hello r/belgium, i was in belgium today and at the gas station, i put 73€ gas in my car thing is in my card its charged also an extra 125€ which was the before me price and fuel woulsnt start without me putting my card in first, is this normal ?
hello r/belgium, i was in belgium today and at the gas station, i put 73€ gas in my car thing is in my card its charged also an extra 125€ which was the before me price and fuel woulsnt start without me putting my card in first, is this normal ?
9 comments
Furthermore after seeing the charges in my card i went in and asked the staff why it took me 125 and not 73
She said its okay bc the 125 taken was a deposit and the rest was going ti be refunded to me later bc thats how it works in belgium… now not only nothing was refunded but it took me 73€ seperate payment
So in total i paid 200€ when i only filled 73€ worth of gas, is here something im missing?
Yes, it’s normal. What it does is the moment you put the card in the machine, it will reserve a certain amount of money that will cover the price of a regular top-up, after which the pump unlocks and you can fill up the car. See it as some sort of bail-money. After you’ve topped up, you pay, and that bail-sum is released at once. But if you’ve got an international banking card, it can take a bit longer.
It’s to prevent people driving away without paying.
It will be refunded, had the same thing with a foreign card. They reserved that amount, and they will release it later
completely normal in belgium. As belgians we often do not see that charge because it is canceled so quickly. On your international card the cancelation of the initial charge may take a little longer.
Isn’t this common practice in many countries?
Yes, the €40 taxes on the €73 gas however are stolen forever by the Belgian government.
It is normal that the pump doesn’t start untill you’ve paid (the shop clerk can also manually start the pump) it is to prevent people from not paying.
Shqipe, no worries. This is just to verify that your card had enough money. The 125Euro it will be refunded next weeks. Depending on bank you have might take up to 7 days. I have had same experience as well with Albanian credit card. But every time I’ve got my money back.
Depends on the bank/gas station.
I’ve had gas stations that needed to be sure there was 250€ on my bank account (that’s the max to fill a van or something) while I needed 5 euro to fill my Mobilette with 4-takt…
Imagine you have only 10 euro’s in your bank account and you start filling up 100 Jerrycans full of petrol and then bail out and leave the country.
That’s what they’re affraid of.