Confusing oyster refund

[rp91]

Hello there,

I recently took a trip to London and made a few journeys on an oyster loaded with my railcard. A few days after I got back I have an email saying I have a refund of £1.75 waiting for me at Hammersmith (useful living in Yorkshire - it'll never expire will it?). I can't, for the life of me, work out why they are giving me £1.75!

They say:

Reason: Payment correction because of an operational issue

I was wondering if maybe one of you nice people could indulge me? I have attached a screenshot of my journey history.

Thanks, Rowan.


P.S. It wouldn't let me upload this picture directly, I had to upload to my server then 'Upload from a URL', not sure why.

 

[district]

Our resident oyster expert MikeWh will be along shortly no doubt with a fantastic explanation, but perhaps is there anyone who can collect the refund for you and send it to you? Or perhaps you could write to oyster and ask them to credit it to your account?

I am PM'ing you a direct number for Oyster refunds department.

 

[bb21]

The journey history from the screen shot does not seem to suggest anything incorrectly deducted. Maybe the refund is for something further back?

 

[rp91]

Thanks for the replies

Our resident oyster expert MikeWh will be along shortly no doubt with a fantastic explanation, but perhaps is there anyone who can collect the refund for you and send it to you? Or perhaps you could write to oyster and ask them to credit it to your account?

I am PM'ing you a direct number for Oyster refunds department.

Well, I do have a friend in Hammersmith (that's why I was there) but I think posting it would cost more than half the refund! They emailed to tell me it [the refund] had failed and that I can request it again so I'll just wait till next I'm down there before doing that. I may ring up to check that it'll still be waiting there in a year (or whenever I go) so thanks for the number!

The journey history from the screen shot does not seem to suggest anything incorrectly deducted. Maybe the refund is for something further back?

Sorry, I should have said that the oyster was brand new before that. Those journeys shown are the only ones on the account.

 

[ian13]

Thanks for the replies



Well, I do have a friend in Hammersmith (that's why I was there) but I think posting it would cost more than half the refund! They emailed to tell me it [the refund] had failed and that I can request it again so I'll just wait till next I'm down there before doing that. I may ring up to check that it'll still be waiting there in a year (or whenever I go) so thanks for the number!



Sorry, I should have said that the oyster was brand new before that. Those journeys shown are the only ones on the account.

I left a refund on an Oyster (in failed status) when I was in the States. Requesting it be retried the day before I next visited worked fine for me (ca. 4 months).

 

[MikeWh]

Our resident oyster expert MikeWh will be along shortly no doubt with a fantastic explanation,

Not sure about fantastic, but I'll try. Looking at the engineering works email for that weekend it looks like there was major work affecting most of the northern Circle line. My best bet is that some people were due refunds because of this and TfL over estimated identifying them.

If you call the helpdesk after the last day that the refund is available at Hammersmith they should be able to return it to a bank account. You should get an email anyway to say you haven't picked it up and offering you the chance to try again at a different station. It's a while since I had one of those so I can't remember exactly what the options were - you might not even have to call if you're lucky.

 

[John @ home]

I should have said that the oyster was brand new before that. Those journeys shown are the only ones on the account.

How did you get a starting balance of £6.80 on the account?

 

[MikeWh]

How did you get a starting balance of £6.80 on the account?

He didn't! The starting balance was £5, the first deduction was a £6.80 entry charge followed by a £4.80 adjustment to make the zone 1 single fare of £2, leaving £3 on the card.

 

[John @ home]

Thanks, Mike. That now makes sense.

 

[rp91]

Looking at the engineering works email for that weekend it looks like there was major work affecting most of the northern Circle line. My best bet is that some people were due refunds because of this and TfL over estimated identifying them.

Thanks. That sounds like it might be something. I don't really understand why though. Even if it'd been open I wouldn't have used it!


@ian13, I'll just retry it before I next go then. I'm not really that bothered about the £1.75. I was more curious as to why I was being given it in the first place!