Fuel in France
Hi to everyone....Maybe this has been discussed at length so sorry but we need some advice on the above subject. Well actually,.more of 'has it happened to you?' My partner puts an amount of cash on a 'pre paid' mastercard for use in France. The whole objective is to be able to buy food fuel or anything else without incurring a credit card transaction fee. I suppose the main use is for fuel ...and this is where the problem lies. We have tried in several supermarket fuel stations both during the working week and weekend where the card has been declined. it seems that in many places the 'manned kiosk' is a thing of the past. This has left us trying to find fuel where there is someone at the till in the kiosk,where the card has been accepted.
We are now heading home and once again found ourselves needing fuel..it's Tuesday.We thought how we were going to deal with this,so I went into the supermarket and asked to speak to the manager.Together with a few French words,lots are arm description of what we needed, she sort of said "Oh yes! pay me an amount of money you want to spend,I'll give you a ticket, you scan the bar code ,enter the numerical password & fuel will be supplied" IT WORKED. I asking other CC club members if they've experienced the same problems but also hoping to help others who may find themselves with the same situation.If you card is rejected at the fuel station,go and look for the store manager
Our first experience with pre-paid cards was with 'Thomsons',who took a payment for a tank of fuel from a filling station in a town we'd never visited & refused to acknowledge their error..we didn't get a refund. We, like so many others have discovered the problem of a money deposit being taken from the account for fuel.That's fine as long as it's returned within 24hrs, but in our case it was far longer and could have left us in an embarrassing situation thinking we had more money in your account,than we did. Infact we were OK.
We are now trying a 'post office' prepaid card and this is only been accepted if there is a manned petrol kiosk. Other than one campsite..the card has been fine for all money transactions.
Does anyone know who takes responsibility for this card when it is declined? Is it the supermarket chain or mastercard? I would appreciate the members views on this and their own experiences.
Comments
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Gosh what an unfortunate situation. We have never used pre-paid cards so can't comment. We do use Nationwide for our banking, now FlexPlus account but did have their Flex account, commision free credit card use worldwide and free cash withdrawals. Check them out, there's even cash back on credit card purchases and interest on FlexPlus plus other benefits for a monthly fee. No having to decide how little/much to put on a card that may not be refunded?
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We have Caxton FX prepaid card, been using it for years first rule is not to use it for fuel, for that use a fee free credit card, no issues then with getting fuel at self service fuel stations. Same applies at toll stations use cash, credit card or obtain a toll tag. Once you do this then touring in France is pretty easy, we do use the Caxton card for paying for food in supermarkets or to draw cash.
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I used to use a FairFx pre-pay card but was put off when I bought fuel and 100 Euros was deducted. This is quite usual and it is refunded once the transaction is approved and processed. They also now charge a fee for cash withdrawals. We also had it refused once so now use a zero fee credit card.
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Carmary
It has been discussed before but its always useful to highlight the problems that can be associated with prepaid cards. My understanding is that when used for automatic transactions like fuel and tolls they are rejected during the authorisation because that authorisation can't establish the available funds. Why that should be different to using it in a supermarkets I don't know.
It wasn't that many years ago when ordinary credit cars were not accepted at fuel pumps in France!
Personally I would try and persuade you to have a rethink about using a non commission credit card like the Halifax Clarity card (other brands available) The only charges incurred would be a very small amount of interest if its not paid by the payment date.
As to who takes responsibility for refusal that really is down the the authorisation centre working for the card provider.
David
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Regardless of what card you have never rely on just the one. We usually have four to fall back on. One my wife keeps just in case I lose mine and one I leave tucked away in the van, usually the debit card just in case. The two I most use are the credit and pre-paid. I have also been caught out trying to use the pre-paid for fuel.
peedee
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A Halifax Clarity card with the balance paid off by direct debit works in every fuel station I have been to in France, Luxemburg, Belgium and Spain. I only use my Caxton FX to get cash out of ATMs. The caxton website advises not to use at fuel stations as the fuel stations sometimes pre authorise an amount far bigger than the amount of fuel you actually buy.
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went to an Auchan on the way home last week.....filled with fuel and then noticed the large placard (obviously I didn't fall over it so didn't see it) saying NO MASTERCARDS ACCEPTED.....
now, I don't know if this was an Auchan policy or just the local store, but I did quiz Madame on the 'caisse' but she stood firm.....
oh well, out with the back up Visa debit card which was fine....
there are plenty of anomalies out there..
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For what its worth ....
I am only allowed to manage my modest pocket money.
My organised wife deals with all payments & now uses and would thoroughly recommend you have a look at the Revolut card system for future.
For Revolut .....
Just pre-load it a set amount of sterling or other currency from an account or card to start off and then exchange it to your chosen currency when the rates suits. The Weekend and overnight rate is fixed at a slightly higher than trading time rate. It is a live Trading rate transfer so the rate changes even whilst your online ! Its therefore simple to decided as and when you want to change your money over in advance or the day its needed.
16.42pm today - £ to euro = 1.14.37 no fee
The rate has always seemed as good or better than the best around.
You can change the money back to sterling, another currency or out.
No fee to transfer currency either way - dead simple.
Up front £5 single fee for the basic card. VIP if desired.
Can hold any currency or multiples of different currency.
Never refused for anything to date including the un-attended auto fill French Fuel Stations.
We did have a Post Office Mastercard - poor in EU and very troublesome - now shredded.
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M, the MasterCard has been used everywhere in Europe for the past ten years and the Auchan sign was the only time it has ever been refused....
as Peedee says, I don't really worry about the tiny charges we incur, the ferries are booked in pounds and it's mainly fuel and dining out...so not a big issue.
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We use a pre loaded cash card from the Post Office for getting cash out as we go along but I didn't think you could use it for buying things. The cash desks at petrol stations only seem to be open in the morning so we use our Nationwide Credit Card to buy fuel. The thing that horrifies me more than how much it costs to use a card is how much diesel has gone up in price since we were here last September.
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We have a second bank account (well actually a third) each which is with Metrobank who offer a fee free debit card. This is no requirement to make the account your main account, or transfer direct debits, etc., no minumum monthly payment into the account is necessary, nor a minimum number of transactions. Withdrawals from ATM's are no problem, nor payments for fuel, or toll fees. All the advantages of pre-pay with none of the disadvantages such as those you've found.
But the tip about codes is a good one - so thank you on behalf of all those people who may need to use this method.
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Agreed, both fuel, site prices (and pretty much everything?) appears to have gone up abroad (Euro rate has probably had an effect, plus general increases)
We use Zero card for fuel, some meals etc and Caxton for cash (and can be used for some other payment but not fuel or tolls). It is useful in that you can load Euros (if the rate is good - so you average out the rate if you load it in chunks before your holiday)
For countries where they don't use Euros, you can load Sterling and get cash at the rate on the day in any country. We found this useful for Kuna etc. Obviously you don't let the machine add another conversion rate just let Caxton do it.
We find that combination covers everything and, as said, the miniscule advantages of the rate are dwarfed by the costs of being in Europe so hardly worth worrying about.
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