In message . com, Uncle
Dave writes
On Aug 21, 10:28 am, Uncle Dave wrote:

Ah, right, that's what I was wondering. OK, rather than top up on-
line I'll buy some credit at the ticket machine - I'm not expecting to
travel often enough to warrant auto top up.

In the event, I topped up online, but the options where you can
validate your top-up are limited and don't include buses. I chose the
underground at Waterloo which was where I arrived, went to the barrier
where the guy informed me that it probably wouldn't work and that the
barrier would open so I'd get charged for a journey. He was right so
I've now been charged for a journey I never made because I used the
bus.
I'm not quite sure what you did here. By saying "charged for a journey
I never made", do you mean you opened the barrier but didn't enter the
system and travel? If so, then nothing went wrong or "didn't work".
You can only collect on-line top ups when you make a Tube journey.
That might have been what the chap on the barrier meant but he should
really have explained it to you more fully (depending on what you said
to him).

In your circumstances, it would have been better not to top up online
but to do it at a machine at Waterloo, not enter the Tube system and
then go straight on to the bus.

I'm sure this works fine for millions of other people, but I think I
shall avoid it in future and pay as I go - it will probably work out
cheaper
No, National Rail journeys notwithstanding, Oyster should always be
cheaper if you do it properly.

and certainly easier!
Perhaps because the concept, the "way" in which Oyster works, it does
confuse people and you're not alone. If I gave any advice to anyone,
I'd suggest they load up a card at a machine, a ticket office or a
newsagent and take it from there.
--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk