MORRISONS shoppers have been warned to look out for £100 pending charge when they refuel.
Drivers filling up at the supermarket’s petrol stations and use the pay at pump service are subject to a pre-authorisation check.
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The checks are designed to make sure that customers have sufficient funds in their accounts to cover the cost of the petrol.
To use the pay at pump service you have to enter your card and PIN before filling up with fuel. The pre-authorisation check ringfences cash to cover the cost.
Morrisons customers used to be “charged” £1 for this, before the exact amount is debited.
But it is now £100 and some shoppers have been caught out by the rise.
Tesco and Sainsbury’s shoppers faced a similar surprise last year when the amount went up.
The cash never leaves the account and you’re only ever charged for the amount of fuel you fill up with.
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But you can’t spend the ringfenced cash until it’s been released.
Customers have complained that waiting for the money to become available again has left them short.
One shopper caught out has warned others about the temporary charge after filling up with £30 of petrol.
Although she had enough money to cover the fuel stop, her account showed as -£20 in her overdraft.
The cash remained unavailable for two days, and others have reported similar waits for the funds to show again.
“I had this too in Redditch and visited the store three times and it’s still not back in my account five days later,” one said.
Another replied: “Wow, didn’t even know this, will always pay inside from now on.”
Others caught out recently have also complained and warned others about the charge.
“So angry. Please be careful using paying at the pump” said one.
Another said: “Be aware! Morrisons pay at pump petrol are pre authorising a payment of £100! I didn’t realise as it was usually £1 there but I left the garage -£100 plus the cost of my petrol…. I know they will refund in 48 hours but still…. that was not expected.”
One commenter advised shoppers “never use pay at pump if you’re low on money”.
The new system has been brought in my card issuers Visa and Mastercard, not the supermarkets themselves
We’ve contacted Visa and Mastercard for comment and will update when we hear back.
On its website Morrisons said the changes came in from 1 November, 2021 and advises customers to pay inside the petrol station to avoid the £100 pre-authorisation charge.
Alex Neill, CEO of Resolver previously urged customers to flag the non-refund as soon as possible.
He said: “If you find that the charge has not been released or refunded after a day or two contact your bank or credit card provider immediately, explaining what has happened.
“You should get an immediate reversal of the funds.”
The British Retail Consortium which represents retailers, including supermarkets warned card issuers and banks that they need to take action to help customers understand the rules.
The system was first trialled in 2018 at Asda forecourts before being scrapped due to backlash from drivers after the funds were being withheld from customers for days.
At the time, the supermarket blamed the banks for not immediately returning the holding funds.
But last year, “pre-authorisation checks” were introduced again after updated banking infrastructure was put in place.
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