Replacing an Oyster card

I’ve finally completed the process which I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy: replacing my Oyster card.

It was starting to not work first-time I touched it on the reader, and then one evening a few weeks ago it didn’t work at all. The nice person at White City station, at 10pm on Friday night when the ticket office was closed, looked at my card (normally hidden away in my wallet) and discovered a crack across the chip. I got that journey for free, because both ticket offices on my journey were unstaffed at that time of night.

So, the day after (a Saturday), I took my broken card to the ticket office, expecting them to give me a new one and transfer the £30 or so credit onto it. Nope, I had to fill out a 4-page form first and take it back to him. Once I did, he had to phone a contact centre to confirm all my details, the exact amount of credit on the card, my date of birth, and part of my online security information. I then had to tell him this personal information, not the easiest thing to do quietly when you’re holding up a queue waiting to buy tickets and surrounded by people coming and going in an open hall, the busy Wood Lane traffic on one side and Central Line trains on the other.

Once all this had been confirmed, I was able to take my new card, with transferred credit, and go on my way. Not the easiest thing to complete, but it was now done and everyone was happy.

Then, this morning, it didn’t work again. No crack in the card this time, but a lack of credit (26p to be precise). Hang on – that’s never happened to me before, because I have auto-topup activated: when my balance drops below £5, £40 gets added on automatically. Manually topping up £50 from a machine, I got on my way to work.

Online, I looked at my account. Auto-topup was still activated… for my old card, which was still displaying in my online account. My card, presumably mashed up somewhere in a landfill by now, was still showing as my default card in my online account, complete with a “credit” frozen from when it was replaced.

No problem – I’ll delete that card and add my new one. I would’ve expected Transport for London to do that automatically, but whatever.

Now… how do I delete the card from my account? I can’t? Oh, OK… I’ll just add my new card as well, then. 12-digit card number… check. Security question “Memorable date (dd/mm/yy)” – that’s probably my birthday. Submit. Error. “Security answer incorrect.” I go through a number of different significant dates, none of which work. Turns out, I should ignore the instructions and omit the slashes from the date entry – ddmmyy works perfectly.

So… about that auto-topup. Oh, it doesn’t transfer over automatically. I have to manually add it again for my new card. Which means I have to add at least another £5 onto it, even though I’ve just added £50 this morning. I also have to specify a station to “collect” it and activate the auto-topup (apparently I can’t just add the credit and activate it online). It will only be available for 8 days, and only from tomorrow. Problem: this is my last day of work, I don’t know when I’m back in London and – when I am – which station I’ll use. If it’s a weekday and I’m at Television Centre, it’ll be Farringdon; a weekend and it’ll be St Pancras. If I’m at Bush House, it’ll be Blackfriars. If I’m at Broadcasting House, it’ll be West Hampstead. Which station do I select?

In the end, I gave up. If I remember before my credit drops below £5 again, I’ll have to login again and setup auto-topup. I just hope I know which station I’ll be able to collect it from by then…

Suggested improvements:

  • I know that, to stop people finding a lost Oyster card on the street and claiming it as their own, some security procedures need to be followed at the ticket office. However, this shouldn’t include shouting out personal information in a ticket hall with people queuing behind you (or filling out a 4-page form!)
  • Remove all references to replaced/lost/stolen cards in the customer’s online account, add the new one, and transfer all facilities (including auto-topup) automatically.
  • When setting up auto-topup for the first time, just allow people to activate it online without having to “collect” it from a Tube station. What’s the point? I mean, really, why can’t it just be activated online? Also, why must a top-up currently happen at the same time?

Posted: Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 12:46 pm | Category: Old Blog Posts

One Response

Paulette Williams - January 24th, 2012 at 12:49 pm:

“

To whom this may concern

I have a discount photocard and I put three pounds on my card on the 22/1/12, because I already had £1.00 on my card the total amount on my card was £4.00. I didn’t use my card until the 23/1/12, this enables me to use my card for Monday and Tuesday.

I went on the bus today with £2.00 left on my card and trevelled on three buses when I got to Woolwich on the 96 bus I touch my pass and it would not register the red light flashed. The bus driver called the police when the police came I explained to them that I had a discount photocard and £2.00 on my card which I can use for the day. the polices officers took me to the nearest train station to check my card and was told that it was in use for the day. I was on my way to work and had no money on me.

the police officers was very supportive and gave me £2.00 to put on my card I was so grateful. this meant a day lost in pay , it was to late for me to go too work. I only do three hours a day and I’m payed £8.50 per hour. There is a Techical fault on my oyster card and it needs to be dealt with as soon as possible. I would also like to be re-inburst for my lost in a days pay. (The officers number PCSO B102 ST CEECA) Warrant/pay no.708390 B(OCU) 12G Team/Unit SJT. I would be grateful if you could contact me as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely

Paulette Williams

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