Paying for fuel at automated fuel pumps.

[PaulandAngie]

Hi all,

Did touch on this previously within the fuel cost topic. Just back from touring through the Dordogne eventually ending up near Bezier, coming back over the weekend. Whilst requiring fuel in the Dordogne we attempted to purchase fuel at two separate fuel station miles apart and ending up being refused three times on my Mastercard Debit and once on my wife's which was a combination of the trying for the second time due to "what did I do wrong" on the first attempt! contacting the bank expecting some form of block on the account (no block or fund issues) through to the machine must of have been faulty to "lets try your card" Four pending charges are still showing for 520 euros to which I received no cancellation receipt after the refusal message all of which were made a week ago last Friday. On contacting the bank this morning, the latest advice is to see as to whether they are still pending or paid out in a further five days.
We eventually stopped at the first motorway service station which was again automated (close to reserve at this point) but luckily the message came up with "checking with your bank please proceed to fuel application" with a big sigh of relief! There was no kiosk or means of paying for fuel outside of the pump payment (middle of the morning). Cash may be still be king as a bank balance, however, if there's no one to give it too you have a problem.

Stuck with buying the fuel on the motorways coming back which was all successful.

This may have been an isolated issue personally to me location etc? But certainly something that has never been a problem previously even back in March we were happily filling the car up in quiet automated locations saving on the motorway costs.

 

[125BEER]

We used a Starling card at an automated pump and had a pre-payment transaction which was pending for a month even after contacting Starling(who were spot on).
We had the card refused at 2 unmanned pumps but no other problems

Cheers

 

[Chris]

I had to leave that stuff to my wife in France.

My eyesight isn’t great and nor is my interaction with computers or machines.

 

[snowbirds]

We found a lot of auto pumps wouldn't accept uk cards but ok with Caxton FX Euro card so always just use it on all transaction.

 

[K R B]

Hope your wife drives Chris

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[chaser]

Believe it or not we have filled up twice this week on motorways, 1.69.9 both times we have seen prices at over 2.00 at local places.

 

[Lenny HB]

Always use a Halifax Clarity card at the pumps never had any problems.

 

[telsdog]

We have noticed that Total fuel stations are by far the cheapest on autoroute and even beating the supermarkets off autoroute.

 

[Grasmere9]

Always use a Halifax Clarity card at the pumps never had any problems.

Same here! Another good suggestion from a Funster!

 

[jumar]

Interesting event this morning at automated pump....Selected Diesel, amount 50€ just to top up before going into the wilds...the pump dispensed 56€ and charged 50€ this is the government 20p per litre discount that currently applies...
Normally on attended service stations it's calculated at the till....clever stuff this technology.....Thank you Spanish Government for making our trip more affordable...can you stretch your concessions to local Bodega's...only asking..

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[Soycd]

I've not had a problem with Wise card. It's a pre-load Euro card so I can imagine if I had under Euro100 on it then that would get rejected.

 

[Lenny HB]

When in Spain in April we always got 30 cents off at Cespa.

 

[chaser]

Always use a Halifax Clarity card at the pumps never had any problems.

Yeah clarity.

 

[Brains]

3,000 miles of travel and several fill ups earlier this year mostly in Holland, Germany, Austria and Italy.

The issues we found were:
Other than the major card blackout In Germany (see below) we had no problem paying for fuel with a Starling debit card (Mastercard) and a Visa (debit) card.

However in Germany and particularly in Holland, we found a problem paying with any card in a number of major places, including the Albert Heijn supermarkets (like Waitrose).
The issue is that in Holland and Germany they see Visa and Mastercard as Credit cards, not as the debit cards they actually are. The Dutch don't do Credit Cards (It's seen as a loan system, which they do not approve of)

We certainly found cash in far more use that it would be in the UK.

Germany is at least a decade, if not more, behind the UK as far as card use is concerned.

The big problem was in early June.
The Credit Card companies/Banks had been telling the traders to update their PIN machines for ages (at least two years)
The banks then released a software update, right across Europe, the only country that had major problems was Germany, and that was mostly due to old hardware that could not take the new update (only 2 years warning).

Also many of the newer machines had not had the update done automatically, which meant rather than the software update trickling out over a period of weeks, the Germans tried to update all the machines on the same day, which predictably could not be done.
It took a week for most of the modern machines to be updated and at least another 3 weeks for the old machines to be replaced.
The rest of Europe seems to have managed to update without a problem

 

[Coastal Cruiser.]

Have used my Revolut and have had no issues apart from the limit they put on.
Had to go through the process twice at the same pump as it shut off at around €115 was still not full but couldn’t be bothered to go a third time

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[Northern Boy]

I started using a human less fuel station when covid struck. I have used, Cash, Revolut, Wise and they all work fine, the cards take 150 euro as a starter and then charge what you put in. Never had a problem here in the Baltics but then I live here and all my cards are registered here too.

Great news is I cant add a bottle of Coke, a hot dog or donuts. I don't need the potty as I am in my Mh

Win win win for me

 

[nicholsong]

After some of the stories above I will stick to cash and just fill up when I see manned stations.

