OT : Not Strictly Legal Query : Credit Card Check

Probably not, There's a cash bonus paid to the finder [1] if there is a problem with the card and presumably this phone call has a greater chance of resulting in the cash being paid out than random chance.

tim

Just as a matter of interest - why did you change the subject?

I used to work in a business that took a lot of buyer-not-present card transactions, and we had a floor limit, above which we had to authorise the card. A few times each year the floor limit was lowered to zero for a few days, just to try to catch any dodgy cards that were being used for multiple small transactions.

Took the card away? Out of sight? Isn't that what we're told not to ever let happen?

In such a case the customer should be escorted to the phone as well so the customer does not let the card out of his or her sight.

Complain to your card issuer about what happened.

Remember that the card is the property of the credit card company (it is never YOUR card) and if the telephone conversation had resulted in the store being told not to return the card to the customer it would have been retained.

As both a punter and a retailer, yes they are. Usually it's not quite random, though it may appear to be so to a checkout assistant. It's often triggered by an unusual pattern of spending. So recently we had a card payment that we had to refer, because the customer had been on a spending spree. This was at an exhibition in London, so lots of exhibitors, lots of opportunities to spend.

The CC company became suspicious because the merchant accounts taking payment were from diverse addresses around the UK, all Mobile POS connections were from the same cell in Islington, and customers don't usually do 12 card transactions with a dozen vendors within the same cell, within a few minutes.

So we have to refer to the card issue and get an authorisation code. Often the card is blocked, which causes further embarrassment to the customer, since they assume it's blocked because they have spent too much money.

It happens to me regularly, every damn time I drive across Europe. The card companies think it odd that someone should buy petrol in the UK, France, Luxembourg, Germany and Switzerland on the same day.

We once had this happen on the cross-channel ferry from Dover to Calais while buying our duty frees.

Agreed. However if a retailer ever 'retains' a customer's credit card at the apparent behest of the issuing bank, the customer should immediately report this to his or her issuing bank and get the card cancelled. This avoids the possibility of a dishonest retailer 'stealing' a card by falsely claiming he or she was asked to take it and then misusing it. AFAIK at least where I am, a card 'swallowed' by an ATM is immediately 'cancelled' to avoid the possibility of misuse by those who fill or service the machines.

Yes they are. How would you feel if your stolen card had been detected and Tesco ignored the instruction to check it? The fraud systems are there for your benefit as well. Try putting your brain in gear before being bloody minded.

Peter Crosland

The card remains the property of the issuing bank, so they are perfectly entitled to ask Tesco to keep it.

The one time it happened to me, they wanted to talk to me to check it was me in possession of the card (they asked for home address...) if they'd've explained why I'd been called it would've saved them a few grand.

I'd come up for the check because immediately before my transaction, a cloned card was being used elsewhere, if they'd explained that rather than saying "random" the cloned card would've been picked up sooner.

Jim.

In response to what Jim Ley posted in news: snipped-for-privacy@news.individual.net:

I had a check request a few years back, foe a large amount, >#1000. After requesting address details on the phone, it went something like: What is your phone number? You don't know my phone number. Oh yes we do. What is it please?

But you are obliged in the terms and conditions to take care of it. I would not be happy handing it over in such circumstances and would want the opportunity to accompany the sales assistant.

And the store could put me on the phone to confirm that action was being taken. Doesn't that make sense?

Interesting - you are the only person to suggest that they carry out such checks at random - can you back this up. Others have suggested unusual spending patterns which I could believe; random I can't, so please supply some evidence or personal experience.

Odd checks, for no obvious reason, do happen. It is also not unusual to get a day when every use of a particular type of card has to be verified, no matter the amount. It can get quite tedious at times.

The retailer is advised to retain the card until after the verification, but not if that might put staff at risk.

Colin Bignell

In article , Nigel writes

I've never had a card checked but did have payment refused when I used my Barclaycard Visa to pay a large deposit on a new bathroom, it was a bit embarrassing talking to the suppliers who couldn't get their money.

I had to ring Barclaycard to get it processed, while in one way I'm happy to see them being careful with my money I was a bit miffed they didn't contact me to see if the charge was genuine.

Mike

Or computer error as in my case.

I purchased some fuel at my local Tesco at one of the "pay at the pump" units...........I inserted my card and waited for the "enter pin" request but received a curt "card retained, please contact card issuer".

Which I did, there and then on my mobile. I received the usual assurances, "nothing wrong with your account sir, your balance is healthy, we've not authorised any stop on your card".

So I ended up talking to the petrol station manager and received the usual "well the computer wouldn't retain your card unless there was a problem, no we can't open the machine and give you it back sir".

They just passed the buck between each other for a few days before blaming a computer error.

I closed my account, switched banks and won't use Tesco again.

Bystander posted

Doubtless, but the cardholder has no knowledge of any agreements between the retailer and the bank, so he cannot be expected to fulfil them. However he *does* have an agreement with the bank which requires him to take care not to lose the card. Clearly he should act in accordance with the agreements he himself has made and not those that may or may not exist between other parties.