its only wednesday....(long and language)

[Sarlon]

how is it wednesday and I have stories....~stops...looks at website....smacks forehead~ well...its offical though...I heard the metaforical brakes screech to a halt as I failed to figure something out...

so on with the stories...

Gas holds:

BANE of my exsistance....they have gone from $75 to $125! had one lady though...

ME: ~opening speil including verifaction~ thank you and how may i help you today?
SC: yeah, I have a pending charge for $125 on my card and I wanna know why.
ME: alright ma'am, I see that you bought gas recently at (gas station), did you swipe your card at the pump?
SC: yes...but i didn't buy no $125 worth of gas!
ME: yes ma'am, when you swipe your card at the pump it places a temporary gas hold on the card since the pump doesn't know how much gas you will be pumping, it places it to ensure that there are funds on the card and that the card is legit.
SC: and how long does it take to come off the card?!
ME: usually only a couple of days...once the charge for the gas goes through the hold will be credited back to your account minus the amount of gas pumped.

super bitch mode in 3......2..........1...............

SC: THAT IS FUCKING RIDICOULS!!! YOU ARE STEALING MONEY FROM ME!!!111! I WANT MY FUCKING MONEY BACK ON MY FUCKING CARD AND I WANT IT DONE NOW!!!
ME: ma'am I understan....
SC: DON'T MA'AM ME!!! YOU ARE FUCKING STEALING MONEY FROM ME!!! YOUR ENTIRE BANK IS ONE HUGE CROOK!!!! THEY THINK NO ONE WILL NOTICE $125 MISSING!!!!! I WANT THAT FUCKING MONEY BACK ON MY FUCKING CARD AND IF YOU CAN'T DO IT I WANT TO TALK TO SOMEONE WHO CAN!!!!! ITS FUCKING RIDICCOULS!!!! YOU'RE FUCKING STEALING FROM ME!!!!!
ME: please hold....~Click~

thankfully she disconnected before a sup could take the call....

condescending jerk...
scene:
ME: obviously very white, very american
SC: forgien sounding gentleman, middle eastern or indian, but speaks clear english with an accent

ME: ~opening speil~ and may i please have your...
SC: I don't need to give you anything I entered it into the phone and it will be there in front of you. (i could hear the condescending tone loudly)
ME: I'm sorry sir nothing came up...if I could start with your card number please...
SC: Fine its XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (rapid fire)
ME: my appologies that was XXXX XXXX XXYX XXXX
SC: nonono listen carefully ~another rapid fire but manged to get it right this time~ my god how stupid are you?
ME: ~continues with opening speil~
SC: don't tell me any of that crap I don't have a computer and I want to close all of my accounts! my name is Sucky Mcforgienpants (I'd guess middle eastern or indian, yes this is important), my address is blah, the last 4 of the social is XXXX, is there anything else you need to know?
ME: just your date of birth please?
SC: xx/xx/xx, now are you going to cancel my card?!
ME: sir I'm sorry but we cannot cancel the card in this department, how ever...
SC: I never wanted this card!! i want nothing to do with *company* I want to close this card and cancel ALL my accounts!
ME: sir as I said we cannot cancel the card in this department...how ever if you don't...
SC: do you not understand english? do you understand what I said?
ME: .......sir yes I understand english and speak it very well. However as I said if you don't mind holding for a moment I'll see what I can do to make this happen. ~click~
so i get a supervisor and explain the situation, he takes the card holders info and says he'll pop off an email and see about getting it canceled. he comes back a few minutes later and says "oops your right we can't cancel the card, have him call this number and they can take care of it."
ME: thank you for holding sir, I just spoke with my supervisor and he says that we cannot cancel the card however...
SC: what a bunch of worthless twats (yes he used that word) you all are! you mean to tell me there is nothing you can do!?
ME: no sir...as I was trying....
SC: *bitch bitch bitch*
ME: sir I under...
SC: *moan moan moan*
ME: sir, if you woul...
SC: *complain complain complain till i finally just let him ramble on and stop trying to correct him*
ME: sir if you'd let me finish what I was trying to say, there is nothing this department can do to cancel your card....BUT (since he started complaining again), if you call this number they will cancel the card for you.
SC: well why didn't you say so? cripes....you must be an idiot.
ME: The number sir is XXX XXX XXXX.
SC: and what department is this?
ME: its the *company that issued you the card in the first bloody place* they will be able to help you further. Thank you for calling *us* you have a great day! ~click~
total time on call? 45 minutes

shouldn't you be a little more grateful?
Lady calls in, says she thinks she misplaced her card somewhere and wants to cancel it and order a new card. I tell her that I can suspend the card and give her a few days to try and find it.

Lady agrees and on a whim asks me for the balance on the card, which i provide. Lady says it seems low so we go over the transactions and WHAM! 4 charges since the deposit on her card and non of which she made.

I work fast and cancel the card and report it stolen and advise the lady that I will place the transactions into dispute, I tell her the time frames for her new card to arrive, and the time frame for the dispute.

card holder is concerned because of lack of money while this is in dispute since she JUST had a deposit on the card plus a $5 fee to replace the card. since her balance is now less then $20 (over $140 in fraud charges).

while letting her vent since its more frustration that all this is happening, I place my hand in the air for a sup to see what we can do for her. about the time the sup wanders up the lady had progressed to wanted to talk to one to see what can be done. Sup takes call, allows the $5 fee to be reversed and offers to send a western union at no cost to the lady to send the rest of her funds over.

everything i could of done....but sup made the save.

vur ssifisv....thank the ancients tomorrow is my day off...

Bonus story...

its a little slow finally and I'm talking with the lady who does traffic for our department and we're talking and this entails...

