Oyster cock-up; how could this happen?

[jon0844]

As some of you know, I had to change my train ticket combination, which meant dropping my Oyster travelcard from Z1-6 to Z1-3.

I did this at Old Street underground station, and was charged five pounds, and told I'd get a refund for the remainder of the year from Oyster later on.

As I've since heard nothing, I went online to check my statement (for the first time in years) and;

1) My online account hasn't shown any transactions (payments) since I bought my first TC in 2007. Why isn't this being updated?

2) It shows that I have a Z1-3 Travelcard, and that it started from 04/01/10 to 03/01/11. So, the person at Old Street actually managed to change the entitlement of the card from BEFORE the 27th September 2010. How can he be able to do this?

I called Oyster, and as a result they have no record of me ever having a Z1-6 travelcard! Yes, seriously, they cannot see any data to show it changed on the 27th. As a result, they have nothing to show I ever paid for Z1-6, so there's nothing to refund! Isn't this somewhat open to fraud? What next, someone in a ticket office could be bribed to add a Z1-6 TC to your Oyster and not take payment as it won't be recorded anywhere?

Somehow a member of staff in a tube station ticket office can actually modify details without there being any record! That doesn't sound possible.

She did believe me when I said I still have a scanned image of my old Gold Record card (update: I now realise I don't, it was a scan of a previous year) and should be able to go back through bank statements to show when I actually paid for my Travelcard at the start of the year (update: There's a payment to First Capital Connect in January 2010 for £1904, the cost of a Z1-6 card, as I renewed at Finsbury Park, but will they accept this or claim that's something else?). She also said that I shouldn't have paid anything (the admin fee) at the station as that is always processed by them.

So now I have to gather evidence to prove I had a ticket before they can calculate whether I am entitled to a refund.

What a mess. I was concerned when I filled in the form and handed it in with no receipt being given to me. The only thing I got was the receipt for the admin charge, which is the only proof that I did something on that date.

Any ideas on how to solve this? It's not over a few quid.. it's somewhere in the region of 200 quid owed to me.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Jon, I'm on a Yahoogroup which has lots of Oyster experts amongst the membership; I've flagged this up to them and hopefully some answers will come in fairly soon.

This does sound like a far more serious blunder than the usual failures of the touch pads and journey time limits.



Edited to add the response below that I have received so far:


hmmm,

So he bought a season ticket at FCC and then changed it at an LU ticket office?

Was that wise?

Would this have been possible with paper tickets?

I *hope* that what has transpired was a blunder – and nothing more sinister.

He needs proof that he bought the Z1-6 ticket in the first case. Without telling them why he should try to get a copy receipt from FCC. This may be awkward if they want to see his Oystercard and then discover that the ticket is no longer there.

If he does get the copy receipt then he should write to the Oyster people and enclose a copy of the copy receipt (always retaining the original copy for himself) plus something with his Oyster ticket serial number so that they can look back through their records. Hopefully they will find the transaction when the Z1-6 was replaced with the Z1-3.

I do not know whether the £5 fee was charged in error, or otherwise.

I wish him ‘good luck’!




Edited again to add a new response:


Hmmm... as an 'administrative' issue this is very different from the normal mis-charge/usage ones. A basic point is that the 'wrong' ticket is now on the Oyster card, which could well be a consumer protection issue (he's paid for something that's not what he's got...) - and as such I would be inclined to pursue it at a higher level than the usual Oyster Helpdesk minion.

Questions I would ask:
What do Oyster/LU/FCC think was put on his Oyster in the way of Travelcards and when? - and what (corresponding) payments were made? (These are essentially two separate questions, which, when things right, should give matching answers). How was the January payment made (to FCC)?
What does 'the system' say was on his card prior to the change being made - as recorded at touch in/outs? (Especially in the 'lost' zones)

 

[jon0844]

I just came back to ask if there was any update and saw these updates! D'oh! Sadly, by updating the post - it didn't show as a new post so I never noticed when looking for new posts and replies!

Anyway, I'm sending a letter today to London Underground (55 Broadway) with as much supporting documentation as I can find. I've looked all over for a scanned copy of my old Gold Record Card and a receipt for getting the TC in January, but can't wait any longer and will see what they say based on the following information.

Which is;

• A photocopy of the back of my Oyster card to show the number (signature blanked out).
• A photocopy of the receipt showing the £5 admin fee, and also showing the new zones (and it starting from 4th Jan, despite the receipt being 27th Sep).
• A photocopy of the credit card receipt showing the £5 having been paid at Old Street (confirmed by receipt of course).
• A print out of a bank statement showing the transaction at Finsbury Park (FCC) where the Oyster card was renewed, and a payment made of £1904. Sadly, I cannot find the receipt I got - but given the amount is identical to that of an annual TC, I hope to be okay on that aspect. Either that or I simply made a charitable donation of £1904 on the very same day!
• A copy of the Gold Record Card, again printed on 27 Sep but showing Z1-3 for the whole year.. but it also shows 'Free' on the ticket.

There's nothing else I can provide. I am sure FCC would be capable of finding my payment, but I doubt they would given the time that has passed. And there's little incentive for them to help out as it's not their problem (well, unless they somehow managed to top up my ticket, charge me the money but never actually process it and pay Oyster/TfL - meaning FCC pocketed all the money. Now THAT would be a story!).

In response to why I got the ticket at a FCC station and changed it at another one, it seemed logical. I renewed both my FCC ticket and the Oyster at the same time, at the same station (for the benefit of the members of the other group, it's because I combine two tickets for travel - and the reason for changing the zones now was down to how I can combine them on my journey to work). Renewing an Oyster is easy, so it didn't seem necessary to go an Underground station. In fact, it WAS easy and worked just fine.

When I came to changing, I knew that a FCC ticket office would say it couldn't do it - hence going to my local station, Old Street. So there was a good reason for my decision, and I am sure that Finsbury Park would not have been an option for downgrading my ticket.

 

[Daniel]

Jon,


I've sent you a PM.


Dan

 

[jon0844]

Got a cheque today! Not sure if it was down to my letter (in which case, they acted very fast) or they had received the form I completed at the end of September - but either way, it's sorted now.

I hope it's the right amount!!

Thanks to everyone who offered assistance, including Daniel for giving an explanation of how things work.