Morons in Papers

I make no apology for calling this woman a moron. Maybe if this happened a year ago, I'd give her some leeway, but I'm pretty sure everyone is now aware of the process when paying for fuel at a petrol pump

Cost of living: London woman baffled after buying £20 worth of petrol at Tesco only to realise 'she had been charged £120'

This story is taken from my MSM feed. It's from something called, 'My London', but I couldn't find the original article to link to. Also, I've not figured out what it has to do with the cost of living, but I knew as soon as I read the headline, she had not been 'charged' £120', it had just been pre-authorised by the pump for a few minutes

A woman has been left 'totally confused' after buying £20 worth of petrol at Tesco only to believe she had been 'charged' £120. After paying for her fuel at the pump of a petrol station in East London, the woman was left 'scratching her head' after seeing a notification from her bank that a £120 Tesco fuel payment had been 'taken' from her account.

Taking to an online forum to share her experience, the woman recounted how she had had gone to pay for her petrol at the station in Barkingside after putting in £20 worth of premium unleaded fuel. When she checked her phone later on, she was 'shocked' to find a notification that said £120 had been 'taken' from her account.

I love it when morons go to the papers and make their stupidity known to all, but these days, the trendy thing to do when you're being a biff, is to announce it on Facebook or Instagram. The papers still pick it up from there though. When we have 24/7 and online news, every day is a slow news day

Still however, morons never do the simple thing and just ask Tesco what the gig is, before making a public spectacle of themsleves

However, the transaction wasn't a mistake, and Tesco - like many other retailers - now have similar 'pay at pump' holding schemes when customers pay for their petrol at the pump. The idea is that whatever amount you spend on fuel is taken as payment, and the rest is refunded within the hour

I always fill up at Tesco, as it's on my way to work. I always use the 'pay at pump' facility, as it's convenient and I don't have to put up with the cashiers talking to each other and completely ignoring me while taking my money

I also use the online banking app from my bank. When I full up, I get two notifications; the first says I've spent £120 at Tesco and the second says I've spent sixty quid or whatever. On my transaction history, the £120 never leaves my account

After the woman had realised this, she went on to explain she had seen that the transaction of £120 had been pending and had never actually left her account. She was charged for the fuel she had purchased and the rest had been placed back into her account. "What a liberty", she wrote.

I'm not sure why it's a liberty. The pre-authorisation is just to make sure you can pay for the fuel you're about to dispense

Another funny thing about morons taking to Facebook whenever they have totally got the wrong end of the stick or done something spazzy, is that it brings out all the other morons too

Commenters to her post then fumed on her behalf, with some saying it was 'completely unnecessary', while others questioned the legality of the pump payments. "How is this even legal?", one commenter questioned, while another wrote: "100 per cent won't be doing that any more."

Others advised her to "never use pay at pump and always go into the shop" to avoid the £120 transaction, while another admitted they were also caught out by the payment as well

Get mad and stop using a convenient payment system, just becuase you don't understand it. Well if you're dumb enough to vent your spleen of Facebook without finding out the facts first, you probably are too stupid to use a petrol pump

We are lucky that this doesn’t affect us too much but someone on a tight budget might be. Could mean that they go overdrawn and face bank charges as a result", the commenter posted.

One more time for those at the back: THE MONEY DOES NOT LEAVE YOUR ACCOUNT

I have occasionally filled up when there has been little money in my account. The pump will display something like, 'Maximum delivery £80'. The system won't even pre-authorise more money than you have

According to Tesco, the amount should bounce back into their accounts as soon as they have left the petrol station.

Maybe there's a way to bounce some sense into Facebook people?