Have you ever been overcharged? (RANT)

OK,

Last Friday B and I went out to a pool hall/restaraunt to celebrate his new job. It was just him and myself. We ate dinner there, had some drinks and also played pool.

The total bill came to $65. The charge for the pool was $15 and then $50 for the food. So I gave our server a $10 (which is 20% on the food, very good) bringing my total cost to $75. I looked at my bank account last night and saw that this lovely place decided to charge $79 to my bank account, instead of the $75 I said.
I could care less about the $4 difference, I'm just because of the fact that they took the liberty to charge my credit card more money and probably based on the total bill. You don't tip on the total bill, you tip on the service that the server provided for you. Our server didn't bring us the balls or the sticks...she didn't rack the balls for us...she didn't take the balls back. We did all of that. The only thing she did for us related to the pool table was bring back my boyfriend's drivers license that he had to turn in to get the equipment.
Heck...even so, $10 would still be 15-16% of the bill, well within tipping range. I could understand if I only paid a dollar as a tip, but if I'm still within a tipping range, why get greedy?
Isn't there some sort of law that says a restaraunt has to accept what the customer pays in a tip? If these guys don't do anything for me, I'm never ever going back there.

I've had that sort of thing happen before. It usually ends up being some kind of clerical error; maybe you should call and talk with a manager.

If you on;y signed for 75 they can get in trouble legally I believe. You didn't authorize 79 bucks and sign for only 75 correct?

Originally Posted by Phenomsmom

If you on;y signed for 75 they can get in trouble legally I believe. You didn't authorize 79 bucks and sign for only 75 correct?

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That's what I'm thinking. I know that if the policy is stated (i.e. usually with groups of 6 or more people they will automatically include the tip) then that's one thing. But if it's not a law yet, it should be.

The one thing I really miss in cases like this is the carbon copy receipts. Then there was no question on what you authorized since you had a carbon copy of it. The thermal paper always makes me a little leary since I have to write a price down on two separate pieces of paper.

Since they don't open until later today I have to wait and call...which will calm me down and make me rational, but I am definitely having a word with the manager!!!

Doesn't matter if you were overcharged by a small or large amount, it shouldn't have happened. I would definitely call them.

Oh would that tick me off..............definitely call!

Umm, as far as I'm concerned the business is stealing from you. They charged $X for services & food etc, you added whatever you decided for you tip, and you signed for that stated amount. It's your money, and you didn't underpay. Even if you didn't tip much (and you did tip reasonably) they have no right to just decide to take what they want from your bank account!!

Unless the restaurant has something posted regarding their tip policy, they stole from you. I really doubt that though, since you did tip well.

Did you write the tip in AND bring the total down? I've seen a lot of people neglect to add it up. It makes it easy for the service person to change a number (say a 1 to a 4, or a 3 to an 8). Of course, its harder to change a 0 to a 4, but if you wrote lightly or your pen skipped... who knows?

Its also likely that someone just keyed in the wrong amount accidently though.

Let us know what happens!

The weird thing is now I feel like I'm going crazy.

Last night I checked my bank account before going to bed to see what was going to be posted. That's when I saw the $79 instead of $75.
I checked just a few minutes ago so that I could write the transaction number and proper amount. I log in and low and behold, the correct amount was posted ($75).

Somewhere, somehow someone caught it.
Poo! I was actually looking forward to a discounted meal there. Oh well. At least the situation got corrected without having to have any yelling matches with anyone!

I always check this stuff too...I had something similar happen to me one other time.

I had ordered carryout and was told one price. When I got there, there was a second customer. Since he was there first, I let him go ahead of me. I thought it kind of coincedence at first that he was being charged the same price as my food. Then when it came my turn, I was asked for $10 more than what I had been quoted.
The cashier was absolutely insistant that she was right and I was wrong. I get home got a good look at the receipt (it was too dim in the restaurant) and sure enough the guy before me got charged for my food while I got charged for his - nothing I ordered was itemized. so I call up talked with the manager, and had to drive back down to get my $10 back. The cashier was standing right there. When the manager came up, I thanked him for correcting the situation and suggested that he work on his cashier spoiled brat attitude!

Yeah, I was overcharged once...and my bank did NOTHING for me. I bought a carton of cigarettes for ~$17 (this was obviously years ago!), but the &*^$* behind the counter charged me $77!!!!!!!! Since it was on my debit card, I called the bank and they said that unless the store would credit it back to my account, they wouldn't do anything for me. (Of course, I bought the carton right before I went on vacation, and lost the receipt, so there wasn't any way I could prove to the store that the young woman behind the counter stole from me...)

As a manner or priniciple - being overcharged gets my quite mad.
Regardless of amount, I generally contest it and demand correction/compensation, etc.

At the grocery store I will take items to the cust service desk I was overcharged for by 20 cents even. The policy is too - if we are overcharged we get the item for free. I got a free Rotassaire chicken the other day

Anyhoo, back to the restaurant: it worked out for the OP obviously, but when I waited tables it was v. common for services to adjust the tip amount and total, so as to scam customers out of a few extra bucks. They also might throw an addl charge on the check too in a somewhat smaller amount - many customers don't study their checks or charge slips. The was my first impulse until I read thru the rest of the thread.

