DaveP wrote:
I am thinking of buying a new Zone 1 - 4 annual, and then trading in
my Zone 2 - 4 annual. Is this possible, and how much will I get back

You might find they base any refund on the cost of monthly and weekly
tickets - so as though you had been buying monthly tickets. This probably
means you'll pay the one month at last years rate and the rest at this
years and the refund would be less than you expect. This also means had
your ticket been more than 8 months old there would be little refund value.

I came across this when I went into hospital some 8 months into an annual.
The refund for 6 weeks away from work wasn't enough to cover the couple of
months remaining on the ticket when I returned to work. Not very fair.

I'm sure this has been mentioned before, but when you purchase an Annual
you "only" pay for 40 weeks, so you effectively get 3 months "free" travel.

Or, to look at it another way, you're getting a discount of about 23%
for purchasing a whole year's worth of travel in advance, so if you cash
the ticket in early, you have to repay some of that discount.

It may not seem "fair", but those are the rules that have been in force
since before privatisation.

Cheers,

Barry

I came across this when I went into hospital 8 months into an annual.
The refund wasn't enough to cover the couple of months remaining

you "only" pay for 40 weeks, so you effectively get 3 months "free"

Understood - but it was refund or nothing - I asked for 6 weeks on the end
of the ticket. It's only a bit of paper and I wouldn't have gained out of
it. I never did renew after that and am now driving instead.

Or, to look at it another way, you're getting a discount of about 23%

TfL don't see the annual as discounted - it's an allowance for leave and
sickness. They also said when you buy an annual it's an undertaking to
travel for at least twelve months.

Cheers,
Dave

"DaveP" wrote in message
54...
I came across this when I went into hospital 8 months into an annual.
The refund wasn't enough to cover the couple of months remaining

you "only" pay for 40 weeks, so you effectively get 3 months "free"

Understood - but it was refund or nothing - I asked for 6 weeks on the end
of the ticket. It's only a bit of paper and I wouldn't have gained out of
it. I never did renew after that and am now driving instead.

Or, to look at it another way, you're getting a discount of about 23%

TfL don't see the annual as discounted - it's an allowance for leave and
sickness. They also said when you buy an annual it's an undertaking to
travel for at least twelve months.

Maybe they like to see it that way, but the same law that is currently
catching the Banks out, and the rules on mitigation require them to offer
refunds on reasonable terms.

tim





Cheers,
Dave

"tims next home" wrote in message
...

"DaveP" wrote in message
54...
I came across this when I went into hospital 8 months into an
annual.
The refund wasn't enough to cover the couple of months remaining

you "only" pay for 40 weeks, so you effectively get 3 months "free"

Understood - but it was refund or nothing - I asked for 6 weeks on
the end
of the ticket. It's only a bit of paper and I wouldn't have gained
out of
it. I never did renew after that and am now driving instead.

Or, to look at it another way, you're getting a discount of about
23%

TfL don't see the annual as discounted - it's an allowance for leave
and
sickness. They also said when you buy an annual it's an undertaking
to
travel for at least twelve months.

Maybe they like to see it that way, but the same law that is currently
catching the Banks out, and the rules on mitigation require them to
offer refunds on reasonable terms.

They do offer refunds on perfectly reasonable terms. They refund the
difference between the cost of the annual and the cost of monthly
travelcards for the period used.

Peter Smyth

In article ,
(Peter Smyth) wrote:

They do offer refunds on perfectly reasonable terms. They refund
the difference between the cost of the annual and the cost of
monthly travelcards for the period used.

That's all very well, but in this case the punter is actually trading up
to a season for more zones, so treating it as a refund is rather mean on
someone who's planning to spend more money with them.

Charging the extra pro-rata the difference between the two seasons would
seem a lot more reasonable to me.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On Apr 26, 11:56*pm, (Colin Rosenstiel) wrote:
In article ,

(Peter Smyth) wrote:
They do offer refunds on perfectly reasonable terms. They refund
the difference between the cost of the annual and the cost of
monthly travelcards for the period used.

That's all very well, but in this case the punter is actually trading up
to a season for more zones, so treating it as a refund is rather mean on
someone who's planning to spend more money with them.

Charging the extra pro-rata the difference between the two seasons would
seem a lot more reasonable to me.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

And that is what they do. The only point where this doesn't apply is
when there is less than a month remaing on the ticket. I think that
this apply partially because it takes 7 working days for the forms to
be processed and partially because there is a fee to pay as well which
means that any benefit would be lost.

"Colin Rosenstiel" wrote in message
l.co.uk...
In article ,
(Peter Smyth) wrote:

They do offer refunds on perfectly reasonable terms. They refund
the difference between the cost of the annual and the cost of
monthly travelcards for the period used.

That's all very well, but in this case the punter is actually trading
up
to a season for more zones, so treating it as a refund is rather mean
on
someone who's planning to spend more money with them.

Charging the extra pro-rata the difference between the two seasons
would
seem a lot more reasonable to me.

I was referring to refunds. If you exchange your travelcard to a
different validity then they will pro-rata the difference.

This means that it can be cheaper to exchange a 1-6 season to a zone 6
only season than to get a complete refund.

Peter Smyth