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Original poster

Tesco taking money without authorisation

33 replies

justsue · 16/02/2011 22:01

I check my bank every couple of days and to my amazement found a transaction for £1.00 coming out of my account. When I checked with my bank it turned out it was Tesco!. It appears after many phone calls and going into the branch that when I paid for shopping of £26.56, they actually took £1.00 first to "check my card was valid and not a fraud".

The manager of the store said that Tesco every so often take a pound from a debit card/credit card to check that it is valid and then it goes back into your account within 5-7 working days. My arguement to this is. What if I did not have the spare pound for them to take. What if I had £27.00 in my account and by them taking the £1.00 sent me overdrawn, I would then be charged bank charges of up to £30.00. Surely I am NBU in saying this is not right....

OP posts:
FabbyChic · 16/02/2011 22:02

They always take that, but they don't actually take it it sits pending for 10 days before you get it back.

Asda do this as well.

saffy85 · 16/02/2011 22:04

YANBU

T mobile do something similar when you set up a new contract with them but take a penny. They also tell you this first.

Don't understand the logic of Tesco doing this at all if all you're doing is buying your weekly shop.

RevoltingPeasant · 16/02/2011 22:04

Shock Shock Shock

That is fraudulent IMO. Cue huffy letter to head office. Seriously.

Of course you are right: what if you were at the limit of your overdraft and that one pound resulted in your being charged fees? What if you didn't have an overdraft and your legitimate transaction then did not go through?

BT recently tried to start charging me £1 a month for some bollox 1571 and the guy was amazed when I rang up and argued about it. It's my money, damnit, and if I don't want you taking a pound, that's that!

Angry for you. Complain!!

saffy85 · 16/02/2011 22:05

Really? I am sooooo ignorant Blush

HecateQueenOfWitches · 16/02/2011 22:06

they don't take it take it, iyswim. it is still there, it's just held. reserved if you like. what happens is if the retailer hasn't taken it after - i think it's 15 days - it is just released.

Original poster
justsue · 16/02/2011 22:07

I am actually going to contact Tesco Head Office and if they do not reply I am going to go to Watchdog. It is not the £1 its the blinking principle. I did not authorise that payment they took it without asking me. What would they do if I walked into Tesco and said "I am taking a loaf of bread but will pay you in ten days time".. Mmm think the local police would be involved in that one

OP posts:
HecateQueenOfWitches · 16/02/2011 22:08

Hmm and for some reason, although I read your op, I didn't actually read the bugger and am simply repeating what you've already said Hmm god knows what I thought I was reading.

ignore me.

Original poster
justsue · 16/02/2011 22:09

HecateQueen: It is not availible to me though. Don't get me wrong it is not going to cause problems but for some people it would that £1 makes all the difference

OP posts:
HecateQueenOfWitches · 16/02/2011 22:45

No, I know. I did post again to say that I clearly didn't take in what you were saying in your op and decided to make up my own Blush

I think I'm tired.

Taking a quid when you place your internet order is one thing (and I suspect is what I decided your OP was about Grin ), but reserving a quid when you are buying your shopping in store is bonkers.

How can reserving a quid combat fraud or make sure there are funds? they take out the money for the shopping so they know the card works!

FabbyChic · 16/02/2011 22:47

It is not fraudulent it is veryfying your card the same as when you put your card on PayPal for the first time it verifies it and charges a £1, you get it back when they fail to collect.

They are not reserving a pound they are verifying that the card is valid. If you don't want them to do it don't bloody shop online they do it for every order you place for your shopping, Asda do too, I have no doubt that other sites also do it.

FabbyChic · 16/02/2011 22:49

THEY HAVE NOT TOOK IT, it will never be taken, but it does go in a pending balance on your card waiting to be taken, it will however NEVER be taken.

If you don't like it get off your arse and go and do your shopping on foot.

PerArduaAdNauseum · 16/02/2011 22:49

Fabbychic - she's talking about shopping instore not online, isn't she?

Sounds like another reason to avoid Tesco to me...

