Thie excuse was tried on with me; the problem being is that when a
get tells me to seek assistance I can go to another gate and it
will open; so if your excuse is true then the system should not let
me out; oh and there are all the posted telling us to touch in and
out - for prepay.

Look at the error code which shows with the Seek Assistance
message; 70, 71, 94 all mean there's some sort of communication
error. 21 and 22 (double exit/entrance attempted) often come up for
no apparent reason too.
If you are concerned about touching the reader again (Pre pay) then
ask someone to read the card on a MMF or with a hand-held device.

I think they are 7? and 9? so it does look like there are problems
with many of the readers. A shame every SA I have asked repeats the
mantra
about
not tapping in or out rather than reporting these readers as faulty.

I don't have pre-pay so I don't need to tap in and out according to
the posters on all the stations.


I am slowly being convinced that some of the gate sensors are not
working properly.

Well given on gate will tell me to seek assistance and another will let
me through then it is nothing to do with unresolved journeys.

I have noticed a lot of sensors being taped over with out-of-order on
them.


The stand alone validators seem to work much better
but of course they are not used as much so still have time to break
down. The publicity is shockingly bad as it is all focussed on Pre-pay
users. I have been trying to get hold of the persons who are running
the campaign but have been getting the run around. After two e.mails
and several phone calls without luck I think it is easier for staff
just to remove anything which is counter productive and wait for these
people to come out of the wood work and complain. At which point they
can be asked to justify themselves.

It is very difficult to investigate gate faults as customers do not
want to be inconvenienced by hanging around having their oyster
checked at the ticket office. I have tried on several occasions and
just got abuse for it

When I queried mine I at the ticket office, all I got was "You must tap
out", they just could not understand that one gate letting the through
when another would not must mean something is at fault. I was not allowed
to see what the printed out from the machine - is this correct?


Yes you do have to tap in and tap out as you will get unresolved
journeys otherwise and maybe worse might even have a spurious charge
to pay.

I think I would dispute any such charges given that I have never been out
of zone; in any case, surely they would have to prove otherwise?



Unfortunatley at the moment some staff have more knowleadge than others. It
is a lottery if you can find one who could investigate your problem further.
Post which station and gate number you are having problems with and in the
meantime use another gate.

I have been giving out the printouts to customers. This may not be strickly
correct as there is information about your journeys that maybe you would not
want others to know but as most of the information can be attained from the
Multi Fare Machine its a mute point.

You can dispute over charges but you may be asked to take your comlaint to
Oyster via there Helpline. I have made two people do this so far because I
felt that if I had sorted out the problem at the station then it would never
be resolved universally.