I said "how can people think that we can do (something I don't remember what)"
she said "don't know but they do for some reason"
I said "I can't wrap my mind around that...why!?".....~I swear to god i heard the brakes screeching as my brain ground to a halt I swear I even went blurried eyed for a moment~ "wait...my faith in humanity is to low to register that....it must be raised before I comprehend"

she, and the 2 others that were hanging around the desk burst out laughing at that one, even heard a rare chuckle from department head J who was at the station across the walk way from us.

[dragon_wings]

Ye Gods. At least you were able to help someone who was grateful afterwards.

<snip>
its a little slow finally and I'm talking with the lady who does traffic for our department and we're talking and this entails...

I said "how can people think that we can do (something I don't remember what)"
she said "don't know but they do for some reason"
I said "I can't wrap my mind around that...why!?".....~I swear to god i heard the brakes screeching as my brain ground to a halt I swear I even went blurried eyed for a moment~ "wait...my faith in humanity is to low to register that....it must be raised before I comprehend"

she, and the 2 others that were hanging around the desk burst out laughing at that one, even heard a rare chuckle from department head J who was at the station across the walk way from us.

This made me giggle.

[Slayer]

ME: yes ma'am, when you swipe your card at the pump it places a temporary gas hold on the card since the pump doesn't know how much gas you will be pumping, it places it to ensure that there are funds on the card and that the card is legit.

lol, this is still a bizarre concept to me. Here, we tell the pump how much to authorize. Canada here, if that helps.

I do understand her frustration, especially if she put a small amount and it freezes a lot more than that.

But bitching won't help in this case since that's how it's done.

[Food Lady]

Can I ask? If the hold is $125 and the customer has, say, $50 in his account, will the hold accrue an ovrdraft fee? Just wondering in case I ever use my debit card to get gas. (I almost always use my gas credit card, so I was unaware of this hold deal).

[Andara Bledin]

The idea behind the hold is so that people can go, fill up their tank, and then just leave, without having to go back inside or try to guess how much they need.

I still don't know what use it is to bitch at the bank because the gas station put a hold on the card.

^-.-^

[Jetfire]

lol, this is still a bizarre concept to me. Here, we tell the pump how much to authorize. Canada here, if that helps.

I do understand her frustration, especially if she put a small amount and it freezes a lot more than that.

But bitching won't help in this case since that's how it's done.

At the new Costco gas bar here in Freddy (New Brunswick.ca ), it will ask you if you want to preauthorize up to 125$, and I assume put that hold in place.

I've never said no to it when I've pumped gas for my parents (no car of my own), but I suspect if you say no, you'd be able to enter the amount you wanted to pump and go from there.

[Sarlon]

Can I ask? If the hold is $125 and the customer has, say, $50 in his account, will the hold accrue an ovrdraft fee? Just wondering in case I ever use my debit card to get gas. (I almost always use my gas credit card, so I was unaware of this hold deal).

at least with these cards that I work with there is no over draft fee, but it will take and lock up that $50 and still let you get gas.

[BrenDAnn]

At my C-store we have signs on each and every pump telling people that a hold may be placed on their cards. Doesn't stop one or two here and there from coming in, trying to use their cards after using them at the pump, then wondering wtf is going on. With the $50 card example I would think it would depend on how your card is set up. If it's set up to allow you to keep using your card but charge overdraft fees if you go over what you have in your account then yeah you might get an overdraft fee. If your card is set up to where when you have no money in your account, the card declines, then it might just decline for the $125 hold even if you know you have money in your account.

[Raveni]

Yeah, it's pretty funny (NOT!), when people try to buy gas using those $50 AMEX or VISA gift cards and get declined. Even if the card has never been used, it won't allow a $75 or $125 hold on it.

[lobo65]

I think tying up that much money on a person's debit card is ridiculous, but that's why when I use my debit card at the pump I choose the credit option instead of debit.

[Andara Bledin]

I think tying up that much money on a person's debit card is ridiculous, but that's why when I use my debit card at the pump I choose the credit option instead of debit.

The same thing happens with the credit side.

Honestly, if you don't want a hold, then just go in and prepay a specific amount. It's not rocket science.

^-.-^

[Captain Trips]

I still don't know what use it is to bitch at the bank because the gas station put a hold on the card.

^-.-^

That may be related to the stickers on the pumps here - they clearly say it is the financial institution that puts the hold on it, and not to complain to BigGasCo.

[wynjara]

I love when this forum is edumacational. I'll be pumping my own gas for only the second time ever next week (I know how, but I live in NJ so never get to) and for the first time with a credit card. Now I won't panic if something shows up on my card.

[Andara Bledin]

That may be related to the stickers on the pumps here - they clearly say it is the financial institution that puts the hold on it, and not to complain to BigGasCo.

Technically, the financial institution (their bank) doesn't put it on, either. That's the work of the clearing house that the BigGasCo uses to process their credit/debit card transactions. Rarely, this will be the bank; most of the time it isn't.

^-.-^

[Raveni]

That may be related to the stickers on the pumps here - they clearly say it is the financial institution that puts the hold on it, and not to complain to BigGasCo.

In this day and age, whenever you use your card to get gas or eat at a restaurant, there is a hold put on your card (by the vendor) because we can't read your mind and know how much gas you are going to buy or how much you are going to tip your waiter until you are done. The station/restaurant requests the hold to be removed and the actual amount charged as soon as the transaction is done so that they can get their money. It's the banks that decide how long they are going to hold your money anyway, and that varies from bank to bank.

Some banks release the holds at close of business that day, others at midnight that day... Some wait days. Some of their call center staff won't even be able to tell the difference between a hold and a charge, so will tell the customers that they've been double charged when it isn't true, which results in some really fun phone calls when someone sees both the charge and the hold still on their account.