Did You Hear About The Price Of Gas?

Our sympathy award this month goes to the financial institutions in Florida that had a bit of a problem with the new gas pump point-of-sale terminals.

It seems you enter your ATM card into the pump, it processes the information from your card and puts an automatic $30 hold on your DDA account. If the hold won't take, the pump won't turn on. If it does take, it then turns on the pump so you can get your gas.

After you have finished pumping your gas, you put the nozzle back in the holder, and the amount of the sale is debited from your account.

At least that's the way it's SUPPOSED to work!

For a short time following the introduction of this new convenient way to purchase gasoline using your bank card, there was a small problem.

When the hold for $30 hit the account, it debited that amount instead of just holding it. Then, after the gas was pumped, it also debited the amount of the sale! So if you pumped $11 worth of gas, your account was debited $41 when you used the ATM card!

Irate customers soon alerted the financial institutions to the problem, and great numbers of adjustments followed.

Ahhhh! Progress! Ain't it wonderful, Ollie?!

Copyright © 1990 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 1, No. 12, 12/90