Here's a new one on me - Two days ago I went to my usual local gas station and filled up my car - forty-nine bucks worth. Today, I go to check my paypal account (which is the cc I used for the transaction). There I found the forty-nine dollar "completed" charge, but below it I also found a $75 "pending" charge from the same gas station. Of course, I called paypal - their customer service is really top-notch. She told me that it is becoming more and more common for gas stations to do this - you swipe your card, and it automatically puts in this seventy-five dollar charge to protect itself from runaways (although if they have your card, why would anyone run away - what good would it do?). Then, when the sale is complete, the charge for the actual amount goes through, BUT the gas station doesn't lift the pending charge and, from what the nice lady told me, if people don't happen to check their paypal accounts as I did and notice what's going on, that pending charge (which is not real because the actual charge has already gone through) could conceivably stay on your account for up to thirty days. I find that outrageous, and perhaps Cilla could file a class action lawsuit against that and any gas station who resorts to that tactic. Happily, the paypal lady removed the pending charge and I suddenly had seventy-five more bucks in my account. Glad I checked.
