Go fuel station (Cabra)

horse7

Is this unusual, filled up with 50€ petrol used my revolut card which had 100€ on it, the merchant (go fuel) took /held 126€ , because there wasn't 126€ in the account it automatically took the sterling equivalent from my revolut sterling money, is there any way to stop go doing this, they have no contact number apart from Kyle Moore road station which doesn't answer the phone. Seems to be a bad set up on go,s part, simpler to have an option to choose from ¹0/20/30/40/50€ etc. Thoughts please.

antodeco

Sorry I'm confused. You tried to purchase €50 of fuel and they tried taking €126?

horse7

Basically yes, put my card in, machine says okay take out the card it's good, got 50€ petrol, the card holds 126€ with the vendor, because I haven't got 126€ in Euro on my card it takes the payment of 40£ in sterling from my card, it releases the 126€ and takes the sterling but also charges an exchange weekend fee. These are all on my revolut card. I have no way of contacting Go to get more information.

Arnout

I'm not entirely sure who to blame here - Go or Revolut.

The way this works with these unmanned petrol stations, is that a certain amount of money gets reserved from your bank account. As there is no way of knowing for the machine how much fuel you're going to need, the threshold is high enough that most people can just fill up the tank without any problems (within the limits of your card / bank account of course). After you've finished filling up, the final amount is calculated, the reservation gets reversed and the correct amount is debited from your account. Although € 126 is a bit weird amount as a threshold. Unless Go bases that on a certain amount of litres instead of a rounded number in euros.

Now with Revolut being a bit different, with the multiple currencies on one card (apparently, I've heard of Revolut, but I'm not familiar with the details), it looks like the wrong currency gets prioritised.

So you'd probably have to discuss this with Revolut rather than with Go. As that might take a while, one way to negate this issue would be to have a card on hand from a different bank (a 'normal' bank account) or a credit card that you use if you go to an unmanned petrol station.

horse7

That would be my thoughts too and I have checked with revolut and because the merchant held 126€ it caused a problem, so I wanted to contact go who it seems impossible.

Arnout

They blame each other, common occurrence when there's multiple parties involved. And the consumer is stuck in the middle.

I still think it's Revolut. Go just holds € 126 regardless of what card you produce. Euro or Sterling, debit or credit, domestic or foreign (I'm sure if I stick my Dutch credit card in the machine it'll also hold € 126). All Go's computer does is ask the bank if you're good for the money and it's up to the bank to say yes or no.

For instance if you've almost reached the limit on your card, only € 80 left, then the bank will only release € 80 (which in your case still would've been enough). If € 30 left on the card, then the bank would release € 30 and the petrol pump would cut out upon reaching that amount even if your tank isn't full yet.

horse7

So 126€ is the number they work on for everyone?or if I only have 40€ on my card that is all I will get?

Arnout

Like I said it's an odd number. But that's normally how it works, yes.

G_R

I don't think it's really a revolut issue. It's a feature of their cards, more so than anything.

If you don't have sufficient funds in the wallet of the currency you are spending in, it will then take it from a different currency (it has some order to what currencies it goes to first, but in bit sure what it is).

I think the issue is the station placing an unusually large hold on the card.

Arnout

What makes you think € 126 is unusually large? With fuel prices over € 2 a litre not so long ago, that's only good for 60 litres.

Gumbo

It’s a preauthorised debit. Refunded in the coming hours or so.

28064212

https://www.visa.co.uk/pay-with-visa/pay-at-pump.html (UK based, but same principle)

horse7

I wasn't expecting to pay for foreign exchange at the petrol station , that's all.

antodeco

€126 is £100 in old money!

Is there not a way on those machines where you select how much you want. IE select €50 and it distributes €50 in fuel? Or do they keep pumping fuel until you stop, and charge you afterwards?

Arnout

They keep pumping until you stop or until you reach the authorised limit (in this example € 126).

I think Revolut should be self-aware of the issue and ask which currency (or currencies) you want to use. Not unlike a creditcard payment in a foreign currency. If I need to pay an amount in Sterling online with my credit card, I will get the question if I want to pay that in Sterling or in my local currency (so euros).

