Petrol station bank 'holdng' payment

Eliza_2

Dear all, not sure which forum to post this on but grateful for advice.

On Wednseday I bought some petrol at supermarket petrol station and paid with debit card. Although the machine on my side worked fine and said payment taken, please remove your card etc, the computer on the assistant's side didn't seem to work or churn out a receipt. She told me to put my card in and do it again. I asked wouldn't that take the payment twice but she said it wouldn't.

I went home and checked my bank account and sure enough, the balance was down by exactly twice the cost of the petrol. I rang customer services who said they'd look into it. The next day they rang to say it had definitely only gone out once but that apparently the other payment is held at some sort of 'holding' stage at their bank and would eventually be released but it could be a few days what with the weekend etc. So now it's the weekend and my available balance is still down by that amount.

Is this normal because I've never come across it before and does anyone know how long they are likely to keep MY MONEY!!

Many thanks

Liz

SuperHan

Yes it's normal, it happens quite often.

In about 3-5 working days you should the amount released back to you.

There are ways to get it returned quicker, but either the retailer or the bank find it difficult in most cases, so it's easier just to wait.

bengal-stripe

If a debit isn't claimed, the "hold" on the amount in question will fall-off automatically after 5 - 7 working days.

If you are desperate to use that amount now (you have no "available" money in the account), you would have to get in touch with the supermarket (headquarters, I presume) who could advise your bank to cancel the authorisation in question forthwith.

Eliza_2

Thank you all. I had never had this happen to me and only heard about it at hotels, as it happens before going home I did a bit of shopping and when home discovered my bank was in credit all of 99p!! Luckily it didn't go overdrawn and lucky I checked.

I'm quite angry about this, it really does seem that companies can tap into your account whenever they please without you even knowing let alone giving permission. Cash purchases from now on!!

jonesMUFCforever

They did not tap into your account though did they - you tapped the pin in twice.

Eliza_2

True, but only because the assistant promised my account wouldn't be debited twice, I did deliberately ask her as I was concerned. In the shop where I work, if you enter your details into the pdq machine twice you would definitely be debited twice, irrespective of what happened with the assistant's computer. However we would credit the card immediately we or the customer noticed it, none of this 'holding' accounts or waiting several days.

Never mind, you live and learn, won't do it again!

Thanks

jonesMUFCforever

It shows on your shop computer immediately but for most shops it is not an immediate refund - which is why you have posted this topic.

Lily-Rose_3

Ain't it just MARVELLOUS how the money is taken from your account INSTANTLY, but it takes 5 to 7 working days, for the money to go back in?!

This is called a ghost transaction, and has happened to me on a number of occasions. When me and hubby were struggling VERY badly financially (we are fine now, but were struggling 5 or so years back,) we had £70 in the bank to last a week. £30 for petrol, and £40 for food for a family of three.

We got the £30 for petrol (we need this, so my husband could get to work,) and the thing that happened to the OP happened to us. 'Oh the payment hasn't gone through properly; re-enter your pin,' and so I did; (I didn't know what would happen at the time.)

So we knew that we now had £40 left, and went into the supermarket to do the shopping for the week, and it came to £38. The payment FAILED. Of course, the petrol station had taken both bloomin' £30 payments, and there was only a tenner left!

I was furious with the petrol station, and I went into the supermarket concerned (who owned the petrol station,) and they said they couldn't do ANYthing. And the bank couldn't either!! We were told it would 'sit there' for a week to ten days, in cyberspace, and that NOBODY could get to it, and it would 'fall back into our account' after that time.

We were skinned to the bone at the time, and so had to cancel the shopping transaction, and actually then go back, and buy the things we were desperate for, (with the tenner we had left,) and live on tinned stuff on toast, and a couple of things we had left in the freezer for a week.

Some people may not believe this, but they are the ones who have never been through genuine hard times.

It has happened since quite a few times, but because our bank account is well into the black now, it doesn't matter as much. But if we have a BIG payment to make (like we bought something for £375 last week,) we draw the cash out, because we don't want to THAT much being held hostage for a week.

It is SO WRONG that this happens. How DARE they hijack our money in this fashion? As I said earlier; it's funny how they can TAKE it quickly but don't give it back so readily!

callum9999

Lily-Rose wrote: »

Ain't it just MARVELLOUS how the money is taken from your account INSTANTLY, but it takes 5 to 7 working days, for the money to go back in?!

This is called a ghost transaction, and has happened to me on a number of occasions. When me and hubby were struggling VERY badly financially (we are fine now, but were struggling 5 or so years back,) we had £70 in the bank to last a week. £30 for petrol, and £40 for food for a family of three.

We got the £30 for petrol (we need this, so my husband could get to work,) and the thing that happened to the OP happened to us. 'Oh the payment hasn't gone through properly; re-enter your pin,' and so I did; (I didn't know what would happen at the time.)

So we knew that we now had £40 left, and went into the supermarket to do the shopping for the week, and it came to £38. The payment FAILED. Of course, the petrol station had taken both bloomin' £30 payments, and there was only a tenner left!

I was furious with the petrol station, and I went into the supermarket concerned (who owned the petrol station,) and they said they couldn't do ANYthing. And the bank couldn't either!! We were told it would 'sit there' for a week to ten days, in cyberspace, and that NOBODY could get to it, and it would 'fall back into our account' after that time.

We were skinned to the bone at the time, and so had to cancel the shopping transaction, and actually then go back, and buy the things we were desperate for, (with the tenner we had left,) and live on tinned stuff on toast, and a couple of things we had left in the freezer for a week.

Some people may not believe this, but they are the ones who have never been through genuine hard times.

It has happened since quite a few times, but because our bank account is well into the black now, it doesn't matter as much. But if we have a BIG payment to make (like we bought something for £375 last week,) we draw the cash out, because we don't want to THAT much being held hostage for a week.

It is SO WRONG that this happens. How DARE they hijack our money in this fashion? As I said earlier; it's funny how they can TAKE it quickly but don't give it back so readily!

It's not debited twice. It's been debited once and reserved once. If you can find the right person the reserved amount can be dropped pretty much immediately (normally at the retailer but I have read about a bank doing it before in extenuating circumstances so it seems physically possible - even if they normally won't). They don't "hijack" anything - it's a mistake.

Your "some people may not believe this" paragraph was rather bizarre as well. Millions of people live like that in the UK - if £10 for a week of groceries when you already had a few bits in the cupboard/freezer was your lowest point then I'd say you haven't been through horrifically bad financial times yourself!

Armorica

Morale of the story: Don't trust petrol station cashiers.

One option might have been a very quick call to the bank to ask for a quick emergency overdraft of £50 until the payment was sorted. They *may* have agreed if they had been able to see the status of the transactions (sometimes they'll only find out when the retailer gives them the data)

jonesMUFCforever

To all posters who spouted off that debits are taken from their accounts immediately. - it's tosh! Only cash withdrawals at ATM's are debited straightaway - retail transactions are taken in most cases 2-3 working days later.
(Money is earmarked immediately but not debited.)