Of course, it could be an honest misake too; I saw so much "stealing" while waiting tables though, I went right to the negative unfortunately. Restaurant receipts too are the only ones I reconcile and scrutinize when my statement comes at well due to that reason.

Originally Posted by lunasmom

The weird thing is now I feel like I'm going crazy.

Last night I checked my bank account before going to bed to see what was going to be posted. That's when I saw the $79 instead of $75.
I checked just a few minutes ago so that I could write the transaction number and proper amount. I log in and low and behold, the correct amount was posted ($75).

Somewhere, somehow someone caught it.
Poo! I was actually looking forward to a discounted meal there. Oh well. At least the situation got corrected without having to have any yelling matches with anyone!

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Well, you liked the place and now you don't have to be mad at them anymore. Its nice to know they were honest and just made a mistake.

Originally Posted by Rockcat

Well, you liked the place and now you don't have to be mad at them anymore.

Its nice to know they were honest and just made a mistake.

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I know...that place use to be the latest and greatest hangout and I hadn't been in there for a couple of years. The place was dead for a Friday (9/10pm) so I thought when I saw my bank account that this might be why...glad to know its not!

CDubbie - yes I was never a server, but did plenty of hosting/expediting in my day. I understand that people can be a little greedy, especially if its a dead night...heck I saw someone find a hundred dollar bill after a customer left the restaurant. Instead of chasing him down, the server kept it. I left the place soon after that since I felt uncomfortable!

Originally Posted by lunasmom

The weird thing is now I feel like I'm going crazy.

Last night I checked my bank account before going to bed to see what was going to be posted. That's when I saw the $79 instead of $75.
I checked just a few minutes ago so that I could write the transaction number and proper amount. I log in and low and behold, the correct amount was posted ($75).

Somewhere, somehow someone caught it.
Poo! I was actually looking forward to a discounted meal there. Oh well. At least the situation got corrected without having to have any yelling matches with anyone!

Click to expand...

Oh, wait! I know what happened to you because the same thing happened to us at a restaurant. When you first give them your card, they run it for a certain amount (probably in your case a percentage over the whole bill), but the money is not actually charged to your account; it's just "held." Then, when the actual amount goes through, it's corrected to what you actually signed for. IIRC, they said they do that because otherwise—and this does make sense—they'd have to run your card through twice, once for the meal and once for the tip.

We were very surprised when it happened to us. Apparently it's quite common; we just happened to notice it one time when we were paying especially close attention to our transactions.

Originally Posted by lunasmom

CDubbie - yes I was never a server, but did plenty of hosting/expediting in my day. I understand that people can be a little greedy, especially if its a dead night...heck I saw someone find a hundred dollar bill after a customer left the restaurant. Instead of chasing him down, the server kept it. I left the place soon after that since I felt uncomfortable!

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I worked in a restaurant back when credit slips weren't swiped through the electronic machine. We used forms that went through a manual machine. Well, there was a new waitress who was bragging about the unbelievable amount of tips she made. She only worked a few weeks and then we never saw her again.

Heres why: When a customer paid with a charge she would run several copies through the manual machine. She then kept the extra copies. The next day when another customer paid cash, she would pocket the cash and use the copy of the credit card slip from day before to pay for their meal!

Originally Posted by Rockcat

I worked in a restaurant back when credit slips weren't swiped through the electronic machine. We used forms that went through a manual machine. Well, there was a new waitress who was bragging about the unbelievable amount of tips she made. She only worked a few weeks and then we never saw her again.

Heres why: When a customer paid with a charge she would run several copies through the manual machine. She then kept the extra copies. The next day when another customer paid cash, she would pocket the cash and use the copy of the credit card slip from day before to pay for their meal!

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THAT'S HORRIBLE! I hope she got canned for that or at least charged with fraud!

Evnshawn - I hope they come up with a better way than that. It's good to know this now, but confusing as well!

Originally Posted by lunasmom

Evnshawn - I hope they come up with a better way than that. It's good to know this now, but confusing as well!

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Trust me, I know! Shawn and I were just totally irritated at first. And then when we figured it out, it was only slightly less irritating, because it's annoying that it's not a well-disclosed practice.

Originally Posted by lunasmom

THAT'S HORRIBLE!

I hope she got canned for that or at least charged with fraud!

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Unfortunately she was never caught to my knowledge. I'm sure she knew just how long she could get away with it and moved on just in time. It must be why these days employers are required to make a copy of SS cards and driver's licenses.

Not quite as expensive but... I went to Taco Bell and their credit card machines were working right. Well they kept trying and trying and finally used the one in the back room. Well...that one visit ended up charging me with every attempt (4 times!!!). So a $3 Taco Bell meal was now $12. Luckily its easy to deal with duplicate charges with credit cards so I got that all credited back.