Restaurant overcharges my CC. Repeatedly. Where to report them?

[Anubis]

there shouldn?t be any preauthorization to cover tip, what if the service was horrid and you didn?t want to leave one, they just gonna jack it from your CC, that?s stealing and illegal

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: ThegonagleUh, I fail to see the connection. There's nothing unhealthy about cash that I know of.

Cash problems: Can get mugged and lose a bundle, you lose the 2% cash back, you have no consumer protections, you don't get better credit, etc.

I wouldn't call it as bad as smoking. It is more like a doctor telling a patient to stop taking their antidepressant and instead just to think happy thoughts.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: Anubis
there shouldn?t be any preauthorization to cover tip, what if the service was horrid and you didn?t want to leave one, they just gonna jack it from your CC, that?s stealing and illegal

No, they credit it back within a few days. Thus it isn't stealing and it isn't illegal.

 

[Thegonagle]

Originally posted by: PingSpike

Originally posted by: Thegonagle

Originally posted by: PingSpike
Wow I didn't know this. I usually tip cash and leave the 'tip' line blank. (I write in the total as the same though) I'll write 0.00 in there from now on.

That won't change the preauthorization amount, since it happens before you ever have the chance to write 0.00 in the tip line.

I realize that. But its so easy to just write a number in that line when its blank. I don't really care about the preauth, I understand why its done.

Ah ha! Yes, that's a good idea for that reason, although writing only the total on the bottom line is technically good enough. I've been taught that if the tip and the total on the bottom line don't match up, and the customer has already left before their math error is discovered, the adjusted charge amount MUST match the bottom line, not the tip line. In essence, the tip line is only there as a math aid, as it is not validated by your signature--only the total line is.

 

[oboeguy]

So what happens if a restaurant "pre-authorizes" a day before your statement period ends? (and what a stupid word... "pre" is too often, ahem, prepended, but that's another thread )

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: KarenMarie
back in the days when i tended bar... if we had a pr!ck at the bar, we would preauthorize their cards for huge amounts.. and it stayed there for ages as a preauthorization (not like the lightening speed of today) so if he wanted to use his card again later, it would ask the cardholder to call for verification. Embarassing!

Things have changed since then. Now it is all so darn fast!

I have had a simialr thing happened regarding Car rentals.

Car rental would pre-authorize $250.
Return car for $150 charges.

Could take 3-4 days for the pre-authorized charge to come off.

Now repeat this scenario in three cities within a week.

I got caught where I could not check out of the hotel because of $500 in pre-charges from car rentals sitting on a credit card.

 

[Vic]

Authorizations are not charges, and do not make it to your bill. Notice how your CC bill shows separate transaction (TRANS) and post dates? The transaction date was when the authorization was made, the post date was when the final charge was confirmed. Charges not yet posted by your statement date will roll over to the following month.

If, however, the amount of the final charge ends up being different (and higher) than the amount you signed for, dispute the charge with your CC provider and charge it back to the vendor (restaurant in this case). Keep your receipt, because if they fight it, documentation will be required.

KarenMarie, what you did was unethical and possibly illegal. I don't care how much a prick a customer is, your job was to provide service. You should have been fired, at the very least.

 

[styrafoam]

Originally posted by: AnyMal
There is a little restaurant in my area where food is decent and cheap. Last time I went there was about a month ago and I noticed on my CC statement few days later that what statement said and what I authorised were two different amounts. However, I did not keep the receipt and had no way to prove it. Fast forward to last night, I went there again and this time I made it a point to keep the CC receipt. I went to check my CC statement this morning and guess what? The charges don't match again, my CC shows almost $3.00 more then what I signed for on the receipt.

Should I go down there and raise hell or should I call someone?

If it were a pre-authorization wouldn't the bill from a month ago have been corrected by now?

 

[Thegonagle]

Originally posted by: Vic

KarenMarie, what you did was unethical and possibly illegal. I don't care how much a prick a customer is, your job was to provide service. You should have been fired, at the very least.

Well, I laughed. You've obviously never worked in a bar/restaurant. You should try it sometime before you try to tell somebody what their job was, or that they should have been fired. Ridiculous.

Really! Try it. The money can be surprisingly good, and it can even be fun a lot of the time. The really bad part though, is dealing with the occasional pricks. They make you wanna go balistic, but since there'd be real cause for dismissal if you did, you need to deal with it in your own way, like, maybe doing a pre-auth on a bar tab for the "standard" $150 per person, or whatever. (Not that I'd choose to deal with it that particular way--maybe I'd just take a shot of Jag and disappear to the basement or walk-in cooler for a minute or two and punch a few boxes.) But no matter what, you don't go ballistic in view of your customers, and you do continue to do your job and serve those customers--for the next customers will be different. It's only a job, and you get to go home afterwards.