London Banter - View Single Post

[email protected] · March 25th 15, 03:10 PM posted to uk.transport.london

In article , (Roland
Perry) wrote:

In message , at 12:29:30 on Wed, 25
Mar 2015, Neil Williams remarked:
When I've occasionally come across the 'smartcards / Oyster saves
paper' line spouted as a benefit, I think of the times I've come
across great stacks of discarded card receipts on standard ticket
stock at TVMs in the London area (in the ticket collection bin,
sometimes piled up on top of the machine, or in an untidy mess on the
floor), a quick examination of which shows many are receipts for PAYG
topups.

Bought a ticket from the EMT machine at St Pancras the other week, and
I was pleased to note that it spat out only one piece of card - the
ticket - and no receipts. I think that's the way to go provided a
receipt remains offered on request (by a fairly obvious button) for
those who do reconcile their card spending in that manner. (I see
little point in doing that these days as a miskeyed amount is
infinitessimally unlikely now nothing is hand-written)

What I find is that transactions - curiously almost always refunds -
don't happen. The latest was Parcelforce, who were due to refund me
"within 24hrs" for a pickup that I cancelled. And it was only because
I had a bit of paper on my desk - the one they'd have signed to say
the pickup had been done - that I remembered to check a couple of
weeks later.

So I had to phone them up, which didn't work because it's all online,
and then I did get the refund through about a day later.

The stories we hear here, about Oyster mistakes, are in very much the
same camp - unless you know to claim because of some printed evidence
on the table, you can be out of pocket.

Well said!

--
Colin Rosenstiel