Unrequested and inappropriate Oyster PAYG deduction

[island]

I went to get my Gold Card discount extended on my Oyster card at an LU station this morning having bought a new paper Gold Card. During the process, "Adjust PAYG" very briefly flashed up on the display screen for less than a second and the CSA said nothing about it. Curious, I checked my Oyster card at a POM and found that £1 had been deducted from my credit with the cryptic narrative "adjust PAYG no token".

I went back to the window and asked the CSA to explain the issue. He said that it had "popped up on his screen" that "you went outside of your zones" and that this was what the charge was for. He was unwilling or unable to identify when or where this alleged journey took place, and insisted I had to call the Oyster helpline. He gave me a metre-long printout of data about my Oyster card which doesn't explain anything. And needless to say, the Oyster helpline doesn't have a clue and "can't see it".

My current season ticket on the Oyster card is a Z1-3 annual expiring on Wednesday. I have made occasional journeys to or from places such as Woolwich Arsenal or Heathrow, but have always touched in and out each time and paid the £1 extension fare (or on one occasion used contactless when MasterCard was doing the free fare Friday promotion).

Leaving aside for the moment the CSA's attempt to conceal the theft of my credit, what should I do next? It is the principle, not the pound, that's the problem - and after Thursday I will not be making regular Oyster journeys as I shall be using a National Rail paper season ticket.

 

[londonbridge]

Obvious question but are you able to/have you checked your journey history and ensured all journeys are/were correctly recorded?

 

[island]

Yes, I did that online and don't see any journeys with missing touches where I travelled outside my zones (or anything else for that matter)

 

[Clip]

Leaving aside for the moment the CSA's attempt to conceal the theft of my credit, what should I do next? .

Erm, Email the Oyster helpdesk with your bank statement clearly showi9ng the amount taken off so they can investigate further? Or if you dont want to do that try and make it to one of the proper Oyster places for assistance

If they cant see it then also check your bank to see if it has been credited back to you. If that all fails and you still get no joy then London Travel watch would be next.

 

[DelayRepay]

Erm, Email the Oyster helpdesk with your bank statement clearly showi9ng the amount taken off so they can investigate further? Or if you dont want to do that try and make it to one of the proper Oyster places for assistance

If they cant see it then also check your bank to see if it has been credited back to you. If that all fails and you still get no joy then London Travel watch would be next.

It hasn't been taken from his bank account; it's been deducted from his PAYG credit.

 

[Clip]

It hasn't been taken from his bank account; it's been deducted from his PAYG credit.

Oops. But the advice is still the same but with the oyster print out and not bank statement then.

 

[island]

I've contacted the Oyster help desk via webform. Let's see what happens.

 

[Camden]

........

 

[CyrusWuff]

For the avoidance of doubt, the act of applying a discount of any description to an Oyster card does not involve doing anything involving your journey history or PAYG balance.

 

[island]

For the avoidance of doubt, the act of applying a discount of any description to an Oyster card does not involve doing anything involving your journey history or PAYG balance.

After further research I am given to understand that interrogating an Oyster card on a Ticket Office Machine will trigger a prompt for the CSA to resolve any incomplete journey that the card thinks it has.
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TfL has today replied to my email stating that it cannot explain the deduction and will refund it to my bank account.