TFL cyber attack 2024

[Puddy_Tat]

friendofdorothy - did you manage to get this nonsense with your card sorted out?

i was in london over the weekend, and used a few buses. my oyster card is registered for automated top-up, so that whenever the balance on it goes below X amount, it takes £ 20 from my bank account (technically, think it's from the debit card i've already given them details of.)

today i had an e-mail saying the top up on sunday failed and will i do something about it pretty damn quick.

Dear Mr Puddy Tat,

We automatically topped up your Oyster card (number X) with £20.00 pay as you go credit on 15 September 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.

since i'm pretty confident the card is still OK (i used it for some shopping yesterday) and haven't changed the card for a year or two, and it last did a top-up in june, i'm assuming this is part of the issue at their end.

just not sure whether i should go and (re) add card details at the moment...

Wonder if your issue was similar - the machines on buses don't actually communicate with bank immediately, it tends to get sorted out overnight through the 'back office' system (otherwise a buses would take ages standing at stops while the machine communicates with banks - not sure if railway stations do the same) - although if you added money at a shop, that's not quite the same thing.

 

[Winot]

Just spoke to some one who said the same thing happened to him - topped up an old oyster card with over £60 went through barriers and onto a train and by the time he got to his destination it no longer worked. It was because it was and old card and it was a pain in the arse to sort it out.

How can a person find out when there is a use by dates on using oyster cards? Do they have a built in expiry date?

and why the fuck do they allow you to top them up and begin to use them?

then leave you looking like a fare dodger and possibly stranded mid journey

This happened to my mum with an old card too. She didn't try to top up but it had 20-odd quid on it and suddenly got blocked.

 

[friendofdorothy]

Spoke to someone in a tube station they said be side ot was an old card it was stopped. Before I used last Tues it was previously used last in 2014.

They don't tell you there is a use by date on these things agghh! And it allowed me to top it up!

They have had my £20 for a week now and I may have paid more than I needed for my train/ DLR/ DLR / bus journey the night it all went wrong. They made me look like a fare dodger. Thank fuck I had a debit card to get me home.

Apparently I need to phone them have another oyster card I can transfer the credit to them activate it on the tube? Well that's what the barrier staff in a tube said. (A tube station I had only visited to sort this out before getting bus home.) Arrgh! I don't live anywhere near a tube... Not sure how old the other oysters I have are either.

By the time I've done that I should have my 60+ oyster back anyway. I want my money back.

How do I make a complaint?

 

[friendofdorothy]

This happened to my mum with an old card too. She didn't try to top up but it had 20-odd quid on it and suddenly got blocked.

How did she resolve it?

 

[Puddy_Tat]

They don't tell you there is a use by date on these things agghh! And it allowed me to top it up!

I couldn't find anything to say that oyster cards expire either because the card is old, or because it's not been used for x amount of time.

i'm not sure if the staff member you spoke to is talking balls.

By the time I've done that I should have my 60+ oyster back anyway. I want my money back.

i rang today to ask about what's going on with mine - the recorded message did say something about possibility of refunds if they have been unable to issue a new card, but i'm not sure what circumstances that applies to.

How do I make a complaint?

i'd suggest talking to their customer services people first (the bloke i spoke to today said they can't actually access any records at the moment - try again towards the end of the week)

this contact form includes complaints.

 

[friendofdorothy]

Thanks mr tat. Still the effects of the cyber attack?

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Thanks mr tat. Still the effects of the cyber attack?

yes.

the bloke i spoke to thought it was possible that's what caused the top up payment fail. the website shows journey history, but didn't show any card registered, so looks like that bit had got wiped. i have entered (the same) card details again and made the payment.

i think they are going to have quite a backlog of stuff to sort out when they do get the computers put together again...

 

[friendofdorothy]

i'd suggest talking to their customer services people first (the bloke i spoke to today said they can't actually access any records at the moment - try again towards the end of the week)

this contact form includes complaints.

Thanks. Having spent what seemed like hours on the phone to get my 60+ card replaced i couldn't face phoning them again. I've just filled in the online form with a complaint asking for a refund. Have to wait 10 days for a reply. Humph .

 

[Winot]

How did she resolve it?

She didn't bother trying.