Buying Diesel with Credit Card…Caution.

[Rick@62]

Filled up in northern France the other day prior to heading south. Used a ‘normal, branded’ garage.

Went into the forecourt office and spoke the the fella behind the till, no problem with the credit card but you have to register it first before they will dispense fuel!

Hmmmm…. Well ok, so put the card in his machine, PIN code etc, card was authorised and returned to me and outside I went to fill up. Cost was about 76 euros. Tank now full, went back in to get the receipt, all good, figures and price matches the pump, so off I went.

That evening I had a niggling feeling about it so logged on to the Barclays app…WTF! It was showing a transaction charge of £172.51! I hadn’t used the card for anything else.

Phoned Barclaycard the next morning to report it, they said they will monitor the transaction and let me know.

Checked my Barclaycard account today and the cost has now been amended.

So, a cautionary tale.

For the rest of the trip I used Carrefour fuel stations where you pay at the pump and get a receipt. Have checked the Barclays app and they are all good.

 

[dunnah01]

Common on most European forecourts to pre authorise €100 on the card. It gets knocked off pretty quickly

 

[treblid]

It was showing a transaction charge of £172.51!

That is the €200 pre authorisation before you take fuel. Pretty standard practice at fuel pumps for a while. The correct amount is subsequently processed against your card.

 

[StillGoing]

What normally happens is there is a hold of a certain amount put on your card. It gets reversed a few days later. It’s annoying but sadly the way of the world due to drive offs.

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

It looks as if your card was charged to 200 euros ( £172.51)and then the actual amount of fuel cost was then deducted .
This usually happens on unmanned stations and is usually corrected the following day

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[chaser]

Yeah nothing unusual about it but not very good if you are close to your limit, so wants remembering.

 

[Rick@62]

Thanks for the info. If you don’t know then you don’t know, now, thanks to the replies I now do.
Thanks all.

 

[royandsharont]

On this trip throughout Spain at various types of stations this has not happened to me once, only the correct amount taken has been immediately charged.

 

[cyberyacht]

At least the amount has been raised to a reasonable figure. Last time I had this rigmarole, the pump stopped at €99 and I hadn't finished. It then wouldn't let me use the same card again so I had to start all over again with a different card. I could have charged an EV in the time it all took.

 

[TheBows]

I have no problem with the two hundred (or whatever) euro holding transaction charged to a credit card. Most of us have a credit limit where this is insignificant. The BIG mistake I made was to pay using an HSBC pre-paid debit card. The holding transaction then becomes REAL money that you no longer have, and my bank told me it will take 21 days for the refund to come through. Actually took about 14 days. Won't do that again!

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[Ray-Vic]

It's not only Europe, it happens in the UK as well. Last week Barclaycard text me with queries on transactions, one of them being a £120 Tesco pay at pump transaction, at the same time as a £70.60 one. Turns out that was an authorisation sum on the pay at pump.

 

[carolyn]

MHF to the rescue again. Those of us who are regular travellers know this is normal and wouldn’t turn a hair but clearly it’s not widely known. I must remind the children. One is going to Spain and hiring a car soon.

It’s a bit like the 10 year passport thing and the added months that used to happen. We probably think how dumb, everyone knows that. It crossed my mind to check with youngest son as I realised I’d bought his last one when he was 18 and in the Sixth form. Fortunately I had a copy stored on laptop, don’t all Mums! He might have been caught out. He bought his first flat last year so hadn’t been abroad, hadn’t really been on his radar, he doesn’t recall reading anything about it.

 

[prb]

Tesco pre-authorises £120 every time I fill up - even though my Triumph only takes 14 litres! Comes almost straight back out again.

 

[Rumour and Innuendo]

And that is why we use our Starling Bank card. Obviously they still pre-authorise the card, but unlike some banks and credit card companies, the releasing of the ringfenced cash is almost instant sometimes. It has never taken more than 20 minutes. Coupled with free transactions and cash withdrawals, which we have never used, it is perfect for us.