Since my earlier post, I've got the situation resolved and I have to say that Aero Refuellers, once fully aware of my predicament, were
extremely proactive and supportive in getting things fixed
. But it took 48 hours and many phone calls from me, both to Aero Refuellers and to my bank.
After a phone call from Andrew Heath (owner/operator of Aero Refuellers), I then had excellent support from Angela in their accounts department. Apparently their normal experience after a fuel purchase like this is that the $1000 charge sits on the customer's card for 24 hours - sometimes only "same day" apparently - and then disappears to be replaced by the
actual charge for the fuel.
But not in my case, and nearly 48 hours later it was still on my Visa card (which is a debit card by the way so it actually reduced my usable cash balance below zero
).
So Angela had to arrange a fax to my bank to authorise removal of the $1000 charge, which took several phone calls and 2 faxes to put right. In the end I gave my card details to Angela over the phone so that they could actually bill me for the fuel
.
I've sinced notified the manager at my flying club, who tells me (not surprisingly) that this is a known issue for GA pilots. I'm not sure whether my club as Aero Refuellers cards or not, though.
Aero Refuellers' feedback to me is that they know this is an issue for customers. Apparently the $1000 "security" card authorisation was even
higher previously, before Aero Refuellers was able to get the bank to reduce it to $1000. Aero Refuellers' view seems to be that this is the only means they have to make fuel available at self-service bowsers for credit card purchases (as opposed to fuel cards etc.)
I have some sympathy with their problem, but the $1000 charge still was listed as "Aero Refuellers Albury" on my bank statement. So as far as I'm concerned, even it it's the bank's requirements, it's still Aero Refuellers' name that appears on my statement. And that makes it their problem, not just mine. (To be strictly fair, as I mentioned earlier, Aero Refuellers were very helpful in getting me sorted out).
I just can't get my head around why this has to be such a difficult issue, however. Surely it can't be that hard to at least allow credit card customers to nominate a "maximum" amount before the fuel starts flowing?