Asda Scraps Controversial £99 ‘Pay at the Pump’ Charge

• One motorist was charged £99 for £5 worth of petrol
• Charged customers £99 BEFORE filling up
• Complaints over not getting money back have amassed

Asda has suspended its new £99 ‘pay at the pump’ charge from petrol stations, after facing a backlash from drivers.

The measure was introduced at several stores to stop motorists with insufficient funds in their bank accounts getting fuel, and to clamp down on petrol thefts.

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The scheme works by charging customers £99 before they begin filling up, and then once they have paid, the money goes back into their accounts.

However, many have had problems with it.

Earlier this week, one customer blasted the supermarket online after she was charged £99 for £5 worth of fuel.

Asda has now responded saying that it is halting the trial because it had learned some banks could not immediately return the holding charge.

The retailer added that it did not want to risk harming customers trust.

A spokesperson for Asda said, “We always want to do the right thing for our customers, which is why we have made the decision to suspend Visa and Mastercard’s pre-authorisation transaction trial.

“The intention of Visa and MasterCard in this trial was to ensure customers had sufficient funds in their account to pay for their fuel, and the £99 would be immediately released back to customers by their bank.

“Whilst we have received very few complaints about this process, until we can be given assurance that all banks are able to comply with the Visa and Mastercard rule change, we cannot continue to implement this change and risk harming our customer’s trust in us.”

Earlier in the week, a Facebook post from one Asda customer went viral after she claimed she had to wait more than two days for her £99 fee to be returned.

She said there were no signs at the petrol station which warned of the pre-authorisation.

What do you think of the scheme? Let us know in the comments.