Another one to add to the catalogue of Oyster problems and oddities... I
got my friend an (unregistered) Oyster to use when he comes to see me
occasionally after work. He made a journey from South Harrow to Fulham
Broadway, but had a problem getting through the gates at the end - he
went to see the station assistant, who apparently tried his card on the
side gate, and told him he hadn't touched in properly at South Harrow.

I had a look at the journey history on a ticket machine later, and it
showed the following:

£1.10 Fulham Bdy
£1.80 S Harrow - Fulham Bdy

....which I reckon was because either credit had been deducted from the
card when he first tried it on the gates and the card then registered a
"touch in" when the SA tried it, or the SA accidentally touched it twice.

We went to the ticket office at Fulham Bdy to try to sort it out, but
the member of staff there wasn't very helpful - he couldn't seem to see
the £1.80 charge and thought my friend had only been charged £1.10, and
advised him to keep quiet about it if he were him!

We later phoned the Oyster helpline, who told us that they couldn't do
anything about it because the card wasn't registered (!).

I finally tried Gloucester Road station later, where the member of staff
in the ticket office was much more helpful, but still couldn't resolve
the problem, and suggested we phone the helpline.

I was more annoyed that the helpline said they couldn't do anything,
than that the unresolved journey got onto the card. I'm usually very
forgiving but it strikes me as odd that it's OK for LUL not to refund an
overcharge when the card is unregistered, although perhaps there's a
good reason for it.

--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London