In message , at 00:04:21 on Sun, 17
May 2009, Barry Salter remarked:
That reminds me - I stayed at a foreign hotel about a month ago and
they insisted on making a 10-euro test-payment using their C&P
machine. This was for "extras" and in fact I didn't incur any. When
I checked out there was some confusion about whether or not the
10-euros needed to be explicitly refunded, or whether it just
"expired" in some strange way. I must check my statements...

I've seen that - it seems that while taking the "swipe"
(pre-authorisation for things like the minibar) some badly-designed
terminals show it as an actual purchase with an amount and require a
PIN, but it isn't an actual transaction and doesn't go on the
statement.

On the occasions I've been asked to provide a card for authorisation in
a hotel, it's generally said "Pre-Auth" (or similar) on the display on
the PED.

The thing that was strange was being asked for a PIN - that's the first
time a pre-authorisation has worked like that (and I've stayed in
literally hundreds of hotels). But C&P is beginning to spread - I had to
use a PIN to pay my hotel bill for the first time in Geneva earlier this
week, and oddly they didn't ask for a CC when I checked in (although
they had a number via the booking agency to guarantee the booking, but
that doesn't normally stop people asking again).

On a similar subject, I went into a branch of NatWest last week to pay
a cheque in, over the counter, and was asked to use Chip & PIN to
confirm the deposit. That's a new one on me.

Any card, or one of theirs?
--
Roland Perry