Tesco " Pay at Pump" unease

hansi

I bought some petrol at a Tesco filling station ( yes, I still had some money left;) ) to the value of £20 but when I checked my online CC bill, it showed the transaction but it also showed another transaction for £1 which occurred one minute after my receipt was printed. The £1 is still showing as a "pending" item which has not been attached to my account(yet), but I am a little worried. I contacted Capital One who told me initially to contact Tesco which I have done and I am awaiting a reply. Has this happened to anyone else?

bethanyrayne

hansi wrote: »

I bought some petrol at a Tesco filling station ( yes, I still had some money left;) ) to the value of £20 but when I checked my online CC bill, it showed the transaction but it also showed another transaction for £1 which occurred one minute after my receipt was printed. The £1 is still showing as a "pending" item which has not been attached to my account(yet), but I am a little worried. I contacted Capital One who told me initially to contact Tesco which I have done and I am awaiting a reply. Has this happened to anyone else?

This is a reserved amount and will drop off within 7 days.

hansi

Thanks, but what is it, why is it there, and why didn't Capital One tell me that?

Stardust77

It's the 'tester' payment that goes through your card to check the card is valid before you fill up. They have to have something in place to check the card works otherwise they're leaving themselves wide open to abuse.

Lots of companies do it, petrol stations, online grocery shopping, holiday and flight companies. It's very standard practice and will drop off shortly.

hansi

Thanks again, I hadn't noticed it before, that's why I queried it. But if it's a "tester" surely it should go through before I fill up, not after.

exel1966

Standard industry practice, absolutely nothing to be concerned about. As said above it will soon dissappear.
Your average c/s agent will not know anything about this procedure, hence being mis-informed by Capital One.

hansi

Thank you all very much. I feel a lot happier now :beer:

System

never had this happen at morrisons or asda !

hansi

CHRISSYG, it may happen without your knowledge. It doesn't actually appear on your statement, so you can't actually see it till you go online and check the pending items.

exel1966

CHRISSYG wrote: »

never had this happen at morrisons or asda !

It will have done, you just wouldn't have known about it. Usually the pending amount only stays for a few minutes, therefore invisible to the card holder.

johnmoney05

exel1966 wrote: »

Your average c/s agent will not know anything about this procedure, hence being mis-informed by Capital One.

Have to be fair to the credit card company. They didn't mis-inform OP. They only asked him to contact Tesco. Don't blame credit card company for everything.