Using rail travel vouchers for Oyster PAYG

[bb21]

Loading credit onto an Oyster card.

London Overground staff are probably the least comprehensively trained in ticketing matters within the industry if stories on here are anything to go by. It may simply be a case of shopping around.

Yes, I have had these vouchers added to Oyster PAYG balances a number of times before, and no, I never experienced any problem at either London Underground ticket offices or those run by a number of National Rail TOCs, although I have never used a London Overground one for that purpose.

 

[ScottishIain]

I'm off to London for the weekend tomorrow and have some RTVs I'd like to add to my Oyster card to use while I'm there as well as have my railcard discount added too.

Where am I likely to find the least hassle to have carried out and where is best avoided?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[bb21]

London Underground ticket offices are probably your best bet.

 

[ScottishIain]

London Underground ticket offices are probably your best bet.

Thanks

 

[Urban Gateline]

I feel I should report back after a good experience at Vauxhall London Underground Station.

I had 3 RTV's worth around £50 total, and wanted to load them onto my Oyster card. The clerk said only one can be done at a time, but he then duly loaded the money on, took around 3mins. He was friendly and efficient, it is sad that some ticket offices will close, this will then inconvenience those who want to load RTV's onto an Oyster Card as well as all the other stuff you can't do on a POM!

 

[Be3G]

It seems that, perhaps understandably, London Underground ticket offices that're part of a station complex that includes NR services are more likely to know how to deal with the railway's compensation vouchers.

 

[maniacmartin]

I feel I should report back after a good experience at Vauxhall London Underground Station.

I also had a pleasant experience at Vauxhall LU with loading RTVs on Oyster. here

 

[bb21]

As previously reported, I have also had good experiences at London Underground ticket offices in this respect, not just from staff who know how it works.

One day last year, I encountered an LU clerk who did not know how to process RTVs, nor the fact that they could be used towards PAYG credits, but instead of refusing my requests, he asked me to wait for a few minutes, then got on the phone and spoke to someone, before returning five minutes later, agreed with me and processed the transaction with no problem whatsoever. That was at Elephant & Castle.

 

[NathanPrior]

Is there a minimum amount that can be loaded? Most LU say it's £5 in cash but I'm not sure if it's the same for RTV's.

 

[bb21]

Is there a minimum amount that can be loaded? Most LU say it's £5 in cash but I'm not sure if it's the same for RTV's.

Not that I am aware of, no.

 

[bicbasher]

The least I've added with a RTV is £1 at a LU station and had no problems at all.

I nearly had a problem adding a LU voucher for £2 at Leicester Square which has a £5 limit, the clerk said "I shouldn't really be doing this" but still did the transaction.

 

[Be3G]

One day last year, I encountered an LU clerk who did not know how to process RTVs, nor the fact that they could be used towards PAYG credits, but instead of refusing my requests, he asked me to wait for a few minutes, then got on the phone and spoke to someone, before returning five minutes later, agreed with me and processed the transaction with no problem whatsoever. That was at Elephant & Castle.

The problem I found is that even when the clerk is helpful and phones a friend, the friend doesn't know either!

Though it's interesting that you had that issue at Elephant & Castle, as that invalidates my theory that staff at stations also served by NR would know what to do with the vouchers.

 

[maniacmartin]

Read the post again Be3G!

 

[Be3G]

Hmm? By bb21's account, the staff member at the Elephant was unaware that NR vouchers could be used for Oyster PAYG until he made a phone call – i.e. he didn't know how to handle the voucher until he was re-informed by someone else who, fortunately in this case, did know what to do! As I've found, that's not always guaranteed.

 

[bicbasher]

As a side point, I've found Elephant & Castle the only Zone 1 tube station where I've had hassle with anything remotely Oyster related that isn't a simple transaction.

 

[hi2u_uk]

i just came across this thread via google because despite telling south eastern trains that i use oyster card they have decided to issue my refund with national rail vouchers.
Q1 why cant they give a TFL oyster card voucher ?
im also annoyed as the refund, £1.30 is nowhere near the cost of the journey which occured at peak time
i am going to keep my fingers crossed that i can find a tube station that will load this voucher on my card, if all else fails i will try a trip to vauxhall

Q2 what happens if boris closes the tube station ticket offices ? how will these vouchers be loaded on TO OYSTER cards as most national rail ticket offices do no deal with oyster card :-?

 

[maniacmartin]

Q1 why cant they give a TFL oyster card voucher ?

