£100 Shell authorisation on credit card - is this normal?

PeterOHanrahanrahan

I've used Pay at Pump many times and each time usually £1 has been pre-authorised on my card before filling. I've recently gotten a Barclaycard Amex card, and upon using it at a Shell garage to buy £20 of petrol have found that £100 has been authorised on the card.

Is this now normal practice, or something unique to Barclaycard and/or Amex (as Shell has suggested upon querying this)? I was under the impression that any amount authorised or debited from an account was down to the retailer rather than the card issuer.

I understand it might not be a big problem but I'd be not as understanding if this had happened on my debit card.

Thanks.

planteria

i'm not sure what you mean... £100 authorised? but just £20 transaction value?

PeterOHanrahanrahan

Yep that's what I mean, sorry if it wasn't clear.

grumbler

I am no expert, but as Pay at Pump often don't take online cards, I don't see any point in pre-authorisation if it's offline.

If it's online and as you 'pay' before filling the tank, it's reasonably to expect a pretty big pre-authorisation rather than £1.

PeterOHanrahanrahan

grumbler wrote: »

I am no expert, but as Pay at Pump often don't take online cards, I don't see any point in pre-authorisation if it's offline.

If it's online and as you 'pay' before filling the tank, it's reasonably to expect a pretty big pre-authorisation rather than £1.

That's what I thought - I assume online credit cards don't exist?
The actual amount of the transaction has been taken from my account, however the £100 pre-auth still hasn't dropped off after ten days, which is a bit longer than I'd anticipated too (although the bank holiday weekend might have something to do with it).

reclusive46

grumbler wrote: »

I am no expert, but as Pay at Pump often don't take online cards, I don't see any point in pre-authorisation if it's offline.

If it's online and as you 'pay' before filling the tank, it's reasonably to expect a pretty big pre-authorisation rather than £1.

Pay at pumps are all online. It's just some banks (RBS/Natwest mainly) decline the transaction on their online cards because many authorise less than the amount filled up and they don't want these customers to go overdrawn.

Sainsburys and Shell usually authorise £100 instead of £1 (I don't know if this is specific to Amex, I've only ever used an Amex at these locations). The final amount will post within a day or two and the rest of the authorisation will drop off a couple of days after.

PeterOHanrahanrahan

reclusive46 wrote: »

Pay at pumps are all online. It's just some banks (RBS/Natwest mainly) decline the transaction on their online cards because many authorise less than the amount filled up and they don't want these customers to go overdrawn.

Sainsburys and Shell usually authorise £100 instead of £1 (I don't know if this is specific to Amex, I've only ever used an Amex at these locations). The final amount will post within a day or two and the rest of the authorisation will drop off a couple of days after.

Thanks for that, that's answered it nicely. Never noticed it happen on my Visa card at Shell PaP but it has been a while since I tried.

[Deleted User]

When you put the card in, it'll say something like "Maximum Fill, GBP 100", which is the amount your card has been authorised for.

PeterOHanrahanrahan

billbennett wrote: »

When you put the card in, it'll say something like "Maximum Fill, GBP 100", which is the amount your card has been authorised for.

I did see that afterwards, although this also displays at Esso and Morrisons and still only the £1 is authorised. It wasn't shown prior to me putting my PIN in.

planteria

thanks to reclusive too.
i hardly ever PaP.. i want the extra clubcard points;)
i didn't know that the pre-authorisation was set at a higher amount by the retailer/provider.:o

grumbler

planteria wrote: »

i hardly ever PaP.. i want the extra clubcard points;)

Why can you not get the points at a pump?