 

[gus-lopez]

Interesting event this morning at automated pump....Selected Diesel, amount 50€ just to top up before going into the wilds...the pump dispensed 56€ and charged 50€ this is the government 20p per litre discount that currently applies...
Normally on attended service stations it's calculated at the till....clever stuff this technology.....Thank you Spanish Government for making our trip more affordable...can you stretch your concessions to local Bodega's...only asking..

Never seen that before? That would be ok for the people who fill by amount of euros as at present when asking for say 20€ when filled the 20c is taken off so they have to wait for change.
The one I posted last week, Plenoil, is automated but allows cash as well. It just reduces the pump price by 20c. I used it again yesterday but whereas last week it retained 99€ prior to fill yesterday it was 150€.
When i fill jerry cans by euro amount, for machinery use, I always get under as it takes off the discount after.

 

[Chris]

Hope your wife drives Chris

She does, but obviously not as well as me.

 

[bobnick]

I need fuel, i pull into a station, if it's card i use one of my CC or DCs, if it's go inside to pay i do. Sometimes cash sometimes CC or DC, no biggy.

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[philann]

Two stations in France wouldn’t accept visa debit, but we’re OK with a visa credit card. I assume it’s to do with easier authorisation on a credit card. They know funds are there rather than a debit where they may not

 

[Sapper520]

A number of French fuel stations refused our FairFX MasterCard, but never had a problem in Spain or Portugal with it.

Cash is still King in large areas of Germany. Having lived there on two occasions, I would agree with them being many years behind us with card use.

Netherlands, where our son used to live, was a little hit or miss when using any card.

 

[Riverbankannie]

We used a Starling card at an automated pump and had a pre-payment transaction which was pending for a month even after contacting Starling(who were spot on).
We had the card refused at 2 unmanned pumps but no other problems

Cheers

I used my Revolut card at an unmanned Total pump on the 18th. It only shows the pending €200 not the actual amount. Interesting that they tried to take the 200€ twice more in quick succession but both reverted .
When I look at info for this transaction, Revolut say they have given the retailer until Nov 3rd to put through the actual transaction or they will just revert the pending 200€ (Yeah free fuel)
I hope this money is in some sort of holding account otherwise multiply thus by thousands of customers and that is millions on free loan

Thankfully I have enough in the account not to worry about it.

 

[BikerGraham]

Was in France via Holland and Belgium last month and no problem filling up, paying with my Barclaycard. Every time was using an automated pump.

 

[Riverbankannie]

Was in France via Holland and Belgium last month and no problem filling up, paying with my Barclaycard. Every time was using an automated pump.

I had no problem filling up!

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[Riverbankannie]

I used my Revolut card at an unmanned Total pump on the 18th. It only shows the pending €200 not the actual amount. Interesting that they tried to take the 200€ twice more in quick succession but both reverted .
When I look at info for this transaction, Revolut say they have given the retailer until Nov 3rd to put through the actual transaction or they will just revert the pending 200€ (Yeah free fuel)
I hope this money is in some sort of holding account otherwise multiply thus by thousands of customers and that is millions on free loan

Thankfully I have enough in the account not to worry about it.

View attachment 679092

As an update to my post above, it is now November 3rd and just after 1 am this morning my phone pinged with the news that the retailer had not put through the correct amount by the required date and my so my “put aside” 200 € had been put back into my account. So my rather hopeful free fuel turned out to be so. It was €120 we put in the tank.
What a win !
…and the premium bonds came up trumps

 

[Figaro]

After some of the stories above I will stick to cash and just fill up when I see manned stations.

Unfortunately you may have trouble finding a manned filling station on the continent.
And when there is a diesel shortage you have to fill wherever you can.
More and more are fully automated now, rangeing from the simple to use, to the down right overly complicated.
Most have an option to select a language, but not all

 

[Northernraider]

Always use a Halifax Clarity card at the pumps never had any problems.

My Halifax clarity card has also been refused a few times by automates pumps , even had it happen here in Ireland 2 weeks ago ...i was well annoyed because the automated station was 1.99L and I couldn't get it , had to pay 2.05 at the station opposite

 

[nicholsong]

Unfortunately you may have trouble finding a manned filling station on the continent.
And when there is a diesel shortage you have to fill wherever you can.
More and more are fully automated now, rangeing from the simple to use, to the down right overly complicated.
Most have an option to select a language, but not all

Well if one has to use an automated one that sells LPG there can be no argument about filling re-fillable gas cylinders, or do they turn them off if unmanned? What do Total do in France now that they have banned re-fillables?

 

[Riverbankannie]

Well if one has to use an automated one that sells LPG there can be no argument about filling re-fillable gas cylinders, or do they turn them off if unmanned? What do Total do in France now that they have banned re-fillables?

We didn’t need a refill but didn’t see many Total with lpg. Mind you that one with no attendant was the only one we used as they were either closed off and price board not illuminated or had queues as price at Total significantly lower
Very much lower in our case

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