On Wed, 13 May 2009 23:36:07 +0100,
Colum Mylod wrote:
On Wed, 13 May 2009 00:51:44 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:
Tim
\What makes you think that TFL will not send you a cheque for oyster
refunds if you a) have a registered card and b) ask very nicely
explaining why there is a problem?
Indeed. Despite using 1 tube station daily, I was sent a cheque for a
system failure in 2005. The person on the other end of the line was in
a hurry to quit so her manager waded through her stuff and sorted out
debts by cheque as there was no record made of preferred refund means.
It obviously depends on who you get on the phone. She was told it was
_IMPOSSIBLE_ to do a refund other than by her visiting a nominated
station to pick it up. As that would, best case, have involved a 20GBP
round trip train fare to collect about 2GBP it wasn't worth it.
It's a common problem with railway staff (it happens in other industries
as well but the railways seem to be worse than most) deciding that
something can't be done.
Some years ago when I had an annual season ticket it had faded to the
point of almost complete unreadability. The guards at the barrier at
Euston kept telling me to get it replaced and pointing me to the window.
But _every_ time the person on the window said it was _IMPOSSIBLE_ and I
had to post off my ticket and, in the mean time, buy daily ticket and
then get a refund once I got my ticket back. On about the sixth or
seventh time (This time I was arguing with the guards rather than
joining the queue AGAIN to achieve nothing) their
manager/supervisor/whatever got involved and came with me to the ticket
window. Lo and behold, suddenly, what had been impossible took about
three minutes. I cannot comprehend why I had been given the runaround
before. It really didn't seem difficult at all, the only minor issue
seemed to be that the teller didn't have any gold card stock immediately
to hand and had to fetch it from somewhere else.
In future years when my ticket faded I _knew_ that the tellers could do
it and I wouldn't leave the ticket window until they sorted it out.
Bank Holiday weekend I was told there were "no tickets at all from
Victoria to Horsham." If I hadn't known to say "Try London Terminals to
Horsham" then I don't know what would have happened (probably been
forced to queue for hours at Victoria to buy my ticket instead of
getting it in advance)
Likewise with these oyster refunds. What do you do when you're told it
is _IMPOSSIBLE_? One of my US collegues was told that because he'd
topped up his card using both cash and credit card, the _ONLY_ way to
get a refund on the remaining balance was to fill in a form and then,
several weeks later, get a GBP denominated cheque posted to his home
address. I can see why a cash refund might not be allowed but surely it
could be refunded to the credit card? (Instead he found someone in the
office willing to buy it off him.)
Tim.
--
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and there was light.
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