Just had a call from my daughter. She was trying to pay in a store by card, apparently the transaction was declined and the store has detained her card.

Can they do this? I’m not aware there was any further contact with the bank – I know once (whilst xmas shopping) I had a payment declined, but the store had to phone the bank, then spoke to me, and it was put through ok.

I think the card machine can sometimes advise the retailer to retain the card. Not sure of the legality though.

If asked to by the credit card company to do so, then yes.

I used to get a £25 ‘reward’ for a recovered card.

Edit: when I inquired about the policy once, the credit card company stated that the ownership of the credit card belongs to them and as a customer we only had the rights of use not ownership?

Yeah I’d assume the card is actually the property of the bank etc, and the instruction to retain comes from them therefore legal. I’ve had retailers retain my card as a deposit, which isn’t legal (running up a tab in a sports facility) and I argued the case with them but they wouldn’t budge.

Yes if detailed by card company via machine, however it would be down to retailers discretion as to whether they felt it safe to do so…

She’s been to the bank now, which was 2 mins away. They did checks, confirmed there’s no suspicious activity flags on her account, no unknown transactions. They cancelled her card immediately, ordered her a new one, and gave her some cash to tide her over – great service from Nationwide there.

I’m very suspicious of whats happened at the store – its a national chain, in a major shopping centre. Reckon it could be a bit of a scam if they saw her pin number being entered. Hopefully she’s blocked anything dodgy before it can happen.

Wondering if I should report this to the police?

Could be a glitch on card machine system, but always worth double checking if anything is even slightly amiss.

Could well be the case 40mpg, we advised our customers to call the credit card company directly to confirm, most did not bother and did a runner tbh 😉

We were also asked to cut the card up in front of the customer too, but that would be asking for trouble with some of the customer we had to deal with!

I’ve had my debit card taken off me in Tesco before. We had moved house, and HSBC had had mail returned to them – so they put a stop on my card.

It was annoying.

I might tempted to report it. If it is a scam then it neees stopping, if it’s an over zealous employee it might make the store consider it’s future approach.

Visit the store and see if there is a camera hidden in the ceiling above the card machine. Classic MO used by petrol stations to harvest card and pin numbers.

The shop has no right to deprive the owner of their property.
Shop have committed theft plane and simple.

I’ve had retailers retain my card as a deposit, which isn’t legal (running up a tab in a sports facility)

I’ve had this. I’m not sure I’d class a pool hall as a “sports facility” tho 😉

The shop has no right to deprive the owner of their property.

dunno if they are allowed to retain the bank’s card but most of my cards expressly state that I don’t own them.

Happened to a couple of my customers and on each occasion they had lost their card, ordered a new one, found the old card and cut up the new one by mistake. The card when presented gets declined, person at call center says to retain card as its been reported lost.

I’ve had this. I’m not sure I’d class a pool hall as a “sports facility” tho

Even worse, an indoor golf simulator 😳

Yes they can. I lent my card to my wife and the store retained it as they saw the name on it was mine, ie not a womans name. Held under the guise of fraud prevention. It was a right PITA.

The shop has no right to deprive the owner of their property.
Shop have committed theft plane and simple.

Totally wrong, the cards remain the property of the bank like your passport is the property of the state/Queen.

Even worse

you said it
🙂

While it’s a PITA with anything like this, I’d rather that my bank was careful with MY money rather than slack.

So the card issuer did instruct retailer to take card?

Reporting seems valid if so.

Yes retailers can take you card if asked to do so by the card provider, I’ve had to keep customers cards in the past and return them normally get a reward for doing so last one was £50.

I’ve had retailers retain my card as a deposit, which isn’t legal (running up a tab in a sports facility) and I argued the case with them

Why isn’t it legal?

When I were a lass working at Tesco, we used to occasionally get a notification on the till if a card was flagged as being used fraudulently/had been stolen (it said, “Calling Mr Robinson” or something).

We were supposed to keep the card (but only if the person attempting to use it wasn’t aggressive), and then post it off with a form and we’d get a reward.

yes quite legitimate of them to retain the card if asked to do so.. worked in a retail location with 20000 card transactions a week.. a couple of hundred are declined and half a dozen are retained each week.. the card does indeed belong to the issuer at all times and can be withdrawen without notice. my advice to staff though was to avoid confrontation and return the card if asked by the customer..

the store will have been given an authorisation code number by the issuer at the time as they will have spoken to a real live person who asked them to retain the card..

when folks then marched down their bank in digust id guess that 95% proudly came back saying that the bank said their was nothing wrong and the store was at fault..in fact 100% of the time the bank said it was the stores fault..

Just stab them in the eyes with needles and they give you the card back, no questions asked