Yup - that's a point I raised earlier in the discussion Janet - except I said shopping not lunch. But quite seriously, if someone only has one card with them and is planning to get petrol and make one or more other purchases it could seriously stymie them. I'd be interested to know what happens to the money while it's "elsewhere" (if it was the UK overnight gilts would spring to mind).
I use this particular petrol station at least twice every week and have never had a problem. Sometimes I use cards of my French bank - sometimes my UK bank. I am absolutely amazed that so many people do not get receipts - particularly in the UK even when asked for they are left in or near the ATM. How on earth people can keep an eye on their finances I do not know - perhaps we now know have a reason why so many people get into debt. However, if after serving yourself, the pistol is properly replaced in its holder and the display shows the cost of the fuel dispensed (which any sensible person would check) then that has to be the end to the transaction
With us I know this happens with my UK credit card not my UK debit card or husbands UK debit card and never with our French bank cards. It really winds me up as I only have a small credit limit on my UK credit card and went to buy a small amount of petrol (40€) and it took 145€ off my card. This took me over the credit limit but in reality I knew I had over 100€ left. I happily went out for lunch but then could not pay with credit card (no charges for use abroad) and had to use debit card with foreign usage fees. Grrrr :-{
We are now careful which cards we use in the petrol stations. French bank card is fine but as we are with CA it is only free usage locally I think so when further afield we use my no charges Zero credit card and that's when we have to watch out.
Nowadays "preloading" your debit card is the rule rather than the exception. We travel regularly in Canada USA and most of Western Europe and find hotels, hire cars, air lines all automatically preload. I know that in the case of Hertz, Air France, British Airways and Holiday Inn this is made very clear in their terms of business.
We advise you advise your bank agent of your concern and ask them, as we did, to ensure that these payments are not taken into account on your bank balance credit assessment.
We never use autofill. In France we never go below half full and always manually fill up at Carrefours or one of the other majors off the Motorways. Just a precaution from someone who had a chain of filling stations.
I always use my Banque Populaire card at the local Intermarche pumps and have never seen a Euro limit. I topped up yesterday and was informed that I was good for 119 liters max (around 158 Euros at current prices), but never have I seen a currency amount limit posted at the pump screen.
Still waiting for the bank to move the payment to the balance but I am really hoping that the comments are correct and eventually it will only be the correct amount taken.
I use intermarche and the max is €90 so this amount is bizzare. The petrol station should have CCTV so if you do report it to the store and to the police etc... you may have a chance of catching the culprit, that is if it in't a mistake.
Happened a on a couple of occasions at the Carrefour petrol station in Eymet, not to me, but to a host of other people. Appeared on the local forum. Exactly as you described. When the affectedf folks went back to the petrol station, it was all sorted out (happened wholesale to loads of people) they claimed a computer glitch and everyone got their money back, however, you do need a receipt, otherwise its impossible to prove what amount of petrol you took! I guess you could take your car down empty and prove that it doesnt hold that much petrol.
Debit/credit card use is still in a kind of 'stone age' here. I have been in developing countries such as Ethiopia and Viet Nam where in quite small towns cards work perfectly well and nobody is ripped off, overcharged, false amounts appear on statements and so on because of using them. Among French friends we have several who will no longer use them because of costly errors that their bank (all with CA mind you) has made and will not own up to or amend. Hmmmm!
Ah - that now makes sense as we've always used our Bqe Pop card!
Hi,when you use a UK card the machine reserves the total allowed and does not correct it until the transaction is complete.This can take a week. I always use my French debit card for automated fuel machines for that reason. Contact your bank and explain the problem.This should not be able to happen if the above isnt the case.
I can understand establishing a limit, but not taking the money. With a hire car it makes more sense as the hirer does take the car away.
As far as I know this has been the process for at least the past 6 years. When I first noticed this I asked my bank and they explained how this works. If you think about it its logical that the machine takes all your details before handing out the goods and a limit is established between the bank and the pump. The French are very good when it comes to any thing to do with automatic checks and measures, they are considered the best they supply the world in all this type of equipment.
Do let us know what your online banking says tomorrow!
If this is the case - I feel even more daft. I shall be very relieved and will watch what happens today - You learn something every day
Most people would never notice as it's usually only 24hrs before the correct amount is on the account and the "reserve" amount gets deleted. It's the same when renting a car, they "pre-approve" a deposit payment that gets taken off your available credit until you return the car and they release it. It's always happened, but not sure if the banks always showed the amounts reserved on your account. These are petrol pumps and not ATMs, there are several things they could do, ask you how much you wanted and only dispense that much etc. But they get €120 from 1000s of people for 24hrs min so I doubt they'll want to change things. You have an option of not using these prepaid pumps and 9 times out of 10 you'll never notice the reserve amount. But use it on a Sunday or have a low balance on your debit card and you may have problems. No French pumps accept my FairFX pre paid Master Card now, I think for this reason!
Another thought - would this mean then that these machines aren't linked up to the bank ATM network?
The reason I ask is because when we've used the automatic machine at Carrefour you put your card and PIN in first before you take the petrol. The machine therefore has your card détails to debit you and can therefore charge you for the amount of petrol you buy.
If the machine is linked up to the network it will know that you have the funds in your account and therefore bill you this once you finish filling up and put the nozzle back in place - at which point (at Carrefour) the card would be returned.
I know this is getting longwinded but my point is WHY would the machine take any more than the cost of the petrol in the first place? If it is just recognising the maximum amount you can spend on the card and allowing you petrol within that limit - what happens if you DON'T actually have the money in your account to settle the bill?
After all we're talking (well I'm talking) debit rather than credit cards. I'm not disputing that they do it but, after mulling it over during the day, I really can't understand why! It could also cause problems for someone if, for e.g, they knew they had enough money in their account for petrol and a bit of shopping - they then wouldn't be able to get their shopping would they?
Is there anything online I can mug up on about this? Is it just petrol pumps?
Ron do you know if this is a new thing? And is it definitely the petrol stations that are doing it and not the banks? It happened to us a couple of months ago at Super U using an ICE pre-payment card - usually a thing we use on holiday - we could have been nearing the end of a holiday with no access to extra money. We queried it with ICE the same day and it disappeared from the statement straight away, so there's no record of it having happened.
Thanks for that Ron! Have to say I'd never noticed.
They take the maximum amount that you could take straight away and then it takes a few days for the correct amount to be debited from the bank and the deposit amount refunded. Sorry it was €50 and not €70. Without taking the deposit what would happen if you didn't have €50 in your account after filling up?