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Tesco "test purchases"???? Thoughts anyone????
LisaM684
Posts: 2 Newbie
Please help!!
Yesterday, I bought my son a bike for his Christmas from Tesco and my OH a jumper from Stone Island. Now when I went to check my bank account, those 2 transactions were off ok, but there was also a POS transaction for £2 which I knew I didn't make (I wouldn't use my card for anything that small). Now, my mother had her details stolen before and the first purchase they made was for 79p to "test" her card, so to be on the safe side I called the bank. They told me that Tesco had taken this £2 as a "test purchase" to check my card was working.
It's not the £2 I'm annoyed about but the fact that they did not tell me and it says nothing about it on their T&C's. I normally only pay the exact amount into my account as it is only used for payments, but the jumper was a little cheaper than expected, luckily, or there wouldn't have been enough to cover the cost of the bloody bike because of their "test purchase" :mad:
On top of that........it cost me over £3 to call the bank!!
Why do companies do this, is it allowed??
Anyone's thoughts, or indeed knowledge on this subject would be massively appreciated??
Yesterday, I bought my son a bike for his Christmas from Tesco and my OH a jumper from Stone Island. Now when I went to check my bank account, those 2 transactions were off ok, but there was also a POS transaction for £2 which I knew I didn't make (I wouldn't use my card for anything that small). Now, my mother had her details stolen before and the first purchase they made was for 79p to "test" her card, so to be on the safe side I called the bank. They told me that Tesco had taken this £2 as a "test purchase" to check my card was working.
It's not the £2 I'm annoyed about but the fact that they did not tell me and it says nothing about it on their T&C's. I normally only pay the exact amount into my account as it is only used for payments, but the jumper was a little cheaper than expected, luckily, or there wouldn't have been enough to cover the cost of the bloody bike because of their "test purchase" :mad:
On top of that........it cost me over £3 to call the bank!!
Why do companies do this, is it allowed??
Anyone's thoughts, or indeed knowledge on this subject would be massively appreciated??
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Comments
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This has been brought up quite a few times, Tesco and Asda in particular are mentioned.
They check the card with a small amount, which should be put back in your account very quickly. But sometimes as per stories on these boards the money sometimes isn't returned for a week or more.
As for T&C's etc, I wouldn't know, but I'm sure someone around here will.
Not sure it's a great idea to not leave at least a few quid in an account, rather than exact money, you never know when something unexpected might happen.0 -
Thanks, I had never heard of this before. The only reason that the account lies empty is because it doesn't really get used all that often so if I'm paying a bill for £50, I'll put £50 in before I pay. But will be leaving a tenner in just in case from now on!! Lesson learned!!
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Some people are basically left without any money for a few days sometimes. Asda do it for food shopping, I think they hold it until delivery (IIRC).
I'm not sure they actually take the money, I think it is a pending transcation so therefore the money still isn't available to spend.
I myself was going to buy a mobile phone recently by credit card and the company did a check transcation on my credit card, my available amount went down by the amount. It was on my account pending for about 2 days, before it went back in.0 -
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Well, I for one would be writing a very strongly worded letter to my bank asking how a shop was able to deduct money from my card without the card holder having authorised it.
I thought that the whole idea of the chip and pin system was to stop fraudulent activity.0 -
Tesco did this to me for £2 when i ordered something online, It was never taken just a pending transcation.Jan Wins: .0
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I assume this was Tesco.com and not a store. Many on line retailers, Tesco, Play, Amazon, WH Smiths, The Hut and many more I have used do this if you are not a regular customer. Last week WHS reserved the full £56 for the order then charged for the items that were despatched and will charge the remaining amount on the pre-order. The OP would have had severe problems in that situation.0
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T-Mobile "tested" my card while I was in the shop getting a new handset - they took 1 penny.
£2 seems a lot to just check the card out ..........0 -
cherie1122 wrote: »T-Mobile "tested" my card while I was in the shop getting a new handset - they took 1 penny.
£2 seems a lot to just check the card out ..........
It's 2 companies - £1 each.
They are just test transactions to verify the customer details, won't appear on the final statement, and usually drop off in a few days
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I think lots of companies do it every time you add your card to an order, insert in or make changes on your shopping account.
Amazon 99p, o2 money 1p, Play.com £1, Itunes £1 ?,
Tesco Entertainment/Pets@Home,Comet,Argos I didn't recall any card check auth.
It's annoying when paying with o2 money as I get loads of texts for pre auth test checks.0
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