Chris M
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Post by Chris M on Nov 16, 2010 22:39:50 GMT
A friend has just given me a paper travelcard she bought at Cyprus DLR at 11:05 on 13 November that has been printed on a 'blank' that was used at 16:12 on 03 November this year to print a "test coupon" apparently with the serial number DLR0001.
As the test coupon is marked "NOT VALID FOR TRAVEL" she bought another travelcard to make sure she could complete her journeys. Indeed the overprinted card was not accepted on the bus nor in the gates at Woolwich Arsenal. The NR ticket office there couldn't issue a refund for the TfL product and suggested she try an Underground ticket office.
Charing Cross LU ticket office though also said they couldn't give a refund, although my friend can't remember what if any reason they gave.
As it stands, through no fault of her own, my friend is £6.30 out of pocket. How can she go about getting a refund? She has no money to phone customer services and after previous non-responses to website complaints (including about Charing Cross ticket office staff) she doesn't have any faith in them doing anything.
I don't imagine that anyone would be able to do anything without seeing the ticket as evidence anyway. So if a ticket office can't/won't do anything who can?
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Post by harlesden on Nov 17, 2010 0:21:48 GMT
Very strange. Especially if the ticket was purchased from a machine. Self service ticket machines are loaded with ticket rolls. As a purchase is made the ticket is cut from the roll and printed and the data on the magnetic strip corresponds with the purchase made. It is simply not possible for a ticket freshly purchased from a machine to have been used previously as, prior to purchase, the ticket has been part of a huge roll of tickets, fresh from the manufacturer, unwrapped and loaded into the machine.
If DLR ticket machines work in a different way, I am happy to be corrected.
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Chris M
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Post by Chris M on Nov 17, 2010 1:05:42 GMT
Yes, it was purchased from a ticket machine (Cyprus is unstaffed). It surprised me as well as the date on the test coupon is dated 10 days prior to the travelcard. Apparently her friend had bought a perfectly normal ticket immediately beforehand - so maybe the test coupon and the travelcard were printed at the same time? But why the different date? The travelcard and test coupon lines are not aligned though (vertically or horizontally) and the travelcard lettering is slighlt blacker than the test coupon lettering.
I wouldn't have thought it possible myself but I have the ticket right next to me.
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Colin
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Post by Colin on Nov 17, 2010 1:20:14 GMT
I agree with everything harlesden has said - it should be absolutely impossible as the tickets are produced from a continuous roll inside the machine.
I'm a little ignorant to DLR stuff so I shall ask quite innocently.....does the DLR have no ticket offices at all anywhere on their network?
I can well imagine an LU ticket office wouldn't get involved - they can only deal with LU issued tickets and some NR issued tickets in certain limited circumstances.
On the basis that it's a rare one off ticket, maybe it could be sold on the likes of eBay - that ought to cover the £6.30 loss....
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2010 5:11:55 GMT
I agree with everything harlesden has said - it should be absolutely impossible as the tickets are produced from a continuous roll inside the machine. I'm a little ignorant to DLR stuff so I shall ask quite innocently.....does the DLR have no ticket offices at all anywhere on their network? I can well imagine an LU ticket office wouldn't get involved - they can only deal with LU issued tickets and some NR issued tickets in certain limited circumstances. On the basis that it's a rare one off ticket, maybe it could be sold on the likes of eBay - that ought to cover the £6.30 loss.... There are ticket offices on the DLR at some stations. City Airport is one, but can't think what the others are. I think also that they are officially classed as Ticket Stops rather than Offices. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2010 6:39:26 GMT
On the basis that it's a rare one off ticket, maybe it could be sold on the likes of eBay - that ought to cover the £6.30 loss.... I think Colin has a very valid point. After all, he bought a bus from eBay.   ;D |
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Post by miztert on Nov 17, 2010 10:39:08 GMT
Just to get this clear, on closer inspection the Travelcard can be seen as having been overprinted on the test coupon, yes? Ok, well she should write a clear concise note explaining what happened, include the ticket in the envelope and send it to DLR Customer Services - I'd send it Recorded Delivery, which costs an extra 74p on top of normal postage (so 41p for First Class). I'd ask for a cheque to cover both the cost of the duff ticket plus the postage, and say the whole thing was a bit of a palaver so they might offer a little extra. I'm not sure the DLR would ever offer refund vouchers or the such like, given that their set-up is based on unmanned ticket machines, but if she definitely doesn't want a voucher but only a cheque it would be best to say so. The DLR customer services address can be found on this page - I'll copy and paste it below: Customer Services Serco Docklands Castor Lane London E14 ODS ("Serco Docklands" being the operator of the DLR.) |
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Post by memorex on Nov 17, 2010 12:10:58 GMT
I suppose it is possible that the DLR machines are like the newer versions of NR machines?
