Don't use Esso Pay-at-Pump!!!

Billy-no-Money

thescouselander wrote: »

I dont see the problem - it costs almost £60 to fill the tank of most cars anyway.

Errr.....do motorbikes not count then?
Does everyone only fill up when their tank's completely empty?

bestpud

So Tesco garages don't do this?

I use the pay at pump option at Tesco and I've not had a problem with funds being unavailable for days.

I'd know if they were because I rarely have a £60 in available funds...

Glad I read this thread as I will look out for it elsewhere!

thescouselander

Billy-no-Money wrote: »

Errr.....do motorbikes not count then?
Does everyone only fill up when their tank's completely empty?

Ok, valid point I suppose. The difference still isn't going to be a huge amount though so its not going to cause a problem ulness you're down to your last few quid. I bet most people dont even notice.

davetrousers

OLD THREAD ALERT

This thread was from February 2008

Jakg

Wig wrote: »

Why do the petrol pumps need to do this? I can understand a hotel, but a petrol transaction is done and dusted within a few minutes, there's no need to reserve any amount at least not for longer then it takes to fill up the tank.

Because you put the card in, THEN you put the fuel in - they have no idea how much fuel you will use 'till the end of the transaction, and what happens then if you do a runner / dont have enough cash to pay.

computershack

Wig wrote: »

Why do the petrol pumps need to do this? I can understand a hotel, but a petrol transaction is done and dusted within a few minutes, there's no need to reserve any amount at least not for longer then it takes to fill up the tank.

Because they don't know how much you're going to put in so they reserve the amount that takes you to the limit the pump will dispense in a single go and then refund/bill the difference. Perfectly logical.

The problem is that the OP wanted to put, say £20 in the tank and maybe had £30 in the bank but how is the petrol pump to know that they only wanted to put £20 in? And if the OP had put more than £30 in, the payment would've been rejected then the retailer is out of pocket.

Honestly, it doesn't take much thought to work it out. :rolleyes:

Wig

So simple to remedy, just tell the pump how much you are going to fill up with before dispensing the fuel, then the pump can stop itself as it nears the pre authorised amount.

Kilty_2

I've never noticed this happening - I always pay with a Visa Debit card and it says I'm authorised to draw £99 worth of fuel - if it was authorising £99 on my card every time I did that I'd certainly notice since my available balance is often not much more than that

(not at Esso, but Tesco/Asda/Morrisons)

jackieb

I use Asda pay-at-pumps and have never had any more than the actual amount taken out of my account.