My wife recently had the experience at Streatham Hill station where
the new Oyster compatible ticket machine was out of order (as are many
on various Southern stations), she needed to do a topup and the ticket
office staff just laughed at her and pointed to their obviously
unofficial sign saying no topups done here. She was able to get this
done at a local newsagent, but aren't all local rail station in the
Travelcard zones supposed to be able to do topups for pay-as-you-go.
I have raised matter with Southern customer relations and received
response that machine is now back in business and office should have
been able to do a topup. Verified yesterday that machine is now back
in working order but sign at station is still in place. I didn't
bother to inquire as I didn't think it was worth talking to the monkey
rather than the organ grinder.

What's the general experience about Oyster pay-as-you-go on National
Rail with Travelcard zones?
Are we just getting a crap service from Southern?

Thanks,
Martin J.

martin j wrote:

My wife recently had the experience at Streatham Hill station where
the new Oyster compatible ticket machine was out of order (as are many
on various Southern stations), she needed to do a topup and the ticket
office staff just laughed at her and pointed to their obviously
unofficial sign saying no topups done here. She was able to get this
done at a local newsagent, but aren't all local rail station in the
Travelcard zones supposed to be able to do topups for pay-as-you-go.

No. A lot don't have the equipment and it's not clear who's going to stump
up for it. Look at the ridiculous situation around Oyster Extension Permits
where there's an avoidance rate of c 97%, not least because the things are
not available at most NR stations.

What's the general experience about Oyster pay-as-you-go on National
Rail with Travelcard zones?
Are we just getting a crap service from Southern?

No it's a crap service in general. NR had to be dragged kicking and
screaming into accepting PAYG and have done very little to make it
functional. (Even before the general roll out there were problems on the
sections that accepted it - for instance it wasn't obviously available at
Barking.) Passengers are expected to get PAYG from wherever, regardless of
the different opening hours.

On 26 Mar, 10:54, martin j wrote:

...She needed to do a topup and the ticket
office staff just laughed at her and pointed to their obviously
unofficial sign saying no topups done here.

Can you clarify the way all of the staff laughed?

Was it:
a) in a loud, raucous way like Dr Evil's associates in Austin Powers?

or

b) in a more sinister way, like the bandits in Treasure of the Sierra
Madre?

Or perhaps some other way.

"Offramp" wrote in message
...

The OP wrote. "the ticket office staff just laughed at her and pointed
to their obviously unofficial sign saying no topups done here."

More than one.

I was talking about the ****s at my local station, not the OP's.

Ian

On Mar 28, 2:54*pm, Fat richard wrote:

On 27 Mar, 15:54, "Ian F." wrote:

[snip]

Staying with Southern, there are three regulars at Selhurst and only
one of the three is able to deal with tickets from origins other that
Selhurst. I do this occasionally for journies away from my "validity"
and have had to resort to buying tickets from Selhurst instead of from
my connecting station as I foolishly did not leave myself enough time
to buy it at the intrchange as I assumed arriving at Sekhurst 10"
before my original train would be sufficient.

I now get my wife to see who is on when she goes through and then I
leave earlier for my connections as required. The problem is, the
fares I am talking about are so miniscule - literally under a quid -
that it's really not worth the hassle moaning, but I did follow it up
citing times etc and got a standard email advising the full range of
tickets is available from machines at Selhurst during busy times.

Thanks then

Not good


Going back to the original Oyster theme, I am surprised at how many
people are touching in / out here since the validators came on line. I
suspect the vast majority are pre loaded seasons, but some stats on
how many are using PAYG would be interesting.

Curious as to why you suspect the "vast majority" are season
Travelcards?