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Toll road/Gas station/credit card incidents

Staying in the Provence area for 2 weeks; went to the gas station at the Super U store in Coustellet (a French WalMart type of store). Hubs had some challenges so we cancelled the first attempt before any gas was pumped. Machine gave us a receipt for 0 euro purchase. Showed hubs he could get on-screen menu in English so second attempt was successful, to the tune of over $70 for 3/4 tank.

I get an email for every purchase made on that cc. In addition to the gas and then grocery purchases, there was a third charge for around $120.00! The time stamp was just before the time on the $0 purchase receipt. I went to the cc site, all purchases showing as pending which is normal. There was a little symbol of some sort by the $120 purchase. I fretted for a while but didn’t want to lock or kill the card since we have several monthly auto-payments billed to the card and it wasn’t lost or stolen. Fretted some more then logged in the next day and the mystery charge of $120 had disappeared.

Maybe the computer hadn’t finished clearing out the previous person’s purchase (she seemed to have a lengthy fill up on a pickup truck)??? But that wouldn’t put it on my card??

Toll road incident: approaching and then departing from Cassis, we encountered a one lane toll machine. There was no ticket to take and I had to move on so I tapped my cc as I had been earlier (but after inserting a previously obtained ticket on other toll roads). The bar raised and I moved on. I think some minimal charges occurred but this was a stressful moment with no ticket. Maybe I goofed the first time I went through on entering Cassis??

Anyone ever have something like this occur?

Posted by
3777 posts

No, but I misplaced our ticket going on a toll road in Croatia and we had to pay the full price, which was $80 at the time. It should have been about $12. The second, and I mean the second we left the toll booth, I found it. I went on line and read that I could send in my receipt with the ticket and get a refund. It worked, but the refund was a check in Kunas. Gave it to a cousin, he was happy.

Posted by
2537 posts

The $120 amount you saw was not a charge, it was a preauthorization limit placed upon your pending gas purchase. You could think of it as a hold against your credit limit. It is perfectly normal and occurs, whether you see it or not, anytime your final purchase amount is undetermined, such as at restaurants and hotels.

There are a number of toll roads in the world with segment charges just like the one you describe. There are a number along highways in the south of France.

Posted by
5239 posts

Tocard is correct, it was an authorisation hold on your card to make sure that you have sufficient funds to fill up a tank. The UK has a £99 charge on 'pay at the pump' machines which is released once payment has gone through.

As for toll roads I don't ever recall being issued with a ticket. When reaching a toll booth I simply pay the required amount and the barrier raises, this has been the case throughout Europe including France.

Posted by
6783 posts

That toll road near Cassis does not issue tickets, you pay at each barrier, so all good!

Posted by
32519 posts

yup, just a pre-authorization hold. Just like you have a hold on your card when you rent a car.

I use AMEX to buy all my car fuel so instead of the £99 hold the system puts on most cards getting fuel I only have a £1- hold for a couple of days.

Posted by
363 posts

Many thanks for the informative responses! My mind is at ease.

On the toll roads, we had to take a ticket soon after entering. And then later, encountered a toll area in which we inserted our ticket and paid the appropriate amount, based, I would assume, on our usage of the road. I’m used to that sort of system but the Cassis situation was a bit befuddling since it had a slot to insert a ticket that I did not have.

Posted by
1189 posts

Hi from Wisconsin,

I fueled up minutes before I returned the car to the rental agency in Bordeaux. I returned the car and we walked to our hotel. We checked in and tried the internet service. It worked and there was a message from my credit card. "Did I make this purchase for", and it was a weird amount, like $76.13. I replied no. Then my credit card asked if I would like to freeze my account.
Now, they used the word freeze, which implied to me it could be thawed later on. Oops, freeze meant cancel.

Good news we had two cards each from different banks. Turns out the odd amount was a 'deposit' from the gas station.
Later to be changed to the correct amount.

wayne iNWI

Posted by
4324 posts

You don't need to freeze your account, just dispute the one charge.

Posted by
32519 posts

when it is just an authorization you don't need to dispute it

Posted by
6783 posts

That slot in Cassis might have been for the receipts, since there are definitely no tickets on the A50 between Marseille and Toulon.
The A13 between Paris and Rouen and the A63 between north of Bayonne and the Spanish border work the same way, by the way - and possibly other motorways I have never used.

Posted by
363 posts

Thanks, all. So glad I just fretted a bit and waited for the credit charge situation to clear up on its own.

And now trying to clear up repeat charges with Vodafone - topped up and got message that charge could not be processed. Tried again, same message. Tried again with a different card. Same message. And all my attempts are now posted as charges to my credit card. Sigh.

Posted by
374 posts

I had a scare today while headed back to Avignon Gare TGV to return my rental car before taking train to Paris. I was about 15 KM or so from gare and pulled over when I saw gas station (sorry not sure of name). First, I couldn’t get gas cap off. I figured out I had to insert key but nothing worked. A trucker had pulled in so, with my mediocre French, I asked for help. He also struggled for a few minutes but finally got cap unlocked. Then, the pump wouldn’t accept my Citi CC, or my debit card with PIN. The trucker tried several times with my cards - nothing. The man was a life saver! He said he’d pay with his card, and I luckily had cash then to reimburse him. What a sweetheart of a man.