POST OFFICE TRAVEL CARD WARNING

guerdeval

guerdeval

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So yesterday exited Chunnel and stopped at first Total fuel station near exit to fill up with very expensive diesel And to first time use card ,filled with 147 euro from a £1100 balance on card , tried to pay for campsite but card refused, TOTAL OIL have taken a ‘holding fee’ of almost £1000 without any notice whatsoever, I’m left in France with 4 euros until total return the holding fee to the card which may take up to 10 days!!!. Phoned PO in UK this morning and there’s nothing they can help with, how’s that for customer service. :mad:
 
It's a bit OTT to be charged for using a card that they give you to spend money on after making cash difficult to get.

Liz was a Yorkshire bank customer since the 70s, then Virgin bought them and now it is Virgin money (very annoyed they killed off the Yorkshire bank name) the plus side is they don't charge anything so we used that in Ireland and I transferred the money for fuel back to Liz.
 
Pudsey Bear said:
It's a bit OTT to be charged for using a card that they give you to spend money on after making cash difficult to get.

Liz was a Yorkshire bank customer since the 70s, then Virgin bought them and now it is Virgin money (very annoyed they killed off the Yorkshire bank name) the plus side is they don't charge anything so we used that in Ireland and I transferred the money for fuel back to Liz.
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I use the Halifax clarity credit card when abroad, have done for over 10 years.
It’s a normal credit card, but unlike the vast majority of credit cards it’s not loaded. This means you don’t pay the additional 3% when using it abroad, and you can also make cash withdrawals which will only be liable for one months interest on the cash withdrawal only. But if you transfer the withdrawals straight back into the account from another account you pay nothing for cash withdrawals here or abroad. And you always get a good exchange rate. But to be honest I normally take a small amount of currency with me for back up in case we go somewhere were they don’t take credit cards, and have only once made a cash withdrawal and paid 0.6% interest.
There are no annual fees to pay, but you don’t earn anything from it at the end of the year.
So no pre loading, no fees, no 3% loading, and minimal interest if you do decide to use it for cash withdrawals. Honestly it’s much better than any pre loaded cards. When abroad it’s just the same as using your card here. Ignore the error below the site will load up fine.

 
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You must have used the hgv pump, it is quite normal for them to put 150 Euro on hold from the normal pumps
But if you use an hgv pump it will be a 1000 Euro plus
This happens on all cards not just the post office cards
 
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We never use a credit card except for emergencies, and never use unmanned garages if we can help it.
 
Robmac said:
We do Kev only because it gives you an amount of protection on your purchase. Not much help in this situation though.
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Same here, credit cards for everything. Debit card just used to get cash out.

Have used plenty of self service pumps, I knew they held up to 150 euro, but didn't realise they could hold up to 1000 euro.
Although i think its £100 in UK.

What's a have pump BTW?
 
mark61 said:
Same here, credit cards for everything. Debit card just used to get cash out.

Have used plenty of self service pumps, I knew they held up to 150 euro, but didn't realise they could hold up to 1000 euro.
Although i think its £100 in UK.

What's a have pump BTW?
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I ain't got a scooby Mark. I was gonna ask that too.
 
Robmac said:
We do Kev only because it gives you an amount of protection on your purchase. Not much help in this situation though.
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Never got into the habit but we do use them for large buys for the protection, tried to buy a van on one once and they refused so just left a deposit on the CC, but we use debit cards for everything else..

When did supermarkets stop asking if you wanted cash back, it was very convenient.
 
What if you didn't have €1000? On a pre-loaded card, presumably it would just refuse you the fuel, but on a debit card would it potentially put you into overdraft?

€1000 seems excessive, many people will not have that sort of money to spare.
 
I'm confused. Why do they take a holding fee if you have already paid for your fuel.
And yes, what is a have pump?
 
Robmac said:
We do Kev only because it gives you an amount of protection on your purchase. Not much help in this situation though.
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Actually it would Rob so long as your limit was above what’s been put on hold.
Most credit card limits are more than £5000.
 
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There are diesel pumps in French service stations that give you the option via a push button of filling a car or filling an HGV. Press the wrong button and the higher pre filling deposit will be taken.

I have a scooter and it takes around €8 to fill the tank. There have been 2 occasions when deposits of €100 have been taken both at AGEA stations so I avoid these now. Balance of deposit refunded after 3 working days but it can mess up planed cash flow. TOTAL only seem to take the actual value of fuel used so these are my favoured service areas.

Although pay at checkout is the best of course but these are getting rare in France.
 
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