 pm, "Graham J" wrote:
Does TfL make any money from calls to 08453309876?

Is there any means of claiming back the cost of calls in any case,
when this is the only way of resolving problems caused by TfL and
Oyster?

Why is there not a free number, given the punitive extractions of
money faced by TfL "customers" and the limited means of redress?

On the few occasions I've had problems with Oyster I've found it more
satisfactory to use what used to be called 'Ask Oyster' to submit a query
online (sales.oystercard.com Help My Oyster).

G.



I've done that, but they may take seven days to reply, and I am not
sure if they can access my specific card details or fix anything.
When they respond I'll see.

Oyster Helpline Cost
 

On 28 Feb, 11:27, "MIG" wrote:
In my case, given that my card was refused by the reader on a bus (I
travelled anyway) after I had passed the capping limit, I want to find
out if it is safe to put any more credit on the card or whether it
will be gobbled up by a penalty £4 fare due to there having been a
problem (whoever's fault the problem was).


Why not have a look using one of the machines at a Tube station? If
you've got £-4 on the card, it will tell you.

NB you shouldn't have a penalty: if the light doesn't turn green, the
system hasn't touched you in or out and therefore doesn't penalise
you. Sounds more like a faulty reader on the bus...

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

Oyster Helpline Cost
 

Paul Terry typed


In message , asdf
writes

When you call an 0845 number, the recipient does receive a portion of
the cost of the call, so I presume the answer is yes.

Its not quite that simple. With an 0845 number the charge to the caller
is fixed, whatever the distance of the call, and the recipient pays or
receives any difference in the actual cost of the call.

But in the case of the Oyster helpline, I would imagine that the
overwhelming majority of calls are local (from the London area) and so I
would expect that they make a profit from using an 0845.

Yebbut aren't the Oyster help people up in Fife or Anstruther or some
other Scottish back of beyondness?

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

Oyster Helpline Cost
 

I've done that, but they may take seven days to reply, and I am not
sure if they can access my specific card details or fix anything.
When they respond I'll see.

They may take seven days to reply but they have been a lot quicker when I've
used them. They are just another arm of the Oyster Helpdesk so they can
access all your details and fix things and process refunds. Quite a few
people have expressed the opinion they are more knowledgeable and efficient
than those manning the phones.

Oyster Helpline Cost
 

In article ,
(Helen Deborah Vecht) wrote:

Paul Terry typed

In message , asdf
writes

When you call an 0845 number, the recipient does receive a
portion of the cost of the call, so I presume the answer is yes.

Its not quite that simple. With an 0845 number the charge to the
caller is fixed, whatever the distance of the call, and the
recipient pays or receives any difference in the actual cost of
the call.

But in the case of the Oyster helpline, I would imagine that the
overwhelming majority of calls are local (from the London area)
and so I would expect that they make a profit from using an 0845.

Yebbut aren't the Oyster help people up in Fife or Anstruther or
some other Scottish back of beyondness?

I don't think Ming Campbell would describe his constituency as "some
other Scottish back of beyondness". :-)

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Oyster Helpline Cost
 

Oyster Helpline Cost
 

In message , Helen Deborah
Vecht writes

Yebbut aren't the Oyster help people up in Fife or Anstruther or some
other Scottish back of beyondness?

I don't know, but their geographic number (apparently 020 7227 7886)
looks like 55 Broadway SW1 to me. Of course, it is possible that that
number is re-routed to Scotland.

--
Paul Terry

Oyster Helpline Cost
 

Paul Terry typed


In message , Helen Deborah
Vecht writes

Yebbut aren't the Oyster help people up in Fife or Anstruther or some
other Scottish back of beyondness?

I don't know, but their geographic number (apparently 020 7227 7886)
looks like 55 Broadway SW1 to me. Of course, it is possible that that
number is re-routed to Scotland.

Could well be.
The people seem to speak with Scottish accents and the envelopes are
franked 'Anstruther' IIRC if you buy an Oysterr from the online shop.

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

Oyster Helpline Cost
 

In message , Helen Deborah
Vecht writes

Paul Terry typed

I don't know, but their geographic number (apparently 020 7227 7886)
looks like 55 Broadway SW1 to me. Of course, it is possible that that
number is re-routed to Scotland.

Could well be.
The people seem to speak with Scottish accents and the envelopes are
franked 'Anstruther' IIRC if you buy an Oysterr from the online shop.

