A S D A - Pay At Pump Furore

[sunny-dave]

I tend to avoid Pay At Pump (and supermarket petrol) - but sometimes there's no alternative - so beware :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44052530

It's only a "pre-authorisation" - which is no problem if you have enough spare on your card (or cash in your bank account) to ride out the hit to your available cash until the £99 is released - but I can see some people who live 'close to the edge' being seriously inconvenienced if the ring-fenced funds aren't released for a couple of days (rather than the few minutes that it should be).

[TheChair]

Just for the info of jourdain2 and any other Brexitoddlers on here, this has absolutely nothing to do with EU directives, and is an extension of a system that has long been in use when hiring a car or renting a hotel room.

[jourdain2]

Then, The Chair, the Daily Telegraph is peddling misleading information - my answer was given whilst I was reading the article in today's paper and was a direct quote. I suggest you take it up with them and review your understanding. Either you or the DT is wrong, n'est ce pas?

[Mamyalynne]

//Supermarket petrol pumps, including Asda, are starting to charge drivers a £99 fee to pay at the pump under a new European-style rule change by Visa and Mastercard.//

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/05/08/petrol-stations-introduce-new-99-charge-pay-pump/

Maybe they later dropped the incorrect use of 'Directive'.

[jourdain2]

Thank you, Mamya. They probably did change the wording, but my Thesaurus gives 'directive' as a synonym for 'rule' anyway.

[237SJ]

I haven't read the whole thread but I would imagine that this works like high end hotels where they take a swipe of your credit or debit card. They put a certain amount onto it (say £500 upwards but it's usually nearer £1000) but the money never goes onto the card. If you do a runner though, the money will be taken off that card. The first time I encountered this system I complained that I would lose out on the buying and selling exchange rates on my card but as there is never really any money put on the card, it isn't a problem

[THECORBYLOON]

The companies can limit the amount of fuel available.

'The new system is designed to protect consumers and the petrol station, according to Mastercard.

"If customers don't have the required funds in their bank account, a further step is available to petrol stations which allows them to check what available funds a customer has, enabling a lower value of fuel to be dispensed," the spokesperson explained.

In short, that means that if you only have £40 available in your account, you will only be able to buy £40-worth of petrol, under the new system'