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Oyster "Add an existing card"

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HugePilchard

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I'm off to London for a few days later in the month. My other half is coming with me, and as we're going to be using the tube a bit (but not enough to get travelcards), we're going to grab her an Oyster card.

I've already got one from when I used to visit London for business, and in the online account management site there's an option to "Add an existing card" - what's this for? Can we have two cards drawing from the same PAYG balance? Or have I got completely the wrong end of the stick?

I can't for the life of me figure this out, and have been furiously Googling to no avail. Anyone?
 
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RJ

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If you add an existing card, any credit/Travelcard is transferred from that card to the main card on your account and the 'existing' card is disabled. You also get to claim back the deposit for the 'existing' card via cheque or BGC.
 

MikeWh

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I'm off to London for a few days later in the month. My other half is coming with me, and as we're going to be using the tube a bit (but not enough to get travelcards), we're going to grab her an Oyster card.

I've already got one from when I used to visit London for business, and in the online account management site there's an option to "Add an existing card" - what's this for? Can we have two cards drawing from the same PAYG balance? Or have I got completely the wrong end of the stick?

I can't for the life of me figure this out, and have been furiously Googling to no avail. Anyone?

You can have more than one card on the same online account. They don't use the same PAYG balance but it does keep things tidy in the same place. I have all my family's cards on the same account. It's much quicker to check everyones balance before a trip out.
 

MikeWh

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Surely these replies both completely contradict each other? Which one is correct, or have I misunderstood?

Well I have 5 cards on my account, so I'm pretty confident that I'm correct. I think RJ is talking about transfering products to a new card. There is an option to transfer unused travelcards and/or credit and then cancel the old card.
 

sydlow

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Hi Mike - hope you can help.
I've just arrived in the UK and bought two Oyster cards. To register the card I went to the Oyster home page:
https://oyster.tfl.gov.uk/oyster/entry.do
and clicked on the create a free online account:
https://oyster.tfl.gov.uk/oyster/link/0004.do

I really wanted to have both cards on the same account but now I've got two accounts with a card in each - do you know what I should have done with the second card so it was added to the same account? I want to do this with the 3rd card.

Syd
 

MikeWh

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Hi Mike - hope you can help.
I've just arrived in the UK and bought two Oyster cards. To register the card I went to the Oyster home page:
https://oyster.tfl.gov.uk/oyster/entry.do
and clicked on the create a free online account:
https://oyster.tfl.gov.uk/oyster/link/0004.do

I really wanted to have both cards on the same account but now I've got two accounts with a card in each - do you know what I should have done with the second card so it was added to the same account? I want to do this with the 3rd card.

Syd

Once you are logged in to your account you need to click on the link to "Add existing card" on the left side of the screen. If you explain what you have done to the helpdesk they may be able to delete the second account and enable you to add the card to your first account. I've never needed to do this though, so I can't guarantee it's available.
 

sydlow

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You can't add a new card. If you click on "Add existing card" it asks for a card number and the secret word. It presumes you were given a secret word with the card, which you're not when you buy a card at a Ticket shop. The only way to have a secret word I can see is if you register a card against a new account.
 

MikeWh

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You can't add a new card. If you click on "Add existing card" it asks for a card number and the secret word. It presumes you were given a secret word with the card, which you're not when you buy a card at a Ticket shop. The only way to have a secret word I can see is if you register a card against a new account.

Right. Registering and adding to an account are different. You can fill in a form at a ticket shop or tube station that will enable the card to be registered. Part of that process is choosing a secret word. You can then add the card to your account. Having said that, it does say on the "add existing card" bit that if the card is not registered you won't be able to buy more than a weekly season. I'm not sure how to add an unregistered card though, because I always get mine registered for security purposes.
 

sydlow

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I'm not sure how to add an unregistered card though, because I always get mine registered for security purposes.
That's what I was hoping to find out from the forum.
When I rang TfL on another problem with the card (the site said it was already registered) - the operator implied that there was a way to activate the card without creating a new account. Anyone know how?
 
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