Fraud (disputed) credit card transaction with Lloyds

taurusgb

On our way to catch a ferry yesterday, we filled up at a Total garage in Calais. The cost for the diesel we filled up with was 54 Euro. Tonight I logged into my Lloyds account to check what exchange rate I had been charged and saw that there were two transactions listed under pending for the Total garage, the one I made and another for £134 (the euro amount wasn't available).


I've just got off the phone to Lloyds and I'm furious. Firstly I had to wait 30 minutes to speak to an advisor, only to be told that even though I "say" I did not make the second purchase, it is not counted as fraud because I had already made a transaction with Total, this apparantly means a fraud can never be committed with any provider that you have ever made a purchase from. It is therefore "only" a dispute, and as a dispute, I cannot take any action until the amount moves from pending to my account. After this happens, they will investigate and it "may" be resolved in my favour. He further went on to say that he couldn't say whether they would ring-fence the disputed amount, that he had no idea how long an investigation might take. I finally gave up when he asked me IF I would like the call logged? For goodness sake - why wouldn't that be automatic?

Anyway, can anyone tell me please what the usual timeline is in cases like this? and what, if anything, I can do to get this sorted out swiftly?

Lorian

Did you put the card in the pump to pay? maybe its a 150 euro pre-auth that will just disappear.

[Deleted User]

Given they're both pending, wait to see what gets charged. The larger one is likely to drop off.

If both, it's far more likely to be an error than fraud and should be easily resolved.

worried_jim

Lorian wrote: »

Did you put the card in the pump to pay? maybe its a 150 euro pre-auth that will just disappear.

Sounds like pre auth. If it's not corrected in 48 hours it's time to call back.

taurusgb

But would the correct amount appear as pending as well if that was the case? and why so much?

Lorian

No typically the right mount will get charged and the pre-auth will eventually disappear. can take a few days/week.

Happens in some pumps over here too (£99) and in hotels...

taurusgb

Thank you everyone, fingers crossed that it is a pre-authorisation, but I am still less than impressed with the attitude of the Lloyds employee - and even less impressed with Lloyds if he was correct on all he said.

eskbanker

taurusgb wrote: »

even though I "say" I did not make the second purchase, it is not counted as fraud because I had already made a transaction with Total, this apparantly means a fraud can never be committed with any provider that you have ever made a purchase from.

You're not the first and won't be the last to be bandying around the F word in circumstances like this, but the reality is that all you need to be doing is to be declaring to your card company that a transaction was unauthorised by you, following which they'll go through the standard process for resolving this. No need to allege criminal conduct, or any benefit in doing so - as above, in this case it's highly likely to be a transient pre-authorisation that'll drop off automatically rather than an actual deliberate attempt to remove money from your account unlawfully....

Socajam

Can you not log into your account and send them a message?
That's what I do with Barclaycard. I always receive a reply within 24 hours.

born_again

You wont be the first or last that has claimed fraud on the fact that in the EU, when you use a pre-pay pump, they authorise the FULL amount you can take and then debit for the correct amount. As the amounts do not match they often show together in your available balance.
They tried to do this in the UK either end of last year or earlier this year..... Did not last long due to complaints from people with no funds left in their accounts due to a pending £99.

Just be thankful that it was not taken on as fraud. Or you would have been stuck in the EU with no card...
There is nothing you can do to speed things up. The system will resolve itself in due course.

taurusgb

Thanks for all the responses, interesting - although still irritated. We were in Europe for over a fortnight, filled up 7 times, all garages except one, had prepay pumps, none of the others did this, only the Total garage.


Also, if this is such a "normal" thing to happen, why didn't the LLoyds advisor say so?