Railcard-discounted Oyster maximum fare - no automatic refund - do I have to wait for ages for a manual processing?

[miklcct]

I have 2 problematic journeys which I have been charged maximum fare.

1. I attempted to travel from Brondesbury on 31/7 and tapped in. However, after I tapped in, I realised my mistake that I should use a National Rail ticket for the journey instead, so I tapped out immediately and reentered using the National Rail ticket I bought beforehand. I was charged £3.95 and hadn't received any automatic refund after 48 hours when I made my next journey. I filled out the contact form on TfL website on 3/8 and still waiting for their response, in the meantime no refund has come back.

2. I travelled from Brondesbury to Heathrow Terminal 5 (Underground) today in order to catch a flight. However, when I reached Acton Town, there was a fire which stopped all westbound trains from running on both lines. I waited on the platform, seeing the service status on the app turned from minor delays, then severe delays, then finally part suspended with ticket acceptance on London Buses. I continued to wait until the fire was put off, that I waited for 45 minutes at Acton Town for the trains to start running again (as my flight was also delayed so I didn't attempt to rush to Ealing Broadway at my own expense).

When I tapped out, it charged me another maximum fare as I exceeded the time for a Zone 2-6 journey. It seems that the system was designed to penalise us when there was disruption, charging me two maximum fare for what should be a £1.25 train trip from the city to the airport, while I totally expected the system could waive the maximum journey time when there was such disruption stopping trains for a long time.

My Oyster is discounted so that the backend batch processing is not used. Will I still get an automatic refund when I come back from my trip, or do I need to wait again for ages to write to TfL to get my money back?

 

[MikeWh]

First thing to note is that not all issues get resolved automatically. Second thing is that I believe railcard discounted Oyster cards are not eligible to be corrected by the holder online for some reason.

1. I would not use the normal contact us form for this. You are far better ringing the hepdesk. You have until 8 weeks after the journey to ring, so I wouldn't bother from abroad.
2. As this was a major incident it is possible that you'll get an automatic refund. If not, then when you get back and this journey to the earlier one when you call the helpdesk.

 

[Surreytraveller]

A few years ago I was overcharged at Stratford, as I reentered the station within a set time after visiting the shop I wanted to visiting. I was charged two incomplete journeys, even though I tapped correctly and my journey history showed I tapped correctly.
This was with a discounted Oystercard, but they refunded me the full adult fare after doing the online contact form, so I gained out of the experience.

 

[BJames]

First thing to note is that not all issues get resolved automatically. Second thing is that I believe railcard discounted Oyster cards are not eligible to be corrected by the holder online for some reason.

1. I would not use the normal contact us form for this. You are far better ringing the hepdesk. You have until 8 weeks after the journey to ring, so I wouldn't bother from abroad.
2. As this was a major incident it is possible that you'll get an automatic refund. If not, then when you get back and this journey to the earlier one when you call the helpdesk.

I had always wondered this but never knew for sure. Sometimes wondered whether I was doing something wrong or my account just wasn't working properly. I wonder why this is.

100% agree that you should call the helpdesk rather than fill out online though, it is far quicker to get the refund organised and in case of any queries does not lead to having back and forth emails over an extended timescale. Bit frustrating if you are used to just correcting them online but the end result is still the same.

 

[dcd]

I agree with the others regarding ringing the help line , I always find them helpful and quickly get things sorted. My problems usually arise because I do not live in London, so do not keep a large balance on my Oyster card usually enough for a couple of days capped usage with a Senior Railcard added. However when I travel I tend to do quite a few journeys and stay at stations to observe. If you do not leave a station for a long enough period it joins journeys together and you can end up breaking the limit on journey time. I wish there was an option not to have the journeys linked in this way.

 

[miklcct]

I had always wondered this but never knew for sure. Sometimes wondered whether I was doing something wrong or my account just wasn't working properly. I wonder why this is.

100% agree that you should call the helpdesk rather than fill out online though, it is far quicker to get the refund organised and in case of any queries does not lead to having back and forth emails over an extended timescale. Bit frustrating if you are used to just correcting them online but the end result is still the same.

Yesterday I received an automatic refund but it was only £0.85.

I called the helpline and it was more than half an hour wait and resolved the matter. Thanks.

 

[BJames]

Yesterday I received an automatic refund but it was only £0.85.

I called the helpline and it was more than half an hour wait and resolved the matter. Thanks.

Interesting, it's been far less than that when I called but good that the matter has been resolved.

 

[miklcct]

Interesting, it's been far less than that when I called but good that the matter has been resolved.

At the end of the conversation the agent asked if I was going to make a journey between 30 minutes and 3 days, so I said yes as I planned to make a journey today.

However, because of the weather (thunderstorm) I am not going to make the journey today, and tomorrow there is a National Rail strike which shuts off the line I normally take in the evening. If I take the journey on Friday evening will it be too late? The conversation was on Tuesday morning.

 

[MikeWh]

At the end of the conversation the agent asked if I was going to make a journey between 30 minutes and 3 days, so I said yes as I planned to make a journey today.

However, because of the weather (thunderstorm) I am not going to make the journey today, and tomorrow there is a National Rail strike which shuts off the line I normally take in the evening. If I take the journey on Friday evening will it be too late? The conversation was on Tuesday morning.

Friday evening should be fine. My understanding is that it's 3 full days plus whatever is left of the day it's queued.