On Feb 28, 8:32*am, Walter Briscoe
wrote:

On 24/02/10, I entered Moorgate at 16:30 and left Euston at 16:43.
I entered Euston Square at 16:49 and left Moorgate at 17:10.
I was charged 5.80 for Euston Square entry and 6.00 for Moorgate exit.
I had already capped travel in Z1-2 on my registered Oystercard.
On 28 February 2010 03:22:49, TfL sent me an email "... Due to an
operational issue, we calculate that you are due a refund of 11.80.
This is now ready for pick-up at Moorgate. ..."
I am a little impressed.
Weekend mornings are good times for Oyster help on 0845 330 9876.
I was unable to get an explanation for the systemic failure.

Erm... I'm a bit uncertain as to the 'logic behind that failure', for
want of a better way of describing it, but I dare say the root of it
is the system freaking out about a journey that starts and ends at the
same place, i.e. Moorgate, given that Euston to Euston Square is an
OSI hence the journey would have

The 'auto-correct' element is not new however - I experienced it in
April of last year, and others have also commented on it too - the
text of the email being suitably ambiguous from TfL's point-of-view
("... Due to an operational issue...").

I wouldn't automatically assume that non-registered cards would also
be excluded from this - someone who knew of which they spoke commented
on here a while back about how refunds for bus fares were doled out to
Oyster card holders whilst Shepherd's Bush Central line station was
closed (so pax used local buses to get to and from Holland Park) -
however that's an easy case as they refunds could be sent to Holland
Park tube station for pick-up.

That said it's notable that the publicity surrounding the partial
closure of the NLL suggests something similar will happen this time
around as well (with no mention of it being restricted to registered
card holders only) - i.e. there will be some kind of attempt to refund
fares when a passenger has to travel via zone 1 when previously they'd
travel via the NLL and avoid z1 - though again I suppose that
identifying a suitable station to send the refund to for pick-up
purposes might well be easier.