Oyster Maintenance and Failed Top-up

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  • #5371
    Nick
    Participant

    Got an email from TfL this morning saying my auto top-up from Thursday had failed. Seemed strange because everything was fine Tuesday and Wednesday. Checked my card transactions and sure enough there were 2 Oyster top-ups where I would expect 3. Logged onto my TfL account and the system is down for maintenance over the weekend so presumably when the payment should have been taken the system was already down. Questions: are these events connected? Has anyone else had the same? Will the issue correct itself or do I need to make a manual payment? Plenty info on the TfL website about the maintenance but not about this.

    #5372
    Adam
    Participant

    I had exactly the same. It spooked me a bit. I travelled on Thursday but my balance at the end of the day was £20.35 and my auto top-up threshold is £20 so there should have been no top-up. I checked with my bank and they confirmed no declined transaction so I’m assuming either TfL has IT issues (is this why they are down?) or it’s a scam.
    I’ve emailed TfL to ask about a manual payment so may get a reply at some point. There’s no way to make a manual payment with the system down, and I don’t want to top up at a ticket machine if there’s already a top-up somewhere in the system. After the post office scandal I don’t trust these IT systems.
    Anyone else have any thoughts?

    #5374
    Mike (admin)
    Keymaster

    Something has clearly gone wrong. Are you being denied travel? I’ll see if I can get some answers, though this may be difficult as it’s a weekend.

    I’ve just tried to topup my normal Oyster card. It went through all the stages, including getting an authorisation from the bank, then told me that the card hadn’t been verified so they couldn’t do the topup.

    #5375
    Nick
    Participant

    I haven’t tried to travel since, the email said to make payment within 3 working days which would be Wednesday and I will trigger another auto top up on Tuesday so I’ll see what happens then. @Adam did your card get the top up? Mine did, as it should have done, so looks like two different issues.

    #5376
    Adam
    Participant

    It doesn’t appear so thought I haven’t tapped in since. There is no transaction on my credit card account and my balance according to the app is still £20.35 which shouldn’t have triggered an auto top-up. I last used the card on Thursday and my journey history shows:
    Start balance £19.35
    Auto top up collected £10.00 [this transaction was successfully debited from my card previously]
    Hertford North —> Kingston £4.45
    Kingston —> Hertford North £4.55
    Spent £9.00 [which gives a balance of £20.35]

    I shan’t be travelling now until Wednesday so let’s see what happens.

    #5377
    Adam
    Participant

    Im hoping this is system issue and the bit that adds the to up to the card lost connection with the finance system and generated an automated email. Here is the salient part of the email from TFL:

    We automatically topped up your Oyster card (number xxxxxxxxxx) with £10.00 pay as you go credit on 08 February 2024. However, we were unable to take payment from your credit or debit card.

    Please pay this outstanding charge within three working days otherwise your Oyster card may be stopped.

    • This reply was modified 10 months, 2 weeks ago by Adam.
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