new petrol station experience

[timwilky]

OK To start with what a nice day. My blat out
starts Preston and then we head over Quenmoor, through Ingelton and skirt Hawes, Over Buttertubs and lunch in Mucker.

Then home via Kirby Steven, Sedbergh, Devils Bridge, Quernmoor, Bleasdale, Chipping, Ribchester, Salmesbury, Houghton. Parts of the above route being known to the Pennine Massive.


My interesting experience being the petrol station in Sedbergh. Knowing I had done about 90 miles and would not be passing another filling station for about 60 miles I decide to "top" up. The bill was not extravagant although it was per litre the most expensive petrol I have bought for a while at 0.94p/litre. Bill was £8.96

Walks into the kiosk and hands over card. "Can't accept that!". "Err why not?", "Minimum spend is £12". "******** my tank is full I can't put any more in", "Well you got to pay cash", "I ain't got any so you will have to take the card", "Cash or I call the police, you filled up without the means to pay".

Ended up I had to pay for my brothers tankful to takes us over the mystical £12. I have never had any problem in the past with paying by debit card.

The plonker had 15 bikes on his forecourt, 4 of us wanted to pay by cards. Just what is the problem, He probably had more trade that hour than he had seen all day.

Originally Posted by timwilky

OK To start with what a nice day. My blat out
starts Preston and then we head over Quenmoor, through Ingelton and skirt Hawes, Over Buttertubs and lunch in Mucker.

Then home via Kirby Steven, Sedbergh, Devils Bridge, Quernmoor, Bleasdale, Chipping, Ribchester, Salmesbury, Houghton. Parts of the above route being known to the Pennine Massive.


My interesting experience being the petrol station in Sedbergh. Knowing I had done about 90 miles and would not be passing another filling station for about 60 miles I decide to "top" up. The bill was not extravagant although it was per litre the most expensive petrol I have bought for a while at 0.94p/litre. Bill was £8.96

Walks into the kiosk and hands over card. "Can't accept that!". "Err why not?", "Minimum spend is £12". "******** my tank is full I can't put any more in", "Well you got to pay cash", "I ain't got any so you will have to take the card", "Cash or I call the police, you filled up without the means to pay".

Ended up I had to pay for my brothers tankful to takes us over the mystical £12. I have never had any problem in the past with paying by debit card.

The plonker had 15 bikes on his forecourt, 4 of us wanted to pay by cards. Just what is the problem, He probably had more trade that hour than he had seen all day.

should have let him call the police and watch his face droip as he realises they will do the sum total of **** all. If you show intenet to pay it is not a criminal offence to ride off. it is only criminal if you jump straight back on the bike and ride off. CCTV will show you clearly walk in the shop and attampt to pay. The only way they could then get the funds off you is to pursue you through the courts at there own expense which will never happen for the sake of £8.

Exactly the same applies if they refuse to accept payment until you remove your helmet. by walking in the shop and approaching the camera again the CCTV will show intent to pay

Ive done this a couple of times and have yet to have any letters through the letter box

I see the need for a mass rideout for the SV groups, all equipped with credit cards :P

I regularly use mine to pay for items under a tenner as I am like the Queen and never carry cash

I do sometimes come across sites that do not take C Cards though, I normally have to check first

[timwilky]

Originally Posted by wheelnut

I do sometimes come across sites that do not take C Cards though, I normally have to check first

Firstly this was a debit card, not credit card. No filling station locally will accept cheques any more either.

In fairness to the filling station, they did have a sticker on the base of the pump saying they did not accept cards for less than £12 but I only saw that when I went back to my bike. You would have thought they would have put it on the top by the display and list of cards they accept.

I know shops / forecourts sometimes have minimum spends for card being £5 or £10 to cover charges etc, but £12 is a bit of a random figure, what next £14.37p

I'll display my ignorance here... I know suppliers who accept credit cards pay a transaction charge (2.5%?) but what happens with debit cards? I'm aware of garages, newsagents round my way that won't accept card payments for less than £5.00 which doesn't seem unreasonable particularlyy if displayed clearly but above that seems a bit off...

I always thought it was £5 min spend. As long as the little payment sticker on the pumps don't specify minimum £12 spend then I would have told him to go jump off something tall. Even at 94p I think most of us pointy riders would have a problem with getting £12 in. Mind you a Ginsters and a can off pop would put you over

Originally Posted by Diveboy

I always thought it was £5 min spend. As long as the little payment sticker on the pumps don't specify minimum £12 spend then I would have told him to go jump off something tall. Even at 94p I think most of us pointy riders would have a problem with getting £12 in. Mind you a Ginsters and a can off pop would put you over

hardly the point though

i remember my local petrol station when i had my moped, i think minimum spend, or fuel was 3 litres, i wondered if my little tank would take it.

£12 though, what a silly number, maybe a tenner, but i've never had trouble with a debit card that i can think of

muppet!

i think just a jobsworth pri~k

There's a difference between credit and debit cards.

Credit cards carry higher charges than debit cards, so it's more reasonable for garages to specify a minimum spend. Debit cards have lower fees and I would not expect anyone to put in place a minimum fee for them. As I understand it the cost of processing cash and debit cards should be broadly similar. Perhaps someone in retail banking (northwind? could confirm this?

I also agree that if you'd shown intent to pay then you're in the clear. Depends on the attitude of the establishment in question, but in this case even the most retarded of attendants will realise that most bikes will struggle to reach £12 minimum order, so they should have pointed this out to you before activating the pump, regardless of any warning stickers.

As for the £12 being a bit random, I suspect this dates back to the days when you collected shell / Esso / etc. vouchers for casserole dishes and the like. These were only issued for purchases in multiples of £6 in order to encourage you to spend an extra pound.