"Adam H. Kerman" writes:

Uh, always? What do you do at a fuel station which requires a credit
card before dispensing fuel, or at a restaurant, when the tip amount
to be charged is not known until later, or at a hotel that requires
a credit card to create a reservation and the same one or another
one to check in?

At the restaurant, the card terminal could display the sub-total and
prompt for the diner to enter the amount of the tip (with the option of
just pressing enter to not leave a tip) before displaying the total
and prompting for the PIN.

On 26-Feb-12 12:32, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
Roland Perry wrote:
The two-pass scheme is used in other circumstances, such as checking
into a hotel, when they often "reserve" an estimate of the final bill,
ahead of the day you eventually check out.

Ah. So the amount isn't always known. Do you provide the PIN
at that point, or not?

Hotels, rental car companies, may bill you for charges after you are
presented with the final bill.

Indeed; this is the "posting" step. If the amount they attempt to
charge exceeds the authorized amount, or if the authorization has
expired, that attempt may fail.

S

--
Stephen Sprunk "God does not play dice." --Albert Einstein
CCIE #3723 "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the
K5SSS dice at every possible opportunity." --Stephen Hawking

In message , at 18:19:20 on Sun,
26 Feb 2012, " remarked:
Indeed. I used a gas station in the bad part of town (here in UK) this
week, and I've never seen one with so many notices saying it was an
offence to drive off without paying (even then, they were using
post-payment).

Are there any places where you can, for example, just tank up and drive
off, and then later receive a bill in the post or have your bank
account linked to automatically take payment at the end of each month?

I've not seen one that's automated.

You would, naturally, need an account and would have to insert a card
into the pump for identification and to release the pump.

When such accounts were commonplace[1], it required going into the
office to sign a form.

[1] Various income taxation changes have made them much rarer.
--
Roland Perry

" wrote:

Are there any places where you can, for example, just tank up and drive
off, and then later receive a bill in the post or have your bank account
linked to automatically take payment at the end of each month?

You would, naturally, need an account and would have to insert a card
into the pump for identification and to release the pump.

In the U.S. that's pretty common and known as fleet fueling. There's two flavors
- one is a private fueling center, the other uses standard retail fueling sites.
Both require the use of a card similar to a credit card. The price per unit can
be negotiated independently of the posted retail price, or based on a percentage
(+/-) of the current retail price.

In message , at 18:22:23 on Sun,
26 Feb 2012, " remarked:
Haven't seen Amex with a proximity card yet, though will be sure to
keep an eye out.

Is there any sort of timeframe when other UK banks plan to introduce
proximity cards?

Not seen anything.

Will they eventually serve as a replacement for Oyster cards, as I have
heard?

That is apparently the plan. With the various daily capping algorithms
applied to a series of CC charges, rather than the current stored-credit
smartcard.
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 12:51:52 on Sun, 26 Feb
2012, Stephen Sprunk remarked:
There are still two steps: the merchant gets authorization at the time
of purchase and then posts the transaction at some later time,
potentially several days later.

You may not be _aware_ of the second step, but it's there.

It's a plausible theory, but I don't understand why it would be like
that with C&P. The card company is sent all the details in order to
provide authorisation. Why would they need to be sent it again?

Does an ATM have this "two pass" process as well?
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 18:54:16 on Sun,
26 Feb 2012, Graham Murray remarked:
Uh, always? What do you do at a fuel station which requires a credit
card before dispensing fuel, or at a restaurant, when the tip amount
to be charged is not known until later, or at a hotel that requires
a credit card to create a reservation and the same one or another
one to check in?

At the restaurant, the card terminal could display the sub-total and
prompt for the diner to enter the amount of the tip (with the option of
just pressing enter to not leave a tip) before displaying the total
and prompting for the PIN.

Not "could", this is what they *do*.
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 11:57:22 on
Sun, 26 Feb 2012, Robert Neville remarked:
Are there any places where you can, for example, just tank up and drive
off, and then later receive a bill in the post or have your bank account
linked to automatically take payment at the end of each month?

You would, naturally, need an account and would have to insert a card
into the pump for identification and to release the pump.

In the U.S. that's pretty common and known as fleet fueling.

And of course, anyone buying by credit card. But I don't think the
question was asked that literally.
--
Roland Perry

On 26/02/2012 18:57, Robert Neville wrote:
wrote:

Are there any places where you can, for example, just tank up and drive
off, and then later receive a bill in the post or have your bank account
linked to automatically take payment at the end of each month?

You would, naturally, need an account and would have to insert a card
into the pump for identification and to release the pump.

In the U.S. that's pretty common and known as fleet fueling. There's two flavors
- one is a private fueling center, the other uses standard retail fueling sites.
Both require the use of a card similar to a credit card. The price per unit can
be negotiated independently of the posted retail price, or based on a percentage
(+/-) of the current retail price.

Tescos in UK have a facility to "Pay at Pump" You insert your credit
card and enter PIN and then fill up and drive off.

--
Graeme Wall
This account not read, substitute trains for rail.
Railway Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail

In message , Graeme Wall
writes

Tescos in UK have a facility to "Pay at Pump" You insert your credit
card and enter PIN and then fill up and drive off.

All the Tescos I've seen also have a shop and the option to pay there
instead but I recently came across an ASDA that was entirely unmanned.
The pumps had a sign suggesting that Electron card users put in at least
GBP 20 worth or else a larger amount of the balance on the associated
account would remain earmarked for a few days.

--
Goalie of the Century