What would you do?

OUCH .. goodness I wonder what they do with people like this. One time, after coming home from a long, expensive vacation I went to get my car out of the Paid Parking Lot and realized I had no money, no checks and no credit card, at was at a loss what to do, I had no family to call on or a boyfriend to bail me out, so I worked on the sympthany of the Tollbooth collector, fortunately, she had a heart and allowed me out and gave me a envelope to put the money to the company when I got home. I was so thankful, that I wrote a thank you to the company when I sent the money in.

There are different ways they handle it. I've left my license with them and told them I'd return with the money. That's usually a very acceptable option to most places. The bother they have to go through to get the money from an arrest isn't worth it if you are honestly making an attempt to pay it. I have also had it happen to me at a restaurant. Luckily it was when the banks were still open and I've left whomever I was with there to run to a bank or left my license and went to the bank with the debit card to find out the issue. Both times the card was messed up or their reader/machine was messed up. If you actually don't have the money I'm not sure what they'd do!

Well, after I got done freaking out I'd probably call my daughter to bring my checkbook or something. I'd also call my bank first to make sure that last deposit actually was showing. I'd definitely be upset, lol. Poor guy, most likely he made a deposit into it and it hadn't showed up yet. Nowadays it often takes 3 days (and sometimes more) for your deposit to actually show up in your account. My bank actually sent a reminder about this same new rule at the bank. I think once you deposit your funds that it should instantly show up in your account, I mean, you put it there...why should the bank charge you insufficient funds for their lack of promptness? Unfortunately, this kind of thing happens daily anymore, and I feel sorry for the guy. I think I'd be more mad at my bank than at the gas station attendant, he's only doing his job.

I do not think I would find myself in that position, as I would just not go for gas or for a fill up if I thought my account might be low. I would do a lot more walking. I think the fact that he is there, and is trying to come up with the money, with the price of things, that they will not arrest him. If he has a history of doing such a thing, they may charge him, but not physically take him to jail. It is not as if he filled and drove off. It could be an honest mistake.

I would be so embarrassed! I don't think the station would have someone arrested unless they tried to leave without paying. Sometimes our card won't work to swipe it, but we could go to the atm and take the money out. That poor guy.

Well, there is no way I could afford the $84.00 I probably would have offered to help pay as in chipping in $15.00 or $20.00 to help him. This sort of happened to me. I was with my mom and I told her to get $20.00 worth of gas in the car as she was driving me back and forth to work. She pumped it and I went in to pay. My debit card wouldn't work. I knew I had money in there because it was my payday but it was so embarrassing. I wanted to crawl out of the store and under the car lol! I asked if I could run to the bank and the girl looked at me (she was new) and said that I would have to leave the car. I needed to get to work in 20 minutes and the bank was at least a good 15 minute walk (going one way)... I was beginning to panic when the girl that was ending her shift at the store came out of the back and said "oh this girl is a regular customer, if you want I'll drive with her to the bank and we'll be right back" so my mom and I drove to the bank where I found out that the magnetic strip thing on my bank card had decided to stop working. The bank issued me a new temporary card and I was able to get the money and go back to pay. But needless to say whenever I have to pay this girl at the store now I still get a little twinge of embarrassement. I also make sure that now I ALWAYS have at least $50.00 CASH on me.

This wouldn´t happen as the pumps are pay first.... but I think this would be very embarassing! I don´t know what I would do. Probably first call bank and see for myself why it was refused and if that doesnt solve it probably call someone and beg to borrow it.

I seem to recall reading or hearing some where that bank card were only good for gas up to $50. I don't remember where I heard this and it was some time ago when gas first strated getting so high. there is an ATM at a walmart that would not accecpt my bank card but The check out machines would. so strange.

wow,thats sad for the guy. but i would be very madif after it all the card was good

Wow! That was be an awful situation to be in. Sounds like he was doing his best to come up with the money to pay for it. Considering he was sincerely trying to find a way to get the money, I wouldn't think the station would have him arrested. It's not like he pumped his gas and took off? It may be that the money was in his account but a deposit hadn't cleared yet and wasn't available for withdrawal. It can take a day or two sometimes depending on the bank. I know with our bank, if we deposit an out of state check they'll hold it for 10 days!

