savemepunk
New Member
- Joined
- 14 May 2015
- Messages
- 4
So I travel in and out of London every day from Shenfield in Essex, and been using my contactless card recently as it's really convenient. Never had a problem for months using this method of payment..
Until yesterday! Done my usual touch in at the gates, and then had a ticket inspector on the train during the morning. He checked my contactless card with the card reader and it failed to recognise the card.
I asked him to try again with his colleagues card reader and it did the same thing. He said he will have to issue me with a penalty notice and that I can appeal the decision.
Hang on, but I've touched in this morning. Do it every morning without any problems. He said that there has to be a problem with my card. No there isn't a problem with my card, because it let me through the gates this morning!
He said that I cant prove my payment, so I showed him the Contactless TFL website which shows my live record of my entry from about 20 mins previously. He said he can only go by the card reader, not the website as it's a "TFL thing". Well hang on, it can't be a TFL thing because Greater Anglia adopt this method of payment which they champion on their website.
Anyhow, had to take the pen notice and a fair bit of embarassment on a crowded train. Used the card as normal for the rest of the day and travelled back with no problems.
Appealed the decision and made a complaint about the treatment. They confirmed that this should not have happened.
Well it happened again this morning, and with the same inspector on a train that was an hour later this time - fancy that for bad luck! This time I refused to give my details and said that they can escort me off at Liverpool Street so I can prove that the card works. They agreed and the customer service reps were just as useless as this jokers, saying that my card is the problem. I told them that I can legistlate for a card reader that cannot read my card, when every shop, restaurant, pub, ticket gate will accept a contactless payment from the same card.
Ridiculous - so my point of all this is, contactless DOESN'T work on Greater Anglia unless you can avoid the ticket inspector with their 'unfit for purpose' card reader. Hoping that people here can dispel the theory that I have and tell me that they have had the ticket inspectors check their cards, and not have a problem.
Just find it incredible that only one device in all of this time fails to read the card, and now I have to revert to using my Oyster card to save myself the embarassment of Greater Anglia not being able to implement a system that works across all platforms.
Until yesterday! Done my usual touch in at the gates, and then had a ticket inspector on the train during the morning. He checked my contactless card with the card reader and it failed to recognise the card.
I asked him to try again with his colleagues card reader and it did the same thing. He said he will have to issue me with a penalty notice and that I can appeal the decision.
Hang on, but I've touched in this morning. Do it every morning without any problems. He said that there has to be a problem with my card. No there isn't a problem with my card, because it let me through the gates this morning!
He said that I cant prove my payment, so I showed him the Contactless TFL website which shows my live record of my entry from about 20 mins previously. He said he can only go by the card reader, not the website as it's a "TFL thing". Well hang on, it can't be a TFL thing because Greater Anglia adopt this method of payment which they champion on their website.
Anyhow, had to take the pen notice and a fair bit of embarassment on a crowded train. Used the card as normal for the rest of the day and travelled back with no problems.
Appealed the decision and made a complaint about the treatment. They confirmed that this should not have happened.
Well it happened again this morning, and with the same inspector on a train that was an hour later this time - fancy that for bad luck! This time I refused to give my details and said that they can escort me off at Liverpool Street so I can prove that the card works. They agreed and the customer service reps were just as useless as this jokers, saying that my card is the problem. I told them that I can legistlate for a card reader that cannot read my card, when every shop, restaurant, pub, ticket gate will accept a contactless payment from the same card.
Ridiculous - so my point of all this is, contactless DOESN'T work on Greater Anglia unless you can avoid the ticket inspector with their 'unfit for purpose' card reader. Hoping that people here can dispel the theory that I have and tell me that they have had the ticket inspectors check their cards, and not have a problem.
Just find it incredible that only one device in all of this time fails to read the card, and now I have to revert to using my Oyster card to save myself the embarassment of Greater Anglia not being able to implement a system that works across all platforms.