This happened to me last night and I was wondering if anyone
else had come across it. I was topping up my Oyster pre-pay
card at the touch-screen ticket machine at North Greenwich,
using up all the small change in my wallet. After about £7,
the machine closed the coin slot, and threw all my coins back
into the rejected coins/change tray. It sounded like I'd won
the jackpot at Las Vegas!

The message on the screen said "You have used too many coins"
(or something very similar to that).

So, I started again, but about half way through, pressed the
"Finished" button, updated my card, and then added the rest
of my coins in a second batch.

I am at a loss to explain why "too many coins" is a reason to
terminate the transaction. Surely they should be pleased that
I'm stocking up the machine's supply of small change? I wasn't
causing a delay since I had deliberately waited till my last
journey of the day before doing this. The coin box wasn't full,
because it let me add all my coins when I tried it in 2 separate
batches.

Not a major grumble, but a bit of a "head scratcher" - why was
this feature designed into the system in the first place?

Graham

"Graham Hick" wrote in message
om...
This happened to me last night and I was wondering if anyone
else had come across it. I was topping up my Oyster pre-pay
card at the touch-screen ticket machine at North Greenwich,
using up all the small change in my wallet. After about £7,
the machine closed the coin slot, and threw all my coins back
into the rejected coins/change tray. It sounded like I'd won
the jackpot at Las Vegas!

The message on the screen said "You have used too many coins"
(or something very similar to that).

So, I started again, but about half way through, pressed the
"Finished" button, updated my card, and then added the rest
of my coins in a second batch.

I am at a loss to explain why "too many coins" is a reason to
terminate the transaction. Surely they should be pleased that
I'm stocking up the machine's supply of small change? I wasn't
causing a delay since I had deliberately waited till my last
journey of the day before doing this. The coin box wasn't full,
because it let me add all my coins when I tried it in 2 separate
batches.

Not a major grumble, but a bit of a "head scratcher" - why was
this feature designed into the system in the first place?

Graham


The coins you insert don't go straight to the main coin box - they all have
to be stored temporarily somewhere so that your own coins can all be
rejected back to you if something goes wrong.

James

Graham Hick wrote:
This happened to me last night and I was wondering if anyone
else had come across it. I was topping up my Oyster pre-pay
card at the touch-screen ticket machine at North Greenwich,
using up all the small change in my wallet. After about £7,
the machine closed the coin slot, and threw all my coins back
into the rejected coins/change tray. It sounded like I'd won
the jackpot at Las Vegas!

The message on the screen said "You have used too many coins"
(or something very similar to that).

So, I started again, but about half way through, pressed the
"Finished" button, updated my card, and then added the rest
of my coins in a second batch.

I am at a loss to explain why "too many coins" is a reason to
terminate the transaction. Surely they should be pleased that
I'm stocking up the machine's supply of small change? I wasn't
causing a delay since I had deliberately waited till my last
journey of the day before doing this. The coin box wasn't full,
because it let me add all my coins when I tried it in 2 separate
batches.

But that's the coin box that holds all the coins from completed
transactions. There must also be a smaller box that temporarily holds
the coins from one transaction so that they can be returned if, for
example, the user cancels the transaction before completion. I guess
your attempt to feed £7+ of small change filled up this smaller box.
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

"Richard J." wrote in message ...
But that's the coin box that holds all the coins from completed
transactions. There must also be a smaller box that temporarily holds
the coins from one transaction so that they can be returned if, for
example, the user cancels the transaction before completion. I guess
your attempt to feed £7+ of small change filled up this smaller box.

I suddenly realised that's probably what it was, not long after I posted
the question (isn't that always the way?).

Out of interest, does it do the same thing with notes? Or if you cancel
after putting a note in, do you get the equivalent back in random small
change? If so, it must get the change from somewhere...

Graham Hick wrote:

This happened to me last night and I was wondering if anyone
else had come across it. I was topping up my Oyster pre-pay
card at the touch-screen ticket machine at North Greenwich,
using up all the small change in my wallet. After about £7,
the machine closed the coin slot, and threw all my coins back
into the rejected coins/change tray. It sounded like I'd won
the jackpot at Las Vegas!
....
Not a major grumble, but a bit of a "head scratcher" - why was
this feature designed into the system in the first place?

