From: Fred Smith 
Newsgroups: uk.finance
Subject: Re: American Express
Date: Sat, 01 Oct 2005 10:21:01 +0100

Ronald Raygun wrote:

> I always use Amex at Tesco.  Today, I availed myself of their free wine=

> glasses loan service for a soiree I'm catering for.  I had to pay a =A3=
60
> deposit for my 8 dozen glasses, which I'd get back when I return them.
>=20
> I proferred my Amex card.  "That'll do nicely" said the chap (that's a
> lie, actually, but it enhances the entertainment value) before he got o=
ut
> his old-fashioned machine for copying my card onto the multipart carbon=

> chit which I then had to sign.

I have had a couple of hotels do this as well - but most electronic=20
systems can and do get a pre-authorisation for this type of thing.=20
Think car rental for example.

Perhaps Tesco's EPOS can't cope with this type of transaction?

> I asked him why he didn't just swipe it through the till.  "Oh, we're
> not actually charging you for it, Sir, we'll only process it if you
> don't return them".  I suppose they must do it this way because the
> charges involved in processing the charge and subsequent refund is
> relatively prohibitive for what is after all a non-revenue-earning
> service.  He still had to phone for authorisation, though.
>=20