Oyster touch out broken -what to do ?

[Deleted]

Hello everyone.

Here down the depths of the Beckton DLR line, the Oyster card reader on the eastwards platform side of our station has been broken for three days now. Certainly since Thursday, still is on Saturday. Everyone who touches it gets "Seek Assistance". Tonight (March 5) it was quite a crowd milling round, all not knowing what to do.

This is of course wonderful at a station with no staff and, it seems, no way to seek any assistance, or even to advise the problem. And we do of course get, I presume, the good old incomplete journey fine of £4 every time. Which at the unattended stations you cannot get resolved at all.

If you ever call the "DLR service" telephone number shown all you get is a silly recording service ad no way to speak to anyone. But I did leave a message there once upon a time. Got a useless reply 7 days later.

Nobody here knows if you go over to the Oyster machine on the westwards side of the station whether that will touch out your eastwards journey, or start a westwards journey, and you then have two £4 fines instead of one.

There were big new ticket machines installed a year or so ago on the DLR, doubtless expensive, where you can top up your Oyster, but unlike on the Underground you can't see the history to see any fines on there. If you just go on the DLR, as many of us do, it's entirely on trust that the balance is right.

How can a system which fines everyone a considerable amount when they don't touch out, has no staff, and puts up patronising and sneering posters which imply that these £4 fines are only there to punish attempted fare frauds, then let the only unit available for touching out at a station lay broken for three days?

[rincew1nd]

Ring the Hell Desk, number on the back of your card. I did, and got WebCredit for next time I'm in the capital. Few days later I get an e-mail telling me there's a refund waiting due to an "operational issue"; double win to me!

[Deleted]

Thank you Mr Rincewind, maybe so, but I have done that some time ago about something else and was told that because my Oyster card was not "registered" (none of ours are) there was nothing they could do on the telephone.

Quite why not I could never work out. But that's a separate issue.

Is theirs the telephone number, though, to say that the machine at the station is broken?

[Chris M]

The last time I encountered a broken ticket machine on the DLR it was at Gallions Reach (where the machines are at street level) at the start of my journey. I can't remember now what the fault was, but the adjacent machine was working, so I just noted the number of the broken machine and advised the train captain (or whatever title) when I boarded the train, asking him to inform control. It was fixed next time I boarded there a few days later, so I presume a report was made.

[pib]

Oyster validators on the DLR all work the same way, so swiping out on the opposite platform would work fine. For the record, DLR are not responsible for the maintenance of the Validators, faults are reported to Tfls contractor. The TVMs are on-line to Poplar and should flag up faults automatically, but in practice don't always do so.
I never told you this but...If you call DLR CS, when the answering machine cuts in hit * and you should be transferred to a real live person.

[Deleted]

Hello again

12 days on. Would you believe that the Oyster card reader in question is still broken, still wouldn't take mine this evening. I've noticed it does seem to peep for a few people, but at least half it says Seek Assistance. Of course, if you aren't looking closely, or don't have your spectacles on, you would never know. I make sure to take the card right out so it's not confused by anything else nearby, but nada. The one over on the other side of the station (thank you Mr Pib) always works fine, shows my balance, everything.

We have guided people most days who are stopped puzzled to go over to the other one, and there's now a noticeable number who don't even stop at the first one, but just walk over to the other side of the station.

Just in passing, when it says "Seek Assistance" when leaving a completely staffless DLR station, I wonder what are you meant to do. I seem to remember that The Scarlet Pimpernel (in the English translation: "we Seek him here, we Seek him there", etc) was never anywhere to be found either!

[dazzmcguinness]

It's a crazy situation. And the introduction of contact-less technology being rolled out on buses could make things worse.

Do you think it's feasible to have lasers that read barcodes through wallets, purses, jeans and bags so that we'll never have to touch out again? Or some sort of chip that eventually documents all our movements? We shouldn't get overcharged at least...

'McGuinness

[causton]

Have you never heard of the Daily Mail? They would rip that idea to shreds!

[ianvisits]

Mar 28, 2011 21:04:15 GMT @dazzmcguinness said:

It's a crazy situation. And the introduction of contact-less technology being rolled out on buses could make things worse.

How would a broken NFC based payment system be any different to the existing payment system breaking down?

Ultimately, anything can break (even the old paper ticket machines used to break at times!) - so it is less that the technology broke, than a lack of back-up alternative being available.

[redsetter]

you can get the relevant information here.

www.tfl.gov.uk/contact/4417.aspx

you shouldn't start two journeys twice unless you have touched in/out/in,problems start when for whatever reason you cannot touch out on exiting or forget.

they will refund at least they did me when i caught the chitern at harrow back to aylesbury stayed on without touching out and had a £4.70 penalty fare and only found out on next traveling the then then zone 9-2 saved me around six pounds by splitting the journey and was a useful cost saver.the station staff at amersham were very good and reset the card to zero topped up and went on my way on the next traveling.last time i touched out on the chiltern platform at amersham,last wedensday i checked my oyster at chesham when i caught the T1 and it still had 30p so you can exit without leaving the main gates as long as you exit at a reader.

[Chris M]

The problem with stand-alone readers is that the same reader is used to enter and exit. It can sometimes therefore get confused about what you are trying to do.
I once tapped in at Pontoon Dock, only for the service to be suspended before the first train arrived. So I tapped out and got the bus instead. Except I didn't touch out - I touched in a second time, meaning that I had an incomplete journey.

[Deleted]

Two days ago, Sunday 27 March was when we last tried, and it's still broken when touching out, and you need to go over to the westbound side. Nearly 4 weeks now.

[suncloud]

(@redsetter)

I used to travel regularly between Watford(Met) and Great Missenden. The fare options were many and complex as sometimes I'd get a lift from Chalfont instead, or get dropped off at Amersham... So while in many cases a paper return was the most appropriate, sometimes I'd have to switch between a paper ticket and using my PAYG oyster. It wasn't unknown for me to have to jump off a train, touch my oyster at the manual gate at Amersham or Rickmansworth, and dash back on to the train I'd just got off.

I'll be doing a similar trick tomorrow as it is significantly cheaper to split my journey (from outside London on a NR single to PAYG) at the zone 6 station on the route, rather than where I'll be changing to the tube further in towards town.

[redsetter]

the T1 bus service which visits all stations served by chiltern nearby is a good option,the downside is that the last bus back departs chesham at 5pm,at £2.30 each way chesham/aylesbury this could not be done in a car and that's without the hassle of parking,certainly on the day i visited chesham on arrival at 9.45am the service from chesham was packed,the driver admitted she didn't know where they all came from.

i will be using it again.

the oyster reader,people do build in numbers worrying when they cannot touch out it happened to me at burnt oak,this system shouldn't be charging these access fares as there is no proof of any wrong doing and highlights the benefits of the standard tickets to avoid confusion.most likely to happen to those from outside london who are unfamiliar,i used the helpline it depends who you speak to the response you get at the time one was helpful the other operator not so,but complain up the ladder each time email or by post.

a glimpse at a standalone reader suggests the maximum fare is deducted anyway and returned when the user exits.