But that probably requires somebody to upgrade the software being used at petrol stations and then we're back to square one: is that the petrol stations' responsibility or the banks'?

ronanphilip

Contact Details for GO

LCC Oil, 16 Churchtown Road, Cookstown, Co. Tyrone BT80 9XD T: 028 8676 5588 E:info@goforecourt.com

LCC Oil, 18-19 College Green, Dublin 2, Co. Dublinoffice 048 8676 5588 E:info@goforecourt.com

horse7

No.

Hotblack Desiato

Is there not a way on those machines where you select how much you want. IE select €50 and it distributes €50 in fuel?

That's how the Maxol pay at pump stations work. Pick an amount and the pump will not exceed that. You get charged for the actual amount used, if less.

horse7

That's maxol this is Go.

Hotblack Desiato

No shít

FlinkyBoss

Hi all,

A bit late in the game perhaps but the simple answer to this is that there's a "handshake" done between a Merchant's Payment Terminal in this case at Go's Petrol Station...

During this process the Merchant's Terminal checks with the Bank/Card issuer that there's funds available UP TO an arbitrary limit (set by the Merchant's computer whizz kids at some point...)!

That initiates a "Pre-Auth" that basically blocks that amount from disappearing while your ACTUAL transaction takes place...

This pre authorization SHOULD disappear shortly afterwards and by right should NOT make any demands on your ACTUAL FUNDS! Any foreign exchange charges etc. should in a case like the one described above, be returned by the bank/card people!

How do I know these things you may ask... Because I've been desperately seeking a contact number for GO myself today...

I bought €53.01 of Diesel at GO - Old Cabra RD Dublin last Friday night and was asked for my PIN Twice (the Terminal suggested my first attempt was wrong 😆). On Saturday I spotted an extra charge "in progress" from GO the same night for €125, in my BoI Banking 365 app!

Hence I called MasterCard (in my case) to dispute this transaction and they verified that it was simply a "Pre-Authorization" that hadn't been removed yet and should disappear within the next day or so...

So that's it folks... If the OP was robbed (exchange rate wise etc.) in this case, AND it didn't get automatically canceled, I'd be requesting a repayment from the card people. It's up to them to raise a query with a merchant if there are any weird transactions hitting your account!

I'm still looking to contact GO though and kindly request that they UP that Pre-Authorization to €150 or more... So the pump doesn't stop pumping Kerosene just before I fill my last barrel for our Home Heating Tank!🤣

Sure, I can do multiple Transactions but it seems a bit crazy when at the time of writing, I'm only a couple of liters short!

GO absolutely ROCK as far as honest fuel pricing in my humble opinion! 🍀

RiderOnTheStorm

dont know the answer to the original Q, but I have a fair idea why it reserves 126 as a specific number .... I've seen it enough around 2002! One (old) irish pound is 1.269 euros. So 100 pounds is 126e . A default of 100 makes more sense, nice round number. We wrote a lot of conversion programs around then that just multiplied all money amounts by 1.2697 .... hard part was figuring out whats a money amount, and whats a date / etc . Seems to have worked :-)

FlinkyBoss

Actually...

You're right but also...

In my case the Pre-Authorization was for exactly €125...

The reason for that EXTRA €1 I found in GO's "About" info on Facebook this afternoon...

They explained that SOME Card companies have elected to or HAVE TO charge that ONE EURO as a part of their security measures, according to GO...

I'm adding a screenshot of their info here. I'm new to this forum so let's see if it works 😆

Ahhh yes, success means: "I suck less!" lol🍀

FlinkyBoss

I know, I know... The fact that they're a British company means that they mention charging "£1" on their Northern Ireland Facebook Page...

I already messaged them and asked them to add some info regarding their Stations etc. down here too.

Here's hoping! 🍀

fcojaviergl

You can open a complaint to revolt, and they will manage it.

cc

If you have multiple Revolut currency accounts you can disable / re-enable them to prevent them from being charged / preauthorised in case your default Euro balance can't cover a charge