Petrol Forecourt now charging mandatory holding fees, who is responsible for the charge?

molerat

martinbainbridge1975 said:

as above, Tesco hold £1 reserve then the transaction appears 2/3 days later

Don't hold anything on my Lloyds MC CC

Fingerbobs

molerat said:

martinbainbridge1975 said:

as above, Tesco hold £1 reserve then the transaction appears 2/3 days later

Don't hold anything on my Lloyds MC CC

Tesco Pay-at-Pump always reserves £1 for me. Maybe it differs by location or by card.

VoxNonIncerta

Sandtree said:

VoxNonIncerta said:

I recently filled up to £99 at Sainsbury's and noticed a holding fee of £100 on my credit card. This is the first time it has happened and I assumed it was due to the £99 max being used. I contacted my bank Nationwide who said it was Sainsbury's that have put this in place and when I contacted Sainsbury's they said it was Visa/Mastercard via your bank who have put this in place. So my main question is who actually is charging me?

In addition to this I did ask my bank directly as to how an unknown, unauthorised transaction could be approved? Why is it even necessary considering I've paid for my petrol and why is it specifically a fuel issue, you don't get the same charge for shopping. None of these questions could be answered. They coming back saying don't worry about it and that it will drop off in 7 days, my response was to say how about don't do it at all.

Is this legal that they can just place this charge without notification or authorisation?

No one is charging you... the petrol pump requests authorisation for £100, assuming it receives it then it starts dispensing petrol. Once you have stopped fueling up then it will request funds for the amount actually taken. The charge should cause the the authorisation to drop away but sometimes it will stick in which case it falls away in line with your bank's policy for dropping authorisations which is normally 7-10 days.

The most common time you will see similar happening is when you check into a hotel and they ask you to give your card for any food/drinks you want to charge to your room. As the amount you will spend isn't known at the time of check-in they either have a fixed amount, a per night amount or a formula (eg % of room rate) and will get authorisation for this amount but when you check out they will charge the actual amount. 

It's not a charge in that you get it back in 7-10 days but it's again something you need to check to ensure that it's been done.

The whole thing doesn't make sense as you are authorised to fill up so why apply the temporary charge? It doesn't change the fact that you have still paid for your fuel. If you go into the main shop and spend the same amount it doesn't charge you.

With regard your example of a Hotel that makes sense as there may be unforeseen expenses or disputes from renting the room and you are always notified of the charge prior and its agreed.

I spoke to Sainsbury's customer service team and they are equally frustrated and they have a form that you can fill out that will return the money sooner.

But all of this goes back to my original question, the customer doesn't want it, Sainsbury said it's not requested by them and my bank also stated it's something they don't approve of. So what is the point considering you have already paid for your goods? 

eskbanker

VoxNonIncerta said:

The whole thing doesn't make sense as you are authorised to fill up so why apply the temporary charge? It doesn't change the fact that you have still paid for your fuel.

I think you're missing the point of the exercise - the temporary 'charge' is what gives you the authorisation to fill up (for an as-yet-unknown amount at that stage), and is ring-fenced before you do so.  It should drop off immediately after the actual (by then known) amount is actually charged to the card as a confirmed transaction once you've filled up but this doesn't always happen straight away and so the ring-fenced authorisation may remain in place until it times out.

VoxNonIncerta said:

But all of this goes back to my original question, the customer doesn't want it, Sainsbury said it's not requested by them and my bank also stated it's something they don't approve of.

As highlighted earlier, it's the card schemes driving this, but the other parties involved will also be happy to improve anti-fraud controls - don't be under any illusion that underpaid and overworked customer service agents will be in a position to explain corporate policies in any meaningful detail!

Fingerbobs

VoxNonIncerta said:

With regard your example of a Hotel that makes sense as there may be unforeseen expenses or disputes from renting the room and you are always notified of the charge prior and its agreed.

Isn't it exactly the same though? The fuel pump doesn't know how much fuel you're going to buy, in the same way that the hotel doesn't know what additional expenses they will need to charge you for.

VoxNonIncerta

Thank you think I get it now, it's not happened to me before. I guess that explains why nearly everyone at the forecourt goes into the shop to pay, so a system that was designed to reducing queuing time at the pump no longer works because of this. Fingerbobs - I'm not sure it is the same you put in your PIN then charged after, I can't see how that can be exploited? And there what is the need for 'protection'. 

[Deleted User]

The authorisation should be claimed when the actual fuel debit is made. If this is not happening promptly, this is the fault of the fuel provider.

However, it's simply a temporary reduction in credit limit - it won't have any cost to you. 

amexblue

Presumably If it's a debit card and your have limited funds it could clean you out until it's refunded?

VoxNonIncerta

Also what if your doing multiple trips to the fuel pumps each transaction adds up. My point of view remains its unnecessary and an annoyance and it's missing the mark on what is 'supposedly' is meant to do. 

Migster

VoxNonIncerta said:

Also what if your doing multiple trips to the fuel pumps each transaction adds up. My point of view remains its unnecessary and an annoyance and it's missing the mark on what is 'supposedly' is meant to do. 

The logic is that it ensures you have the funds to pay before the fuel is dispensed. If you are in a shop and have insufficient funds to pay they can just put stuff back on the shelves, but that's not really an option if you've just put 50 litres of fuel into your car.