Ah, got it! The Oyster website gives another number for the 24-hour
Oyster helpline: 01561 376 082. That's Aberdeenshire.

A bit more googling finds: http://www.journeycall.com/services41.htm

"[Journeycall's] Travel Advisors currently answer over 3000 live calls a
day, about half of them on behalf of clients. Services include
megabus.com, megatrain.com and TfL's adult Oyster Card".
--
Paul Terry

Oyster Helpline Cost
 

On 1 Mar, 16:20, Paul Terry wrote:

"[Journeycall's] Travel Advisors currently answer over 3000 live calls a
day, about half of them on behalf of clients.

The other half being their mates...?

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

Oyster Helpline Cost
 

Paul Terry typed

Ah, got it! The Oyster website gives another number for the 24-hour
Oyster helpline: 01561 376 082. That's Aberdeenshire.

A bit more googling finds: http://www.journeycall.com/services41.htm

"[Journeycall's] Travel Advisors currently answer over 3000 live calls a
day, about half of them on behalf of clients. Services include
megabus.com, megatrain.com and TfL's adult Oyster Card".

Interesting, thanks.

Laurencekirk and Brechin are not at the back of Scottish beyondness, are
they? ;-)

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

Oyster Helpline Cost
 

On 1 Mar 2007 08:58:09 -0800, "John B" wrote:

On 1 Mar, 16:20, Paul Terry wrote:

"[Journeycall's] Travel Advisors currently answer over 3000 live calls a
day, about half of them on behalf of clients.

The other half being their mates...?

I remember reading a tale in one of Scott Adams' "Dilbert" books in
which the protagonist (I can't recall now whether it was Adams himself
or a reader) used to work in a call centre where performance was
measured by number of incoming calls handled. This worked well enough
until the staff discovered that one of them calling another not only
kept them looking busy whilst not actually working, but gave the
department credit for an incoming call.

Numbers rocketed...

Oyster Helpline Cost
 

In article ,
(Helen Deborah Vecht) wrote:

Paul Terry typed

Ah, got it! The Oyster website gives another number for the
24-hour Oyster helpline: 01561 376 082. That's Aberdeenshire.

A bit more googling finds:
http://www.journeycall.com/services41.htm

"[Journeycall's] Travel Advisors currently answer over 3000 live
calls a day, about half of them on behalf of clients. Services
include megabus.com, megatrain.com and TfL's adult Oyster Card".

Interesting, thanks.

Laurencekirk and Brechin are not at the back of Scottish
beyondness, are they? ;-)

Further away from London than Fife, though.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Oyster Helpline Cost
 

On Feb 28, 5:11 pm, "Graham J" wrote:
I've done that, but they may take seven days to reply, and I am not
sure if they can access my specific card details or fix anything.
When they respond I'll see.

They may take seven days to reply but they have been a lot quicker when I've
used them. They are just another arm of the Oyster Helpdesk so they can
access all your details and fix things and process refunds. Quite a few
people have expressed the opinion they are more knowledgeable and efficient
than those manning the phones.



Well, it's more than a month on now and they never did reply. I seem
to be 40p down on what I should be, but I can't see the point of
spending that on a phone call.

Still, if anyone can work out what happened ... I started the day
with £4.40 credit. Due to some problem with touching out of the DLR
at the continuation interchange at Canary Wharf, I was refused entry
to Canary Wharf LU.

The person at the counter did something and said "it should go through
now". I said "will it be treated as a continuation?" but he didn't
answer and there was a long queue so I had to go without interrogating
him on what he had done.

When I got to Kensal Green, I found that I had been charged £3 instead
of the £2 I expected if it was a continuation (ie I had £1.40 left).
I decided that given that I was going to reach the capping limit
during the day anyway, I would let it go.

I put another £1 on the card, making a total of £5.40 credit for the
day. I didn't go out of zones 1 and 2 or start till well after the
morning peak, so the capping limit should have been £4.60, leaving me
with 80p credit.

That evening, my card gave an error message on both a bendy bus and
the DLR. (This didn't deter me from travelling.) I wanted to know
what was going on and whether I could risk using the card again, which
is why I emailed them.

I had the chance to read it at a machine, and it turned out that I
have got 40p credit. I can't think of any combination that could
explain this.