MSE News: Asda trials new temporary £99 card charge for 'pay at the pump' customers

Former_MSE_Callum

Supermarket giant Asda has started to put a £99 pre-authorisation hold on the cards of customers who pay for fuel 'at the pump' in some of its stores - and other petrol stations could soon follow suit...

Read the full story:
'Asda trials new temporary £99 card charge for 'pay at the pump' customers'

Click reply below to discuss. If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply.

aj23_2

Just pay at the kiosk. Only used P@P a few times and each time something went wrong. This 'quicker' methods usually take longer.

rmg1

I use P@P at Tesco on a regular basis and they "earmark" £1 on my account before taking the full amount for the fuel I've taken.

I put some fuel in my car last night (around 10PM) and the £1 is still in my pending transactions. It will probably come out of my account sometime on Friday (which is normal from what I've seen).

For the sake of argument, consider the following scenario.....

I have £50 in my account.
I go to Tesco and use P@P (I know the article was about Asda but I can see everyone else joining in). The kiosk is closed when I go. I put in £20 in fuel (so I'm temporarily £30 worse off).
Let's assume for 5 minutes that they earmark the full £50 (as I don't have £99 in my account).
At the current rate of things, that would be earmarked until Friday (why it takes them a couple of days to take the cash I'm not sure).
I don't have an overdraft facility (and don't want one).
For 3 days I cannot use the £30 I should have left in my account.
I'm also losing interest on that £30 (OK, that works out a pennies but that's not the point).
Can I claim that back?

DigForVictory

Given the recent shenanigans with TSB I would have thought all major retailers would put may-require-bank-liaison ideas on hold for a month, just til the dust has settled.

If Asda decide to try to hold £99 of mine, no matter whom they blame, I'll be "going the extra mile" and getting my fuel elsewhere - like Costco which takes a precautionary £1, or Morrisons which doesn't take a ha'penny up front.

What me, untrusting? Yes.

molerat

rmg1 wrote: »

I'm also losing interest on that £30 (OK, that works out a pennies but that's not the point).

No you are not, interest is paid on your actual balance. Santander were forced to pay back interest not paid on pending card transactions.

antrobus

I'm confused. Does this mean that motor fuels count as food or groceries in MSEland?

PasturesNew

You know those times when you go with a mate, who uses different fuel, on the basis they've got no money so you'll do them £10 in their car and then £20 in your car, or you always fill up together/on the same card one after the other .... that's 2x £99

It doesn't affect me - there's only one Asda I use for fuel as the two within 20 miles of me don't sell fuel ... and the one I do use is 200 miles from my house, so I use it once every 2 years or so when I'm that way and need a top up.

aj23 wrote: »

Just pay at the kiosk. Only used P@P a few times and each time something went wrong. This 'quicker' methods usually take longer.

Some don't have them - they're just DIY dispensers.

bodacious

antrobus wrote: »

I'm confused. Does this mean that motor fuels count as food or groceries in MSEland?

Whenever an MSE staff member starts a thread they just seem to throw a dart at the board and post wherever it lands, whether it's a relevant board or not.

I don't think the majority of MSE staff have a clue about forums and how to use them TBH.

This should have been on the Motoring board or at worst on the Credit card board but certainly not on the Food shopping board!

MysteryMe

Well I'm glad it's on this forum as I rarely look at the motoring forum. People go to Asda to shop for food so filling up at a supermarket is something many users on this forum will be doing.

molerat

Oh dear !
MSE News: Asda HALTS trial of temporary £99 'pay at the pump' charge

DigForVictory

Do you suppose they have watchers on MSE?!

As hurrah for an outbreak of listening if so.