to ask if you think I have grounds for complaint?

[whatacrapstressfulday]

What a totally crap day. I got paid today and was looking forward to doing some early Xmas shopping. I am heavily pregnant and on mat leave so was knackered by the time I went to get petrol before picking DD up.

When I went to pay for the petrol my card was declined. They tried it a few times but it kept being declined. I knew I had money in my account so phoned the bank. By this point I was really upset as I knew I was starting to be in danger of being late for DD. The bank made me hold basically for 20 minutes while they sorted it out. I obviously couldn't leave as I couldn't give the petrol back, and I couldn't phone school to tell them to tell DD I would be late. I was in tears by the end, they finally said they had blocked my card as I had exceeded the number of transactions allowed for the day! I hadn't bought that many things, and I had no idea this rule even existed, and surely if it does a courtesy text or phone call would be helpful? They said they had unblocked it so I could pay, but I am really annoyed - I wonder if I can complain. Maybe not and I just have to accept it, I'm sure their Ts and Cs probably say this somewhere in the small print, but it seemed unfair to do this with no warning and caused a lot of stress.

I didn't know there was a limited amount of transactions per day. How do you think they could have warned you?

I can see the point. Frustrating though it is, but any unusual activity on your card can result in a temporary block. Card fraud is so prevalent these days, even with chip and pin, that banks need to be cautious.

They have my mobile and phone no, surely they should have a system where they warn you before blocking your card in those circumstances.

I would write a polite but firm letter and complain, yes. You appreciate they are trying to protect the security of your account but explain how it was very inconvenient. This happened to me when DD2 was a few months old, DD1 was three, fortunately DH was with us but it was still a right old pain in the arse. We had money in our account but we had made a lot more transactions than usual that month- funny that, it being December, why would that be then I wonder, hmm ? I spent 20 minutes on the phone in Robert Dyas trying to buy an effing slow cooker in the January sale (as the bank wanted to speak to me to authorise the transaction). With petrol it is considerably worse as you can't just go "Feck it" and leave!

It wouldn't be so bad if, when they asked to speak to you, you weren't left on hold for ten minute periods and holding the phone like piffy on a rock bun in the middle of a shop.

yabu

complain all you like but it will be in their ts and cs. and it is to protect your money in teh first place.

why dont people read the t's and c's?

And on the other side of the coin, if you had your card stolen, and someone managed to work out the pin and went on a spending spree, you would be bloody glad of this procedure..

Have they changed the system then? This happened to me once at a petrol station after I had been Christmas shopping but the transaction just came up as refer and the cashier just had to phone for authorisation and had to ask me for certain letters/numbers of my bank password. The transaction was authorised straight away.

I think you should complain about the time they kept you holding on and the fact that they did not deal with the matter quickly. However, I was once "blocked" doing Christmas shopping because my pattern of spending for that day was unusual and I remember being quite pleased. Thank goodness I use the same garage and they know me and I'm sure would have let me collect my daughter and sort it out later. Come to think of it, I did once forget my purse and they just took my name and address (they have the reg no to give to the police anyway) and I went home to get it.

I had a similar one recently... I am paid quarterly so when the money goes in i move bits into other accounts, pay outstanding bills and order stuff online all on the same day.. But then i had a phone call on my mobile in sainsburys to confirm transactions made... It was annoying and i can see why they do it but i have had this pattern for the last 3 years! All online transactions need my full security, my purchases need the secure id and that extra online security and so surely they know its me!

The time before i had a petrol incident but luckily had enough cash on me but grrrrrrr

The thing is I just think is a basic courtesy to your customers to tell them if you are blocking their card. They have no problem spending thousands writing to me with offers of loans and accounts I don't want, and in fact have called me in the past when someone fraudulently tried to use my card online. So they do have the resources - they should have advised me they were going to do this I think.

Here'sthescarything- I've had the card for years and this has never happened, I may have read the ts and cs 20 years ago when I first opened the account but not since then!

I got £60 compensation from Lloyds when they kept messing up transfers to my son's account from mine.

You could complain but I don't think it'll be worth the call tbh.
Banks are defo hotting up on security. My account got blocked due to me buying an online book from US and was blocked again yesterday for no apparant reason at all, they did phone my mobile though before I tried to use debit card to check I agreed with previous (totally normal) transactions. I'm sure they've probably sent emails to let me know of these new security procedures but I've obviously not read them properly!

I have had a credit card blocked for 'unusual activity' - two yes, two purchases in the week before Christmas!

My friend just had her card blocked because it was being used in Asia - despite her phoning and letting the bank know exactly where she was going in advance of the trip, precisely to avoid this happening. She was left penniless in Bangkok. Nice.

There is fraud prevention - and there is rank incompetence.

So yes, I would complain, and more importantly ask your bank how it will enable you to not let this happen again.

You should change banks. Recently I was making quite a large payment over the phone with my card, I had been abroad recently too and used it a bit there. As I was waiting on the phone for the transaction to go through, they said that it hadn't been authorized. I knew that I had plenty of credit left so I told them that I was going to phone the bank and could they hold. Literally as I picked up my mobile to call the bank it rang and it was them calling me to say that there was unusual activity on my card. I was able to tell them that the card was still in my possesion and that all the transactions were me, straight away they lifted the hold and as I was still on hold to the company that I was trying to make the payment with they were able to re-try it straight away and it went through.

There's no point changing banks- every bank that I know of has this policy. As for people saying that a text or phone call would be nice, if the bank has reason to believe that the account has been compromised, often there will be a halt on all communication to the customer until they get in contact with us. There is a limit to how many transactions you can do with the same card in one day- it will be in the terms and conditions of the account, and if you make a complaint it's very likely they will just repeat that over and over again, as well as saying that it a fraud measure.

I know it can seem completely daft, but when you get people calling up wanting to speak to the fraud department because they have bought fake uggs online which haven't arrived and the website has now magically disappeared or that they've noticed a string of transactions that they don't recognise, you see the point of things like this.