The easiest way is to make an off-peak journey for which you know the fare and compare your balance before and after. The slightly more complex but cost-free way is to go to an underground ticket window and request that they give you a status printout from your card. And the non-recommended way is to phone up the number on the back of your card and ask.

It does not show up in your online account.

The date for the abolition of the OEP is confirmed as 22 May. I would personally advise setting them if necessary until then because there are reports that some TOCs are still demanding penalty fares if they have not been set. See here.

Ugh. I'm just learning about OEPs, and it seems I've been neglecting to use them when I should be. To get to LHR, I use CLJ-FEL and then take the 490 bus. I've got a zones 1-2 travelcard loaded. The system always deducts the correct fare at FEL even without the OEP. However, given the issues people are now having, I guess I should set the silly OEP until they've gone the way of the dodo. FEL is SWT, but I'd rather be safe than have them pick up on Southeastern's tricks.

SWT have also been quite active in this respect, so yes, I would!

+1 ^

There is a special setting on ticket gates allowing them to reject Oyster cards where an OEP should have been set but wasn't, throwing a "seek assistance" that sends you over to an RPI to get penalty fared, so make sure you don't get caught!

It's apparently not set at FEL. Didn't have time to queue to get an OEP from the SWT ticket office at CLJ, and of course their machines won't handle Oyster. (I was kind of surprised that I couldn't find an Oyster machine over on the London Overground side of CLJ.) Figured I'd risk it, since I'd never had a problem before, and went through the gate like usual and had £2.00 deducted, exactly as it should have been.

For future use... IIRC, the newsagent's stand in at the St John's Hill end of Clapham Junction does Oyster, as do the new London Overground machines, at the Grant Road end.

mtkeller - the gates would only ever be configured in that way if there was a team of Revenue Protection Inspectors (RPIs) doing a 'hit' on that station.

stut - yes, that newsagent's in the arcade does indeed do Oyster - a while back I saw it being cited as the "Oyster Ticket Stop" (i.e. a shop that 'does' Oyster) that does the most business Greater in London, indeed it may well still be. However I imagine this will change as SWT are to start selling Oyster products soon (I think their self-service ticket machines are going to get updated so as to offer this).

Hopefully not too OT: Gold benefits for Freedom Pass holders?
 

So much useful info here, may I ask a possibly OT question?

A family member has a Freedom Pass* and travels outside London from time to time, e.g. Manchester, Scotland, STN and LGW. Is there any way they could get a Gold card equivalent allowing benefits on train travel outside London?

Thanks.

* The Freedom Pass is issued to the elderly by London boroughs and allows free travel in London on the Underground, buses, most Overground, trams (major exceptions: HEX, HS1) as well as free bus travel in England and Wales after the morning peak M-F and all day Sa-So on non-long distance buses.

The Freedom Pass bears both LT and BR logos and was accepted at Kew Gardens for the 2-4-1 offer.

No, I'm afraid the best they'd be able to qualify for is a Senior Railcard - £26 for 1 year or £65 for 3 years; offering 1/3 off most National Rail fares.

The Freedom Pass can be used for free bus travel across England, though only between 0930 and 2300 on weekdays (and all day on weekends and bank holidays). Freedom Passes can be used on buses 24 hours a day in London, which is handy for any grannies wanting to get the night bus home after a night clubbing! :)

The Gold Card is for the South-East only. I suspect they'd be best off with a Senior Railcard.

Thanks for the very quick replies, teflon and stut .

I think that technically speaking it shouldn't have been - but that perhaps just goes to show that some attractions aren't necessarily too discriminating when it comes to dealing with this 2-for-1 offer... in other words, it sounds like it's worth having a punt!