I had problems topping up my Oyster PAYG balance recently. Being unfamiliar with the TVM (Ticket Vending Machine) operation, I failed to touch my Oyster card onto the reader a second time once I had paid for my top up. I touched my card on the reader at the start of the transaction, selected PAYG Top up and paid cash for my £10 topup with a £20 note. As soon as I received my change, I went to catch a train believing my transaction to be complete. However, when I touched in, I noticed that my topup had not been applied. I ran back to the TVM, but it was displaying the default start screen.

The staff at the station told me there was nothing they could do about giving me my money back and I had to contact Oyster directly.

I waited 48 hours before contacting Oyster (as per website instructions), but had not heard anything by yesterday afternoon. I therefore called the Oyster helpline and I was instructed to fill in a TOM form (Ticket Office Machine), which I could obtain from any TfL station. These are not available from our stations.

As I was in central London today, I went to Cannon Street where I spoke to the station supervisor. He explained that I had been given the wrong information. Indeed, he told me that I was out of luck as the TVM would have concluded that the transaction was incomplete and therefore refunded the money after timing out. I tried this at Forest Hill this evening and that is indeed what happens, so some lucky person is £10 richer.

This seems like a flaw in the system. Either the machine should retain the money and require me to apply for a refund (after all, I have already touched once, so it knows who should qualify to apply the credit to) or I should be required to touch my Oyster card onto the reader a second time BEFORE the machine issues any change.

Please spread the word and warn people that they must touch their Oyster card onto the reader TWICE when topping up at a TVM.