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[email protected] · April 9th 15, 05:17 PM posted to uk.transport.london

In article ,
() wrote:

In article ,
() wrote:

In article ,
(Paul Corfield) wrote:

On Fri, 03 Apr 2015 04:01:01 -0500,
wrote:

It turns out looking online today that the exit at Heathrow Terminal
5 may have showed me the correct fare and balance but the system
shows it as an incomplete journey and has charged me £3.45 for it.
GOK where that fare comes from. Incomplete journeys are normally
charged more than that I thought.

Having looked at a TfL booklet I was sent I can confirm that what has
happened is that you've been charged the entry charge - this is £3.45
for a Railcard discount holder travelling off peak. For whatever
reason your exit did not register so the £1.40 was not added back to
charge you the correct discounted fare of £2.05. It looks to me as if
something happened whereby the gate transaction appeared to work OK
"on the ground" but the data hasn't reconciled itself at the centre
hence your account charge showing what it does.

I doubt you can't readily check but I'd be interested to see what the
actual card balance shows as.

Something to watch for on Tuesday then, when I'll be back at Heathrow.

I had a reply from TfL on Sunday saying "Your application has been
successful and you are due a refund of £1.40", inviting me to
nominate where to collect it. I nominated Heathrow T5 of course,
where I arrived this lunchtime.

I took the precaution of looking at the card balance and journey
history on a ticket machine at T5 before letting it near a gate. It
showed the journey to Heathrow, £2.05 charge and £5.60 balance all
correctly. I took the precaution of photographing the ticket machine
screen. When I touched in at the barrier it told me my balance was
£5.60 (and showed the correct amounts at KXStP). We'll see what
Oyster Online has to say later.

It seems like there's a significant communications problem somewhere between
T5 and TfL Central. Is this possible, Paul?

My wife used her contactless credit card both ways. That worked fine
outwards which I why I know my touch out time which failed to register but
her touch in on the inward journey failed to get through to the central
computer though her exit at King's Cross was OK. In both cases there were no
gate issues such as following or being followed by someone else. She was
charged £5.20 for an unstarted journey instead of £3.10 for which we have
now had to claim a refund.

I see only one refund a month is allowed. With such unreliable
communications is that reasonable?

--
Colin Rosenstiel