On Fri, 18 Apr 2014 16:56:11 +0100, David Cantrell
wrote:

For the last few days I've been using a PAYG Oyster card instead of my
normal paper Travelcard.

I did one of my usual journeys - tube from Waterloo to Balham, then
train to Thornton Heath - on Wednesday evening. But the Oyster card
reader at Balham didn't work properly. The gate opened but didn't record
my touch-out, so I've got an unresolved journey.

TfL, despite knowing my email address because that's what I use to sign
in to their website to make sure they haven't ripped me off, couldn't be
bothered to notify me. I only know about the unresolved journey because
I don't trust Oyster and went and checked.

And of course I can't submit my claim for a refund using my normal web
browser which works on every other site. I have to use Firefox instead.

It remains to be seen whether I actually end up being charged the right
amount or not. And, of course, I have to use Oyster again to pick up my
refund. I didn't see any option on the website for "refund my credit
card" or "send me a cheque", they just blithely assume that I use Oyster
all the time, when in fact I was planning on getting a Travelcard
again on Tuesday and not using the trains at all this weekend.

Sounds like what my Australian former flatmate used to call 'Pommie
over-reaction'. Tens of thousands of passengers use Oyster every day
without incident. It is a hugely useful facility. When I had a
difficulty (my own fault) it was corrected very quickly.