But neither the website nor the phone system are any use.

The message says:

You need to pay the outstanding balance now against top-up number
0001990058. Please go to
www.tfl.gov.uk/oyster and login. Then follow the screen prompts to
manage your failed payment.
Alternatively call our Oyster Helpline on 0845 330 9876 (8 am - 8pm
daily) to arrange payment.

So first I logged on, there are no screen prompts at all.

Then I tried the helpline. But the options for auto top-up do not let
you talk to a person at all and there is no option if your auto top-up
has really failed. So then I tried the failed card option, works some
of the time. Fortunately, with that there is eventually an option 0 to
talk to someone.


It appears that these messages have just been sent out to lots of
people regardless of whether their top-up has worked or not!

Perhaps a note on the website, and something in the prompts on the
phone line might be a good idea. And there really should be an option
within the auto top-up menu for failed payments. (Or at least the
email could tell you which options to select)

Tim.

wrote:

Then I tried the helpline. But the options for auto top-up do not let
you talk to a person at all and there is no option if your auto top-up
has really failed. So then I tried the failed card option, works some
of the time. Fortunately, with that there is eventually an option 0 to
talk to someone.
I had the same this morning - and after not finding any relevant
options, resorted to the technique of mashing random buttons on the
telephone keypad until the system relented and connected me to a
human.

The woman I spoke to took just a moment to realise the email was sent
in error, apologised for it, and said she'd pass it on to the sales
team to look into.

As an aside, I called Orange later and couldn't find an appropriate
menu item. The random keypresses approach gave me a "we cannot process
your call further" message and disconnected me. They're obviously wise
to this game.

- martin