Larry tells Consumerist that when he tried to pay for gasoline with his credit card recently, the station attendant didn’t just ask to see his driver’s license. She asked to keep it while he pumped gas. Have you run across this in your own travels? What would you do?
I’m from the NYC area and I am currently visiting Miami. I use a credit card for most purchases, and I was initially surprised to discover how many merchants here in Miami ask to see your driver’s license when making a purchase. As I said, I’m from NY (certainly a big city!) so I am no stranger to cities, fraud, etc, but the pervasiveness of this request surprised me. It’s not that big a deal to me to show my id, although I know this has been the subject of debate on Consumerist recently, so I’ve generally just let the merchant look at my ID to verify my identity.
In most cases, this has been uneventful, but there was once particular noteworthy incident that I am going to tell you about. A few days ago, I went to buy gas at [redacted], a local discount gas chain. The station I stopped at did not have a pay-at-the-pump credit card reader, so I went inside to give them my credit card so that I could fill up. The woman inside asked for my credit card (fine), and asked for my driver’s license (ok), but she then wanted to hold onto my license while I went outside to pump my gas. This request really surprised me (thoughts of identity theft ran through my head), so I replied that she could look at my license but she could not hold it. She said sorry then, no gas and handed my license and credit card back to me. I said fine and went elsewhere to purchase gas.
Now, I’m ok with leaving the credit card with the person while I pump, but the thought of leaving my credit card *and* my license seems too much to bear.
What do other consumerist readers think? Would you leave your license in the hands of some unknown person in a plexiglass booth while you pumped your gas?
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I’ve never had to do this at a gas station, but it’s pretty standard at bars and pubs with free darts/pool/foozeball. You leave your ID and they give you a cue or darts or whatever. Since I run a tab, they already have my CC. Does this make me stupid and gullible? Not really.
I guess people are more trusting of a random bartender than they are of a gas station attendant. Go social profiling!
I wouldn’t even leave my credit card with the attendant. No reader, no business from me.
Saw this at a truck stop in southwest Kansas about two weeks ago. It was a truck driver, not me. Clerk said it was to prevent fraud, that folks had been using someone else’s card. At least that was the excuse given.
I vist florida alot and have been there but never has this happend.
i think its a confusing situation
the merchant wants to avoid pump-and-run, which doesn’t make sense, since its pre-paid before filling up….and the consumer who is cautious about identity theft
at the end of the day, the gas station lost a sale, and the customer was inconvenienced a bit
it would be ironic if an identity thief complied, and gave up a victim’s cards and proceeded on his/her way
It would be nice if they would stop redacting the business names. It helps to know who is doing it.
I am also in the Hell No! camp.
I’ve walked out of gas stations that have tried to do this with me and have taken my business elsewhere. It’s interesting to see the faces of the workers who seem to think like it’s perfectly normal to hang onto a drivers license or credit card. My question to the readers is this: if you have to leave one or the other (drivers license or credit card), which do you leave?
It’s gotten to the point where if I don’t see the credit card reader on the pump, I don’t bother to stop.
all the time here to prevent unpaid drive offs. they hold ID for people who are filling up.
Giving a random attendant more than 30 seconds alone with both my D/L and a credit card? No way. If they want to pre-auth my credit card to prevent a drive-away, that’s fine.
Not just no, HELL NO!