Complaint Review: AMOCO - Fairmont Heights Maryland

I have heard that this is a practice at some gas stations, although I have never seen it myself. When you use a debit card at the pump to buy gas, the pump has no way of knowing how much gas you will buy and whether you have enough money in your account to pay for a tank full. So they automatically generate a "temporary" charge of 50 or 60 bucks to see if your bank will approve payment. (This means you cannot buy $1.00 worth of gas unless you have 50 or 60 dollars in your checking account.) At some time shortly after the sale the "temporary" charge is supposed to be replaced with the actual sale price, but this may not happen until after the next business day. This will also tie up some of your money for a few days. And if all you had in your account was 50 or 60 bucks you are broke during that time. Six days is an outrageous amount of time to hold the customer's money. I also feel it is deceitful not to inform the customer that his funds will be encumbered this way, whether it is 6 seconds or 6 months. File a complaint with your bank. They have far more clout in dealing with Amoco than you do.

I have heard that this is a practice at some gas stations, although I have never seen it myself. When you use a debit card at the pump to buy gas, the pump has no way of knowing how much gas you will buy and whether you have enough money in your account to pay for a tank full. So they automatically generate a "temporary" charge of 50 or 60 bucks to see if your bank will approve payment. (This means you cannot buy $1.00 worth of gas unless you have 50 or 60 dollars in your checking account.) At some time shortly after the sale the "temporary" charge is supposed to be replaced with the actual sale price, but this may not happen until after the next business day. This will also tie up some of your money for a few days. And if all you had in your account was 50 or 60 bucks you are broke during that time. Six days is an outrageous amount of time to hold the customer's money. I also feel it is deceitful not to inform the customer that his funds will be encumbered this way, whether it is 6 seconds or 6 months. File a complaint with your bank. They have far more clout in dealing with Amoco than you do.

I have heard that this is a practice at some gas stations, although I have never seen it myself. When you use a debit card at the pump to buy gas, the pump has no way of knowing how much gas you will buy and whether you have enough money in your account to pay for a tank full. So they automatically generate a "temporary" charge of 50 or 60 bucks to see if your bank will approve payment. (This means you cannot buy $1.00 worth of gas unless you have 50 or 60 dollars in your checking account.) At some time shortly after the sale the "temporary" charge is supposed to be replaced with the actual sale price, but this may not happen until after the next business day. This will also tie up some of your money for a few days. And if all you had in your account was 50 or 60 bucks you are broke during that time. Six days is an outrageous amount of time to hold the customer's money. I also feel it is deceitful not to inform the customer that his funds will be encumbered this way, whether it is 6 seconds or 6 months. File a complaint with your bank. They have far more clout in dealing with Amoco than you do.

I have heard that this is a practice at some gas stations, although I have never seen it myself. When you use a debit card at the pump to buy gas, the pump has no way of knowing how much gas you will buy and whether you have enough money in your account to pay for a tank full. So they automatically generate a "temporary" charge of 50 or 60 bucks to see if your bank will approve payment. (This means you cannot buy $1.00 worth of gas unless you have 50 or 60 dollars in your checking account.) At some time shortly after the sale the "temporary" charge is supposed to be replaced with the actual sale price, but this may not happen until after the next business day. This will also tie up some of your money for a few days. And if all you had in your account was 50 or 60 bucks you are broke during that time. Six days is an outrageous amount of time to hold the customer's money. I also feel it is deceitful not to inform the customer that his funds will be encumbered this way, whether it is 6 seconds or 6 months. File a complaint with your bank. They have far more clout in dealing with Amoco than you do.