HecateQueenOfWitches · 16/02/2011 22:51

she didn't do her shop online.

or did she?

I'm confused now Grin

if she did do the shop online then what I said in my first post about reserving a quid and it gets released after some days. If shop was done instore then it's bonkers.

RevoltingPeasant · 16/02/2011 22:53

Fabby, I thought she was talking about instore.

OP...?

Grevling · 16/02/2011 23:23

Pay cash instead. No arguments then :)

Seriously though. I wouldn't bother going to the head office or watchdog. Your not going to change the way the world operates so just sit back, take a deep breath and chill the fuck out.

Life really is too short.

melpomene · 16/02/2011 23:53

I've never heard of this. When I registered with paypal (a few years ago now) they deposited a few pence in my account for verification purposes; they didn't charge me anything.

Bogeyface · 17/02/2011 00:32

When I shop online I get a "ghost" transaction of £2 for them to confirm the card is valid. It never actually leaves my account but it is fucking annoying because I only use a certain account for my online shopping to avoid fraud/theft. I put in exactly what I need from my other account to cover the amount of whatever I am buying on the day I am buying it, so the running balance is usually less than £1. So there have been times when I have forgotten to transfer money first, and checked out at Tesco online and they say that my card has been declined because the ghost transaction is refused. But they dont *actually check out until they have done the shopping which could be up to a week later. And who is to say that just because they can do the £2 transaction, that I have the £70 or whatever in there that is needed for the shopping?

Its a stupid system but I dont think that kickiing up a stink will change it.

Bogeyface · 17/02/2011 00:33

Meant to say that "when i shop online AT TESCO"

berryshake · 17/02/2011 09:47

A car-hire company did this to me and the DP, which meant we had no money for petrol. Angry Fabulous, thanks(!)

pinkthechaffinch · 17/02/2011 10:23

Paypal also DEPOSITED 2 small amounts of money into my account when it was set up and then took them back the following week.

It irritates me when Tesco do this-just another example of their arrogance. If it is to check fraud and verify details, why can't they do the same as Paypal? be a damn sight more courteous.

weblette · 17/02/2011 10:56

Paypal also tells you what it's doing and why.

Original poster
justsue · 19/02/2011 13:45

Fabbychic I shopped in the store not online. For what it is worth I have spoken to Tesco and voiced my concerns that the payment was not authorised and today have received £20.00 in vouchers with a apology and some rubbish explanation that they do it randomly. My point to them was that if they do it to 1000 customers per week, they are gaining the interest on our money which we had not in fact GIVEN THEM

OP posts:
StiffyByng · 19/02/2011 14:40

Pending still counts against your balance anyway. While I was on holiday, I paid a restaurant bill on my card. Their machine wasn't working properly and they had to try three times before the payment went through. The two failed payments then sat pending on my account for 10 days, took me over my limit and left me unable to use my card for the last two days of my holiday. It was very annoying.

JumpOnIt · 19/02/2011 14:54

YANBU. It doesn't matter If it's pending or if it's actually taken. The point is that is your pound that is no longer available for your use. What if the £1 they took meant you were £1 short when they came to debit your shopping? Definitely NBU.

nannynick · 19/02/2011 15:15

Tesco has a lot of terms and conditions on their website:

This is in General

"In order to help us validate your payment card, a pre-authorisation amount of £2 is reserved from your account automatically when you check out. Upon validation of this amount, checkout can continue. On the day of delivery, full authorisation takes place whereby the total amount is requested from your bank and the £2 pre-authorisation request removed.

If you cancel your order, the pre-authorisation reserve will be removed from your account within a few working days."

They don't appear to mention taking the pre-auth payment when you don't have any shopping waiting to be purchased. So if they are doing that, then they should update their terms and conditions to reflect that.

The ASDA online shopping fiasco a while back involved this pre-authorising payment situation. It can lead to problems. However the stores are also having to have anti-fraud methods, so it is within the terms of providing the service. Problem is, many people don't read the small print. Maybe the retailers should not hide it in the small print but make it much clearer to customers.

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