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Old January 22nd 12, 11:42 AM posted to uk.transport.london
[email protected] rosenstiel@cix.compulink.co.uk is offline
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Default Oyster refund question

In article
,
(Mizter T) wrote:

On Jan 22, 11:09*am, wrote:

In article , (Roland
Perry) wrote:

In message , at 01:44:13 on Sun,
22 Jan 2012, AJM remarked:
Yesterday I received the following e-mail from tfl informing me about
a charging error on one of my journeys, and that it will be refunded
when a next touch-in at Bexley station. The problem is, I was staying
there on vacation and returned home to Scotland on Thursday. Is there
another way to get this refund added to my card for future use as it
might prove a bit expensive to travel 400 miles to 'touch-in' to get
my 1.20GBP back?


If you don't touch in at Bexley within a week (I think it is) they'll
email you saying that it's timed out and you need to specify a new
place to pick up the refund (which will also have a ludicrously short
timeout for someone who isn't the London commuter that Oyster is
designed around).


So next time you are coming to London you need to guess which
terminal you'll arrive at (Kings Cross perhaps) and arrange for the
refund to be available. You can do that online (but it's all a bit of
a performance for £1.20).


They will credit your bank account directly if you ask, I think. I'm
only in Cambridge I'm sure they did it for me but I can't find the
emails at present. What they will do is agree a location to pick it up.
Last time I agreed to pick it up on entry at Kings Cross St Pancras but
didn't in the end make an entry there on that trip. I did exit there,
however and the credit was picked up thereby.


The blurb for picking up refunds and also top-ups (and indeed
Travelcards) bought online (plus, for that matter, auto-topup
activations) is a bit misleading in that it suggests you can only pick
them up at the start of a journey - as you say, it works just the same
if you end a journey at the relevant/ nominated station too.

And my recollection is that you did say in the past that you got the
Oyster bods to refund it to your bank account (though I'd be
interested in whether that was via a debit card refund or as a direct
payment into your bank account having given them the details - I'd
assume the former).


Yes, I think that did once happen but searching back in my bank statements
to 2009 I couldn't find it. Maybe my memory is failing me it it was longer
ago than I thought.

--
Colin Rosenstiel