I need to rant!

I have an Annual Bus Pass and use the Tube only occasionally. It seemed
clear that I should get an Oyster Pre-Pay card to save money on my Tube
fares.

I filled in an Oyster Registration Form and took it to Burnt Oak Station
some weeks ago. I was told to return the first time I wanted to use the
Tube after the fares went up.

Today I wanted to travel from Burnt Oak to Golders Green and back. I
thoght I could get an Oyster Pre-Pay from the ticket office at Burnt
Oak.

After queueing for about 15 minutes, a rather tired and stressed ticket
clerk told me I couldn't buy an Oyster Pre-Pay so he could only sell me
a Standard Return to Golders Green. This cost £3 whereas I would only
have paid £1 each way if I'd had a Pre-Pay Oyster.

The queues at Golders Green seemed interminable so I gave up the idea of
getting a card there. The Ticket Office was closed on my return to Burnt
Oak.

I then thought I'd buy my card online, only to find this message halfway
through the registration process

This site is being updated

We're sorry but we are currently updating our site. Normal service will
be resumed shortly.

I then phoned the Oyster Salesline. This is an 0870 number that will not
be discounted on my current BT scheme. No doubt Oyster will take a fair
cut for my patience (I reckon the phone call will cost me over £1) After
about 6 cycles of Pachelbel's Canon I have managed to buy the card I
wanted.

I am not a happy bunny. I have tried to keep ahead of the game, only to
get thwarted by LUL staff who really seem to know less about the tickets
they sell than I do by reading the leaflets left around the stations.
;-(((

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

In message , Helen Deborah Vecht
writes
I need to rant!

I have an Annual Bus Pass and use the Tube only occasionally. It seemed
clear that I should get an Oyster Pre-Pay card to save money on my Tube
fares.

I filled in an Oyster Registration Form and took it to Burnt Oak Station
some weeks ago. I was told to return the first time I wanted to use the
Tube after the fares went up.

Today I wanted to travel from Burnt Oak to Golders Green and back. I
thoght I could get an Oyster Pre-Pay from the ticket office at Burnt
Oak.

After queueing for about 15 minutes, a rather tired and stressed ticket
clerk told me I couldn't buy an Oyster Pre-Pay so he could only sell me
a Standard Return to Golders Green. This cost £3 whereas I would only
have paid £1 each way if I'd had a Pre-Pay Oyster.

The queues at Golders Green seemed interminable so I gave up the idea of
getting a card there. The Ticket Office was closed on my return to Burnt
Oak.

[...]

I am not a happy bunny. I have tried to keep ahead of the game, only to
get thwarted by LUL staff who really seem to know less about the tickets
they sell than I do by reading the leaflets left around the stations.
;-(((

Were you trying to get your annual bus-pass transferred to Oyster or
just trying to get a simple Pre Pay Oyster?
If the latter, there was no reason why they couldn't have sold you one a
couple of weeks ago.
Were you given any reason?
--
Kat Me, Ambivalent? Well, yes and no.

Kat typed



Were you trying to get your annual bus-pass transferred to Oyster or
just trying to get a simple Pre Pay Oyster?

I wanted a simple pre-pay Oyster. I thought I could use this for my
casual Tube use, or, occasionally lend this to my partner.

If the latter, there was no reason why they couldn't have sold you one a
couple of weeks ago.
Were you given any reason?

I don't think reasons were given (I did appear with a form on 13/12/02)
but was told 'not yet'. Yesterday, (at Burnt Oak) I was told it wasn't
possible as I didn't have an Oyster Travelcard to charge with pre-pay.

There was someone trying to help at Golders Green but he didn't seem to
know about pre-pay Oyster despite brandishing a bunch of Oyster
leaflets.

I have now ordered a pre-pay on the phone but it is registered to my
Photo-card so I don't suppose I can lend it to my partner. I won't be
able to use it before 10/1/2004 so will have to pay a higher fare when I
go to Uxbridge on Wednesday.

I long for the days when there was a separate Season Ticket office at
Golders Green. Casual travellers were having to queue with many who
wanted rather more complex tickets.

It seems staff training was sadly lacking, as were the numbers available
to assist on what could be predicted to be the busiest day of the
ticketing year.

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

In message , Helen Deborah Vecht
writes
Kat typed

I don't think reasons were given (I did appear with a form on 13/12/02)
but was told 'not yet'. Yesterday, (at Burnt Oak) I was told it wasn't
possible as I didn't have an Oyster Travelcard to charge with pre-pay.

Did you go along the second time with your filled-in application form?
If so, the only reason I could see for them not issuing one, is that
they'd simply run out of blanks because of the demand.

There was someone trying to help at Golders Green but he didn't seem to
know about pre-pay Oyster despite brandishing a bunch of Oyster
leaflets.

I have now ordered a pre-pay on the phone but it is registered to my
Photo-card so I don't suppose I can lend it to my partner.

If the Oyster doesn't also contain any sort of travel card, the fact
that it has a photocard number on it, shouldn't preclude you from
lending it to whoever you wish.

[...]

It seems staff training was sadly lacking,

I think most of us have come to the same conclusion.

as were the numbers available
to assist on what could be predicted to be the busiest day of the
ticketing year.

Issuing Oysters seems to be a fairly lengthy business and no matter how
many staff there are, it is still limited by the number of TOMs in the
ticket office.
If you had posted this earlier, I would have advised you to try again at
a ticket office sometime in the intervening three weeks and then make a
call to Customer Services if you still had no joy.
--
Kat Me, Ambivalent? Well, yes and no.

Kat typed

If you had posted this earlier, I would have advised you to try again at
a ticket office sometime in the intervening three weeks and then make a
call to Customer Services if you still had no joy.

Hmm... the ticket chap at Burnt Oak (not the one I had yesterday) told
me just to come with the form the first time I wanted to travel after
the fares went up. I didn't argue. I then thought that I couldn't get
one until 4 January.

I signed an Oyster Registration form on 13/12...

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.