Matthew Dickinson wrote:
On Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:57:46 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:

In message , at 21:13:36
on Tue, 25 Nov 2008, Matthew Dickinson
remarked:
The fundamental reason is that the card processors insist that the
inital setup transaction is processed in the same way as the ongoing
transactions (that is, as a Customer Not Present transaction using
CVV and address checking), and it isn't practical to carry out this
type of transaction at a ticket office.

So why not at a ticket machine, if not the counter itself. Or does
that fail the "customer not present" test because they have a PIN
pad?

It's still regarded as a Customer Present transaction, and AVS & CVV
checking is even less practical at a ticket machine.

When I got my Oyster 3 years ago, there was a single credit card transaction
for the card and the auto top-up, several days before I had to load the
facility on to the Oyster at my local tube station, so I don't think your
reason can be true. It just seemed to be a limitation of the way the system
was set up.
--
Richard J.
(to email me, swap 'uk' and 'yon' in address)