Because they are a National Rail TOC

im also annoyed as the refund, £1.30 is nowhere near the cost of the journey which occured at peak time

Please make a new thread with full details of what happened rather than piggy-backing on this thread if you want help with this.

i am going to keep my fingers crossed that i can find a tube station that will load this voucher on my card, if all else fails i will try a trip to vauxhall

The answer to this was linked to in the first page of this thread - tube stations can process these vouchers for Oyster PAYG credit. See this post

Q2 what happens if boris closes the tube station ticket offices ? how will these vouchers be loaded on TO OYSTER cards as most national rail ticket offices do no deal with oyster card :-?

Roaming staff in the ticket concourse will be able to login to the self-service machines to process vouchers like this.

 

[island]

You can load rail travel vouchers to your Oyster card at a London Underground booking office (for now until Boris shuts them up; not sure what will happen after that) assuming the clerk knows what he's doing. You can also load them at the decreasing number of National Rail stations that retail all Oyster products, such as Victoria and Marylebone.

 

[Brucey]

It will be interesting to see how TOCs refund people who have used contactless cards. TfL have access to the payment details so can make a direct refund, but the TOC won't. Sending NR vouchers won't help as they can't be loaded onto a credit card!

 

[hi2u_uk]

i am going to try tonight and will report back. Its not helpful that the voucher or the fake apology letter doesn't discuss how you put the voucher on an oyster card. I have an annual oyster card not PAYG so hope this doesnt cause a problem

 

[Brucey]

i am going to try tonight and will report back. Its not helpful that the voucher or the fake apology letter doesn't discuss how you put the voucher on an oyster card. I have an annual oyster card not PAYG so hope this doesnt cause a problem

In which case, hold onto the voucher and use it towards the purchase of your next annual ticket.

 

[transportphoto]

i am going to try tonight and will report back. Its not helpful that the voucher or the fake apology letter doesn't discuss how you put the voucher on an oyster card. I have an annual oyster card not PAYG so hope this doesnt cause a problem

The credit will be put on as PAYG... TP

 

[hi2u_uk]

the lady at charing cross tube did this with no problems .

 

[Mojo]

Roaming staff in the ticket concourse will be able to login to the self-service machines to process vouchers like this.

That is not my understanding. London Underground are withdrawing their customer charter vouchers and replacing them with an electronic funds transfer or credit to your Oyster online account. National Rail vouchers will cease to become accepted.

 

[bicbasher]

It will be interesting to see how TOCs refund people who have used contactless cards. TfL have access to the payment details so can make a direct refund, but the TOC won't. Sending NR vouchers won't help as they can't be loaded onto a credit card!

I'm assuming here that contactless card holders will also have the opportunity to register an account with TfL, just like Oyster, which will give them a downloadable journey history which can be saved, printed or emailed over to the TOC for a refund.

That is not my understanding. London Underground are withdrawing their customer charter vouchers and replacing them with an electronic funds transfer or credit to your Oyster online account. National Rail vouchers will cease to become accepted.

A tad unfair if London Overground continue to use NR vouchers for refunds and the local station is managed by LU.

 

[mattdickinson]

I'm assuming here that contactless card holders will also have the opportunity to register an account with TfL, just like Oyster, which will give them a downloadable journey history which can be saved, printed or emailed over to the TOC for a refund.

Already available at https://contactless.tfl.gov.uk/

 

[hi2u_uk]

i dont understand how london undergroung can refuse national rail vouchers if they close the ticket offices . there must be a lot of people who get this

 

[dvboy]

Just tried to do this at Tottenham Hale with two vouchers of different designs where the person at the counter would do one but not the other because "this one's not in the book."

 

[bb21]

I can understand his dilemma. Not all designs were shown in The Manual as it was, and I'm pretty confident that they would not in the iKB either, or any other ticketing manual for that purpose.

Reaelly how difficult is it to get a uniform design of the same product across the industry.

 

[Tommo781]

I had £30 of National Rail Vouchers, which I was angry about, as I always book tickets online and they can only be used at stations. I rang Greater Anglia in Norwich and asked if they could be put on my Oyster Card, which I have for when I am in London. They told me I could put them on at Liverpool Street or Stratford. So I went to the ticket office at Liverpool Street when I went to London a couple of weeks ago. I didn't hold out much hope, but the guy there knew exactly what to do, and loaded them on my Oyster Card with no problem at all. Perhaps they have learned now.