£120 'charge' under pending transactions

Ergates

peter021072 said:

Just put 'temporary £120 charge to be rebated' on the credit card bill. Job done simple solution. 

There is a very limited amount of space for the transaction description that goes along with a card authorisation.  It'll be the CC processor who put "Domestic purchase" on it, not Tesco.

Ergates

Phoenix72 said:

35har1old said:

peter021072 said:

If you spend money on petrol at Tesco with a new credit card you might find yourself with an additional separate £120 charge under 'pending transactions' titled 'purchase domestic'. The Santander helpline tell me this is rebated before anything appears on the main bill. I can't remember if it's to cover Tesco or the card company, but it created unnecessary worry and a wasted call on their helpline.  Why can't they add 'temporary charge to be refunded'?

It's to prevent drive offs

No it's not.

It's a Visa/Mastercard thing.

No, it really was put in place to combat fuel theft.

Visa/Mastercard don't control the size of the authorisation transaction, the retailer does.

BikingBud

Tesco has received backlash over the new system after a driver was charged £120 after filling up with £15 at an Esso Tesco in Ardwick Green, Manchester, this week.

Filling up with £15, I wish!

Really pleased it has gone up to £120 as when fuel was last @£1:50 per litre I couldn't fill the car and had a discussion with Tesoc about the limitation.

Covers 24 hour service and is common activity as frequently seen with hotels, hire car etc.

born_again

Ergates said:

Phoenix72 said:

35har1old said:

peter021072 said:

If you spend money on petrol at Tesco with a new credit card you might find yourself with an additional separate £120 charge under 'pending transactions' titled 'purchase domestic'. The Santander helpline tell me this is rebated before anything appears on the main bill. I can't remember if it's to cover Tesco or the card company, but it created unnecessary worry and a wasted call on their helpline.  Why can't they add 'temporary charge to be refunded'?

It's to prevent drive offs

No it's not.

It's a Visa/Mastercard thing.

No, it really was put in place to combat fuel theft.

Visa/Mastercard don't control the size of the authorisation transaction, the retailer does.

Sadly you are wrong. This is a Visa/Mastercard Europe regulation. They also set the authorisation amount. It is all part of their card regulations agreed with banks & retailers.

Not sure why you think it to combat theft. As it is only on Pay @ Pump & as such a card has to be placed in terminal to be authorised before pump can dispense fuel. So even if you drove off you would be paying for fuel dispensed 👍

IanManc

born_again said:

Ergates said:

Phoenix72 said:

35har1old said:

peter021072 said:

If you spend money on petrol at Tesco with a new credit card you might find yourself with an additional separate £120 charge under 'pending transactions' titled 'purchase domestic'. The Santander helpline tell me this is rebated before anything appears on the main bill. I can't remember if it's to cover Tesco or the card company, but it created unnecessary worry and a wasted call on their helpline.  Why can't they add 'temporary charge to be refunded'?

It's to prevent drive offs

No it's not.

It's a Visa/Mastercard thing.

No, it really was put in place to combat fuel theft.

Visa/Mastercard don't control the size of the authorisation transaction, the retailer does.

Sadly you are wrong. This is a Visa/Mastercard Europe regulation. They also set the authorisation amount. It is all part of their card regulations agreed with banks & retailers.

Not sure why you think it to combat theft. As it is only on Pay @ Pump & as such a card has to be placed in terminal to be authorised before pump can dispense fuel. So even if you drove off you would be paying for fuel dispensed 👍

This tells us why preauthorisation was introduced, and by whom:

https://www.asda.com/payatpump#:~:text=Why is this happening?,your spending in real time.

Kim_13

Clearly it does prevent theft, even if that was not the only reason for its introduction. If you have to use Pay @ Pump as there is no kiosk or the kiosk is closed, then you cannot drive off without paying since you wouldn't be able to get any fuel without agreeing to the £120 preauthorisation, from which the balance would be taken later. The only way someone would be able to not pay was if the pump did allow more than £120 to be dispensed and there was not enough in the account to cover the extra.

It must make it easier for the kiosk staff since they know who has opted for kiosk and therefore who to watch more closely (and whose number plate to bother with recording, as the potential drive offs are limited to those people.) No fuel is dispensed until they press a button from inside to allow that pump to dispense fuel, allowing them to prevent anyone recognised as a previous offender from filling unless they do it the Pay @ Pump way. 

I don't buy the to stop people going overdrawn reason entirely either. In that moment clearly it does, but they don't know what happens if the retailer is slow to debit for the actual fuel taken. They may need food or have a bill go out which means that there is an overdraft that wouldn't have occurred had the transaction been reconciled promptly. 

Those who do not have credit cards are at the mercy of supermarkets/garages releasing the remaining funds from the £120 promptly, if a kiosk is unavailable. If they have the buttons to preselect that the pump stops filling at say £20, then it seems unhelpful to the consumer if they use that facility to select some lower limit and still have a £120 hold placed.

Why a card company cannot put temp hold in the description is beyond me - it's the same length as domestic bar the space and at least gives a clue to those who weren't expecting the hold.

born_again

Kim_13 said:

Clearly it does prevent theft, even if that was not the only reason for its introduction. If you have to use Pay @ Pump as there is no kiosk or the kiosk is closed, then you cannot drive off without paying since you wouldn't be able to get any fuel without agreeing to the £120 preauthorisation, from which the balance would be taken later. The only way someone would be able to not pay was if the pump did allow more than £120 to be dispensed and there was not enough in the account to cover the extra.

It must make it easier for the kiosk staff since they know who has opted for kiosk and therefore who to watch more closely (and whose number plate to bother with recording, as the potential drive offs are limited to those people.) No fuel is dispensed until they press a button from inside to allow that pump to dispense fuel, allowing them to prevent anyone recognised as a previous offender from filling unless they do it the Pay @ Pump way. 

I don't buy the to stop people going overdrawn reason entirely either. In that moment clearly it does, but they don't know what happens if the retailer is slow to debit for the actual fuel taken. They may need food or have a bill go out which means that there is an overdraft that wouldn't have occurred had the transaction been reconciled promptly. 

Those who do not have credit cards are at the mercy of supermarkets/garages releasing the remaining funds from the £120 promptly, if a kiosk is unavailable. If they have the buttons to preselect that the pump stops filling at say £20, then it seems unhelpful to the consumer if they use that facility to select some lower limit and still have a £120 hold placed.

Why a card company cannot put temp hold in the description is beyond me - it's the same length as domestic bar the space and at least gives a clue to those who weren't expecting the hold.

When the card is put the pump it connects to bank. If there is not enough funds for £120, then it reduces the amount that can be given the the balance of the account (rounded to £10) so if they only had £95 avaiable funds, it would only allow £90 of fuel.
Actual time take to debit the correct amount is down to retailer. But 99.9% of the time the auth of £120 is adjusted to the amount of fuel taken as soon as pump is replaced in the holder 👍