A. Some merchants will take a verification fee off the Reward Card to verify the authenticity(s) of the Reward Card and prevent an overcharge. This fee is rebated after the completion of the purchase or after the verification process (the Verification process time may vary from Merchant to Merchant) if the charges do not exceed the original amount paid. If the cost of the services or merchandise, after the verification, is not enough to cover the cost of the purchase, this will cause the transaction to be declined or the verification fee to not be rebated.
For example, restaurants and other food service companies (e.g. coffee shops, bakeries, etc), as well as other merchants that customarily accept gratuities, may add a 20% pre- authorization fee to a charge. This fee is placed back on the Reward Card after the completion of the purchase or after the pre- authorization process has finished provided that the final amount paid does not exceed the original charges. For example, if you eat a meal that costs $20.00, a verification fee of $4.00 may be added to the charges to cover a tip of up to 20%. If the tip is less than $4.00, the balance will be refunded to your Reward Card (Refunds may take several days).
Gas stations, hotels, and airlines often take large pre-authorization. Provided you to not have excess charges at these locations (such as for movie, minibar or room service fees at a hotel), this amount will be refunded to your Reward Card. Refunds for these merchants may take up to 90 business days. Because of this, we suggest not using your Reward Card at Gas stations, or for hotels or airlines.
Please note that the pre-authorization fee has nothing to do with us here at the Virtual Reward Center. The fee is taken by the merchant. Unfortunately, we have no way to speed up the pending charge.