As in, rather than having ticket rolls, they are pre-cut and stacked into the printer itself. It's possible that, if the machines are like this, the person re-filling the tickets thought he'd dropped one and slotted it into the stack without checking the face.. that'd explain how it got in there, and how it'd be possible to use the same ticket twice..?
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Post by Tomcakes on Nov 17, 2010 14:42:37 GMT
And when sending anything like this off, take a photostat of everything first. A TOC I shan't name was known to have a habit of "losing" delay-repay claims - always helps to have a photocopy to produce in such a circumstance.
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rincew1nd
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Post by rincew1nd on Nov 17, 2010 21:57:38 GMT
On the basis that it's a rare one off ticket, maybe it could be sold on the likes of eBay - that ought to cover the £6.30 loss.... Indeed, I'll give you at least £12.60 for it (£6.30 for you, £6.30 for the original purchaser). |
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Post by abe on Nov 18, 2010 8:25:06 GMT
Any chance of posting a scan of said ticket here?
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Post by bicbasher on Nov 18, 2010 19:03:00 GMT
There are ticket offices on the DLR at some stations. City Airport is one, but can't think what the others are. I think also that they are officially classed as Ticket Stops rather than Offices. Canary Wharf as well. They're Oyster Ticket Stops which issue the same range of products as a retailer. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 18, 2010 20:36:58 GMT
I haven't dealt with many DLR problems as they seem to get dealt with by the interchange LU stations such as Bank (I believe).
In fact the only time I had a DLR problem was a report of lost money. The couple reported the problem to the train Capitan who issued them a paper ticket and with a refund voucher that could be refunded at the DLR offices or by post.
The DLR tickets I have seen all appear to be issued on roll-stock and not precut stock.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 18, 2010 21:33:39 GMT
My thinking of it was when the machine was restocked with tickets [or floated with coins etc], the engineer printed off a test ticket to confirm working of the relevant ticket mechanism and this was either not removed from the feeder [which drops the ticket into the hopper where you collect it from] or the roll came from another location having been printed, but not cut off the roll.
Strange. I've had one or two tickets in the past off National Rail that were printed upside down, or on completely different ticket stock...
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Colin
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Post by Colin on Nov 19, 2010 0:50:09 GMT
Well there's an easy way of telling whether or not it is from pre-cut or rolled stock - Chris, does it have rounded or square edges?
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Chris M
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Post by Chris M on Nov 19, 2010 1:44:34 GMT
Rounded.
I'll try and put a scan or photo of it up tomorrow.
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bowchurch
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Post by bowchurch on Nov 19, 2010 1:52:59 GMT
A few years back I got an early train out of East Croydon and got a one of these in the tray with my single ticket:  IIRC all the ticket machines had something sitting in the tray at that time - so maybe it's something the machines do when they start up in the morning. We have Trainline FasTIS terminals at the major offices in London where I work, when I've seen them opened up they have two printers inside each fed with a stack of pre cut ticket stock. It's not impossible that a test ticket could have been put back into the blank hopper by mistake in one of these sorts of machines - and my East Croydon ticket is printed on the same kind of pre cut stock as the machines at work use. I've seen the machines at work reboot several times - sometimes a power cycle is the only way to get them to print your ticket - but they don't spit out a test ticket as they start up. |
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Colin
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Post by Colin on Nov 19, 2010 9:08:05 GMT
That would be pre-cut stock then (like the one in the image above).... So on that basis it is entirely possible it found its way back into the machine when it shouldn't have done. |
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;D
