Only got a £3 refund for returning Oyster card

[rajguna]

Hi,
I had a normal oyster card which hadn't worked for over a year and a friend mentioned today that i could get a refund if I returned it. So when I went to return it, the lady at the counter said that there was £1.95 on it and gave me £4.95 in total.

Later when I got back to my friend he was surprised that I had only received £3 as he thought it was £5 (and after checking it does seem to be £5).

Could someone explain this please?
Thanks

 

[maniacmartin]

You get back the same deposit as you paid when you bought the card.
The deposit was raised from £3 to £5 in early 2011, so if returning a card issued before then, you will get the old deposit back.

 

[Mojo]

Whilst in January 2011 the Oyster card deposit was increased from £3 to £5, in order to use up stock in a few places (most notably the now-removed Oyster vending machines) the old deposit of £3 was still charged.

When, and where, was the card bought?

 

[causton]

Indeed, when the limit had raised to £5 I still managed to get one from a vending machine for £3. I presume this because it was cheaper to charge £3 still, than to reprogram the Oyster card, as the deposit value is stored on it for obvious reasons (i.e. some were/are given away free!) If you get a full Oyster statement printout from a TfL ticket office (while you can!) it says how much deposit you paid, so presumably the reason you got £3 was because the card said you paid £3 for it

 

[rajguna]

Thanks everyone.

Even when the card stopped working over a year ago it had been in use for a while so I'm pretty sure that it was bought before the deposit went up to £5.

 

[transmanche]

As an aside, there are a fair few cards out there which have no deposit on them at all. (Certainly back in 2004 when I got my card, no deposit was required if you had a monthly or longer Travelcard loaded.) Despite having had my card replaced, I've never been asked to load a deposit.

 

[bicbasher]

As an aside, there are a fair few cards out there which have no deposit on them at all. (Certainly back in 2004 when I got my card, no deposit was required if you had a monthly or longer Travelcard loaded.) Despite having had my card replaced, I've never been asked to load a deposit.

It eventually stretched to 7 day travelcards and Bus & Tram Passes before being axed I think in 2008/09 as I had to replace my Oyster with a £3 deposit after my old one was stolen in August 2009.