Graham

A pure guess, but maybe it has to keep the coins in a holding area in
case you press cancel, and you'd filled it up?

Colin McKenzie

In message , Graham
Hick writes

I am at a loss to explain why "too many coins" is a reason to
terminate the transaction.

The technical explanations offered are the most likely, but also
remember that if you inserted a lot of coinage you may have exceeded the
limit on legal tender (eg a vendor is not obliged to accept 70 10p coins
in receipt for a 7 pound item).

--
Paul Terry

The technical explanations offered are the most likely, but also
remember that if you inserted a lot of coinage you may have exceeded the
limit on legal tender (eg a vendor is not obliged to accept 70 10p coins
in receipt for a 7 pound item).

Drifting off topic here...

It is true that a vendor would not have to accept the coinage but it isn't
anything to do with legal tender. He doesn't have to accept 7 one pound
coins to pay for a 7 pound item if he doesn't want to even though it is
legal tender in the UK.

Legal tender is a means of payment that should not be refused by a creditor
to settle a debt. If you are buying a ticket, or paying for an item in a
shop there is normally no debt involved. On the other hand if, for example,
you are eating in a restaurant where you are billed at the end of your meal
then a debt is involved and legal tender should be accepted in settlement.

Graham J wrote:
Legal tender is a means of payment that should not be refused by a creditor
to settle a debt. If you are buying a ticket, or paying for an item in a
shop there is normally no debt involved. On the other hand if, for example,
you are eating in a restaurant where you are billed at the end of your meal
then a debt is involved and legal tender should be accepted in settlement.

This explains why so few vending machines these days accept coppers to
pay for an item that you don't yet have. The vendor (in this case, a
machine operating on behalf of the vendor) does not have to serve
anyone. Many machines do not even show how much of any item they have in
stock, if any, before money is inserted. If they do dispense anything
before accepting payment, the machine designer is probably one screw
short of a box; and they would have to honour the legal tender rules,
and accept small change.

On the bright side, for those of you wishing to rid yourself of small
change, those Cadbury machines on the underground do accept 1p and 2p
coins, even if the confectionary they dispense costs considerably more
than if you were to buy the same nutritious and energy packed item at a
convenience store just outside the station. The Cadbury machines do not
seem to use an escrow device, and have been known to return change
different than the coins you insert.

--
Simon Hewison

In message , Simon Hewison
writes:

Graham J wrote:
Legal tender is a means of payment that should not be refused by a creditor
to settle a debt. If you are buying a ticket, or paying for an item in a
shop there is normally no debt involved. On the other hand if, for example,
you are eating in a restaurant where you are billed at the end of your meal
then a debt is involved and legal tender should be accepted in settlement.

This explains why so few vending machines these days accept coppers to
pay for an item that you don't yet have. The vendor (in this case, a
machine operating on behalf of the vendor) does not have to serve
anyone. Many machines do not even show how much of any item they have
in stock, if any, before money is inserted. If they do dispense
anything before accepting payment, the machine designer is probably one
screw short of a box; and they would have to honour the legal tender
rules, and accept small change.

On the bright side, for those of you wishing to rid yourself of small
change, those Cadbury machines on the underground do accept 1p and 2p
coins, even if the confectionary they dispense costs considerably more
than if you were to buy the same nutritious and energy packed item at a
convenience store just outside the station. The Cadbury machines do not
seem to use an escrow device, and have been known to return change
different than the coins you insert.


Also worth noting, some Sainsbury supermarkets (and I'm sure other
places) have machines that will take any amount of small change, to be
either credited to an account, or paid back in larger denomination
coins/notes.

--
Jim Crowther "It's MY computer" (tm SMG)

Always learning.

"Jim Crowther" wrote in
message

Also worth noting, some Sainsbury supermarkets (and I'm sure other
places) have machines that will take any amount of small change, to
be either credited to an account, or paid back in larger denomination
coins/notes.

And charge you 7½% for the privilege of using them.


Bargain! NOT!!!!