A Pre-Authorization should not be a difficult concept

[Ghel]

Phone call:

SC: I hate having to pre-pay for gas. I go in, they ask me how much I think it'll take to fill my tank. I have no idea! (Really? You don't know how much it usually costs to fill your gas tank?) They suggested $40. But when I actually pumped gas, it was $11. When do they pay me back the $40?
Me: They don't. They never actually charged you the $40. It was a pre-authorization.
SC: But it was on my online banking when I balanced my checkbook that night!
Me: It's gone now, though. It cleared off the next day.
SC: They charged me $40! They have to pay me back! I went back into the gas station to get them to refund me the $40, and they said I'd need to bring in a statement from the bank. I said that's private information!
Me: It's not going to show up on your statement anyway. They never actually charged you the $40. It was a pre-authorization. It drops off after they charge you the actual amount.
SC: What do I do with this $40 item, then?
Me: If you wrote it in your checkbook register, just cross it off.

If you hate pre-paying for gas so much, why don't you pay at the pump like a normal person?

Actually, I know the answer. This SC likes to complain. I think this is the 3rd time I've tried to explain pre-authorizations to her. I'm not sure it has sunk in yet.

ETA: She called 2 more times after this for unrelated things. -_-

[Kristev]

Is she safe to drive? Her comprehension seems rather, uh, lackluster, to me.

[earl colby pottinger]

After the third time I refuse to Pre-Authorizate her. I simple tell her to pay cash or go elsewhere. I do not think it is the law that you MUST take a pre-authorization payment.



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[Ghel]

Yeah, if I worked at that gas station and recognized her from the interaction she described, I would refuse to pre-authorize her, too. She's such a Karen.

[Ghel]

Another phone call from this customer:

SC: Hey, Ghel, can you send me 4 or 5 check registers?
Me: That many, huh?
SC: Yeah, I have a mess. I don't write that many checks, but I have a mess!
Me: <internal sigh> Sure, we can do that.

I want to scream, "You don't even live near here any more! You only keep this small checking account with us so you can call and bug us for unnecessary things! Like checkbook registers and calendars, which you make us mail you every year! Normally, we wouldn't send that many checkbook registers or mail any calendars to a customer, but you get special treatment because you're a retiree, kind of. You didn't even retire from the current bank! You retired from the bank that was bought out and no longer exists!"

I get more upset than I should by this customer. She's such an entitled Karen.

[AkaiKitsune]

My current job (one of them anyway) is at a gas station. It's suprising how many people can't figure out how to pump gas. It's really not that difficult. And if you have a car you're probably refueling a couple times a month so it's not a lack of frequency either.

We have one guy who can't seem to figure out that there are grades of gas and that it will only pump the one that you said you wanted.

Another doesn't seem to understand the order of gas cap off, select grade, grab pump and stick in hole, pump gas.

One we no longer allow to pump gas period because he will keep pumping even if the gas is spilling out from his full tank.

Another that wanders away from his vehicle to shop next door (then wonders why we hit halt pump option).

The amount of people who are baffled by the pre-auth is astounding.

[Seanette]

My current job (one of them anyway) is at a gas station. It's suprising how many people can't figure out how to pump gas. It's really not that difficult. And if you have a car you're probably refueling a couple times a month so it's not a lack of frequency either.

If you work near the Oregon or New Jersey border, you might well be getting people from those states who really don't have much if any experience pumping gas. I grew up in Oregon, and was rather baffled by the diagram on the pump the first time I had to get gas in another state (Washington). Thankfully, a kind fellow customer noticed the bafflement and the Oregon plates on my car and showed me how to operate the pump.

[Kit-Ginevra]

Or people who've never done it at all... When I was on the furniture delivery van(and I could tell you some tales from that),we pull into a petrol station and the driver asks to fill it up..whilst I'm looking at what to do, he calls over 'come on,have you done it yet?'. When I reply that I'm checking how to do it,he replies 'it's easy-everybody knows how to do it.' Well nope not everyone has.If you've never driven a car you've never needed to(and if the bus driver is telling me to fuel him up,we'll be having words...) I managed to do it and then hung up the handle,not realizing this one had to be lifted and pushed down into place,otherwise it would start to swing about splashing petrol...

[AkaiKitsune]

If you work near the Oregon or New Jersey border, you might well be getting people from those states who really don't have much if any experience pumping gas. I grew up in Oregon, and was rather baffled by the diagram on the pump the first time I had to get gas in another state (Washington). Thankfully, a kind fellow customer noticed the bafflement and the Oregon plates on my car and showed me how to operate the pump.

Canada. Pretty much everywhere except Quebec has the same standard setup across the country and not only are there pictures there's a written step by step on the pump, large numbers pointing to what you do next or if you're paying at pump or you literally go in pay. Then the only thing you have to do is select grade (and the only one that will work is the one you asked for)...or diesel and pump. You can literally just hit random buttons until one lights up if you paid inside.

Yet today, again.

AK: regular gas, no carwash?
c: yes yes
...
C: not working...also customer, wanted premium not regular... Then WHY TF DID YOU SAY YES TO REGULAR? If you know enough to say you want premium at the pump when I try to figure out what went wrong then why did you not say that when I was asking?

Also customer...wants gas but picks up handle for diesel....that is marked in a big 1ft by 2ft sign at eye level that says DIESEL with an arrow pointing at the diesel pump!...that also says diesel on the handle. It's not subtle. Did they not see the equally large sign on a bright yellow background that says GAS also with a large arrow pointed at the gas pump?

[Dreamstalker]

What, SCs read signs?!

My company's online pickup system will also pre-authorize a card; hold for 110% of the order total which drops off when the actual amount is charged upon pickup. Every week in the customer feedback there will be at least five people who don't understand the concept. There have been reports of some sort of glitch in the system though where the pre-auth amount will also be charged if the order isn't marked picked up within the same day (or a few hours).

[Sparklyturtle]

If you work near the Oregon or New Jersey border, you might well be getting people from those states who really don't have much if any experience pumping gas. I grew up in Oregon, and was rather baffled by the diagram on the pump the first time I had to get gas in another state (Washington). Thankfully, a kind fellow customer noticed the bafflement and the Oregon plates on my car and showed me how to operate the pump.

I'm the opposite. While I live in Oregon now, I'd grown up in California and actually worked at a station that offered full service (it was on a military base) so I can pump gas with the best of them. However, the first time I came to Oregon on vacation I hopped out of my car and started pumping. The attendant strode over and told me I wasn't supposed to do that in Oregon. I was totally embarrassed, but he said that he'd seen a lot of California drivers do that. I can also wash windshields and check oil, but once I was at a station washing my own car's windows and the very elderly driver behind me asked me nicely if I'd wash his windshield. I said "Sure," and did so, and he thanked me. When I put the wand back a woman who was parked across from me who was about 20 or so said to me, "Well? Aren't you going to wash my windshield?" I said "Nope," and hopped into my car and drove away. For one thing, she was younger than me by many decades and surely had the strength to do it herself, and for another demanding that I do something is a sure way for me to refuse to do it.

[Seanette]

Ms. Entitled deserved the reaction you gave her. Well done!

My husband had similar problems driving in Oregon, since he grew up in California. I had to remind him at every gas stop to stay in the car and let the attendant do his job. (Very few female pump jockeys in my experience.)

[Nunavut Pants]

Yeah, it's definitely strange to drive in Oregon from a state other than Jersey. You have to keep reminding yourself that you don't get to pump the gas...

OTOH, Mom loved that aspect of moving up there! She never liked to pump her own gas, and when she got to OR, she no longer had to!