Here in sweden he would have been asked to leave his id-card and maybe something of value.. If he could not they probably would have called the police to get a clean id. I do understand this since there are alot of people trying to scam others.

This just happened to me yesterday, only it was MY card that got declined, but the card was good. I had no balance owing on it, but I think it was because of a change in the zip code that you have to put in to verify the account at the pump. I just used a different card because I did not want to keep running the first one through and set off a fraud alert. Well, I got very icy stares from the woman behind me. Like it was my fault? So I was going to pull out cash and pay but when she did that I thought "To heck with it, let the crabby thing wait."

Hi Thorougrob, If that was me and I wasn't able to get some money, I deserved whatever happened then, since is my responsibility if I handle a debit or credit card to know approximately how much is it carrying, if I wasn't sure, I wouldn't dare to spend on something I think I couldn't cover. But that's just me. Have a nice one !!

hi, People are so money hungry these days. I would feel awful if i saw that happen. I know i wouldnt be able to do anything about it but it would really bother me that somebody's card was declined either because they didnt have the money or something wasnt working right. I hope he got a hold of somebody to help him.

The guy should have checked his account balance before he went and put gas in his truck. We always need to be aware of our balance when we use our debit cards. He should also have had a backup plan in case this were to happen, whether to have cash on hand or a credit card. That is a lot of money for gas. If the guy only needed a dollar or two, I probably would have given him that amount to pay for it. I believe the store would have him arrested or would not allow him to leave without paying.

I think our petrol stations right out some sort of docket & give yiou seven dasys to pay. If you don't, they follow it up with debt collectors. I don't know if this man misunderstood how much was in his account, or if he was deliberatly trying to get away with not payiong the full amount. Some of our petrol stations make us prepay now.

cpme on guys!!! lets stop bening a bunch of pesimists... i think the world is not tooo harsh on the innosent (as long as tyhe situation is aproched with a little maturaty). in a situation like the one mentioned above if the guy comes out as an honest person i am sure the station incharge would comeup with some plausable solution... like hold the guys watch or lisence..

oh thats bad,i have had that happen. not with gas but i went to the gas station and got a soda and some snacks for us to take on one of our days out and it keep say declined. thank goodness they had an stm right there so i could get cash to pay for it. the guy acted surprised i got cash out of the atm and asked if he could try my card again to see if it was him but it still didn't work. he said it had never happened before. later that day we had stopped back for something and it worked. i know the gas station back home rights down your name, number and all your car info and you have to bring the money by the time you said cuz my cousion had gottin like 50 in gas and relized he left his wallet so they took his info and told him to bring it in before closing.

My husband just helped a young lady out of a spot like this last week. He was behind her in line and the machine would not take her card. She asked to leave her license and registration there while she ran to the bank(about 3 blocks away) and the attendant would not let her. He said if she left the station, he would have her arrested. She was telling him that it was a new card and that she had the money in the bank,but no one home to bring her any money and that she didn't carry cash as it wasn't safe. She was in tears as the attendant was just like "You pumped the gas, it is your responsibility to pay it". Finally, my husband gave her the money to pay for it ($45) and she told him that if he stayed there she would be right back with the money. He waited and figured that he would sit there a few minutes but wasn't sure she would be back. She did come back with the money and she thanked him for it. She even sent him a note of thanks after the fact due to him giving her a business card after they talked. It is nice to see young people who are trustworthy and honest these days!!

I work at a gas station and this is something that does happen. For whatever reason, the debit card declines. Most people would not pump gas deliberatly knowing they did not have enough to pay. I would first let the guy make some phone calls hoping to rectify the problem. If he was really in a bind, I would take all his info....address, phone, licence # etc. and give him some time to get back to pay. The police would not be involved as long as he came back within a day or so and paid up.