For as long as I can remember we have been filling the vehicles and paying at the pump. All has gone without a hitch until this weekend when I decided to review my online MasterCard statement. I filled up at Superstore Gas Bar in West Kelowna on July 22/13 and noticed there were two postings for that day, one for $40.78 and another for $100.00 even. The $100 charge immediately caught my eye as neither of our vehicles would take $100 worth of gas (even at our ridiculous gas prices). I reviewed my gas receipts just to make sure and I had nothing for $100. I called PC MasterCard this morning and was told to contact the merchant directly. I found that a rather strange policy, especially with gas merchants and given our widespread travel. I tried to find the phone number on line with no luck and finally contacted the Grocery Store to obtain the number. I got a voice mail message when I called so I decided to drive to the location which was a few minutes from home. When I got there I provided the cashier my current statement and a copy of the gas receipt. I informed her that I only made one purchase on the date in question and that was for $40.78. The $100.00 purchase was not mine. She advised me that she would talk to the manager/owner when he arrived and have him contact me. By the time I returned home, Leslie had a message from the cashier asking if I could provide her with all the current MasterCard transactions since the recent statement. There were no further transactions since the statement date and I provided that info to her on my return. A few minutes later Jas, the manager arrived and he had a look at the info I provided. He got on the phone and called the company that processes their pump transactions and after spending 10 minutes on the phone, he was informed there were two transactions made on that date with my account number, one at pump #2 on July 22/12 at 7:36 pm and another at pump #10 on the same date at 7:38 pm. I informed him that was impossible and did not happen. Furthermore, it would be physically impossible for me to complete these two transactions in the 2 minutes between postings. He informed me that I would have to contact MasterCard again and dispute the charge with them.
I returned home and contacted MasterCard. The customer service representative agreed that something definitely did not ad up and was going to investigate further. She agreed to credit the $100 subject to further investigation but indicated that the whole scenario was very peculiar and why would I visit 2 separate pumps for the same transaction. She also informed me that transactions at the pump put a $100 hold on the card while the transactions is taking place and once completed, the $100 is credited from the actual amount purchased. She indicated that sometimes the $100 is not credited due to a malfunction.
I decided to do some further investigation and found that this is not an uncommon occurrence. See below.
http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/clearbutton.asp
http://askville.amazon.com/heard-clear-button-fuel-pumps/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=17625507
I am sensing a may have a fight on my hands trying to prove I did not make the $100.00 purchase but I will fight this to the end. Fortunately, I am one of the few that saves all my credit card receipts. I am discovering that many do not, not that it would help in this particular circumstance.
I returned home and contacted MasterCard. The customer service representative agreed that something definitely did not ad up and was going to investigate further. She agreed to credit the $100 subject to further investigation but indicated that the whole scenario was very peculiar and why would I visit 2 separate pumps for the same transaction. She also informed me that transactions at the pump put a $100 hold on the card while the transactions is taking place and once completed, the $100 is credited from the actual amount purchased. She indicated that sometimes the $100 is not credited due to a malfunction.
I decided to do some further investigation and found that this is not an uncommon occurrence. See below.
http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/clearbutton.asp
http://askville.amazon.com/heard-clear-button-fuel-pumps/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=17625507
I am sensing a may have a fight on my hands trying to prove I did not make the $100.00 purchase but I will fight this to the end. Fortunately, I am one of the few that saves all my credit card receipts. I am discovering that many do not, not that it would help in this particular circumstance.
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