Lost Oyster and 16-25 Rail Cards... | District Dave's London Underground Site

wimblephil

Posts: 239

Lost Oyster and 16-25 Rail Cards... Dec 6, 2015 17:11:10 GMT via the ProBoards App

Post by wimblephil on Dec 6, 2015 17:11:10 GMT

I'm wondering if anyone can help with any advice on the below...

I lost my Oyster Card somehow en-route to work on Monday 30th, so have been using contactless since. I really want to get back to Oyster, because the delay at the gate-line for contactless compared to Oyster is significant enough that I don't feel comfortable feeling like I'm causing a hold up during the peak hours!

I went online as soon as I got to work to report it lost and request a replacement. Unfortunately I was met with the message that I'd reported a lost card too many times (I happened to lose my card twice within two weeks last December (Christmas parties!)), and that I'd have to call a Number. I've been so busy with work that I've only just got round to thinking about it.

I logged in again online today to check the journey history to see if anyone might have found it and been using it, and it's showing as being cancelled at East Putney on Weds 2nd. Is this likely to be due to a hand-in to staff, who've then cancelled it, or would somebody have tried to cancel it to get any money off it?

I also had my 16-25 rail card in the holder, so if possible it would be great to retrieve that! If handed in at East Putney, would the staff hold on to it, or would it be sent to Baker Street? Would it be worth a visit to East Putney to try and ask a member of staff, or better just to call the TfL CS? And will I have to make separate calls to the Oyster line for the Oyster card and Lost Property for the 16-25 card? I did try to call the Oyster line today, but was on hold for 15mins so gave up. I'm also worried that it could be costly as the charges info says you *could* be charged up to 40p a minute for 020 and 034 from Mobiles (but isn't 020 just a London Area Code!?). Confused! I've never called an 034 number before, so no idea if I'll get charged for that. My Mobile includes unlimited minutes, so I'm hoping it'll just be covered by that!?

Also...! I strangely got an e-mail on Friday 4th, saying I'm due a £5.90 refund to be collected at Wimbledon. Trouble is that's now linked to the card which has now been cancelled at East Putney right? So how would I get that back? Another call to TfL to ask it to be linked to a new card that I'll inevitably have to get?

What a headache I've caused myself! Any advice would be appreciated!

MoreToJack

Posts: 1,920

Lost Oyster and 16-25 Rail Cards... Dec 6, 2015 17:27:09 GMT

Post by MoreToJack on Dec 6, 2015 17:27:09 GMT

If your Oyster is showing as 'cancelled' this *should* mean that it has been cancelled by a member of staff as a Lost/Stolen Oyster card. If an Oyster is registered (this can be checked via the POMs) we'll often do a cancellation straight away and dispose of the Oyster, as the customer can get the contents transferred easily to a new card. In your case this will need to be done via the helpline - my suggestion would be to obtain a new Oyster first and then call them up, it'll speed up the process for transferring things across! At the same time you should be able to ask them to link your refund to your new card, and have it 'collected' at the same time as the products are transferred across. However, things like your 16-25 railcard won't transfer, so you'd need to get this manually loaded back on at any LU-operated station.

With regards to your railcard, this is likely to have made its way to Baker Street if it was handed in at a station. It's worth checking at the station concerned first (As they'll have a record of all Lost Property and when it went to Baker Street), although you can by-pass this and enquire directly with Baker Street. You would need to make two separate phone calls for this, as they are two different departments.

However, the process to retrieve your railcard will be a bit of a faff - and if it's at Baker Street there will be a fee to pay for its retrieval (I forget exactly how much, but I think it's a fiver). Depending on how long is left on your railcard, where you purchased it and whether you have the receipt if at a station, it might be easier/cheaper to cut your losses and either purchase a new railcard or go to the issuing station with your receipt (or online if purchased online) and pay the fee (Again, I think it's a fiver, could be a tenner) to have it reissued.

Finally - as a plot twist. If you're not using your Oyster card with your railcard I wouldn't bother with the faff, and just ask the helpline for a refund of the lost money. Despite the slight time penalty with Contactless (and it is slight compared to the likes of ApplePay) it does have several benefits over Oyster, such as M-Su capping and charging a lower daily cap plus an extension fare where applicable, due to the 'back-office' nature of the processing.

wimblephil

Posts: 239

Lost Oyster and 16-25 Rail Cards... Dec 6, 2015 17:45:23 GMT via the ProBoards App

Post by wimblephil on Dec 6, 2015 17:45:23 GMT

Cool. Thanks for the informative reply!
It sounds like the best solution is to just grab another Oyster card from a machine, call up the helpline and ask for a transfer of the remaining balance plus, the refund I was emailed about.

The 16-25 card wasn't loaded onto my Oyster. I wasn't aware it could be to be honest! I bought it 6 months ago at Victoria, so might just take the receipt and ask for a re-issue, and swallow the charge. It was my fault for losing it after all!

The main thing I don't like is my name and face on a card floating around at there somewhere! Oh well!

Thanks again!