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Need advice
OK - so two nights ago I went out in Boston to a bar with friends. We got there early and grabbed a table. A waitress came over and opened a tab for us, on my debit card, no big deal.
So all night we were ordering drinks and I thought that my friends were tipping her for her drinks as she brought them over, and I thought theyd just give me cash at the end. Again, no big deal.
At the end of the night she follows me upstairs and is like here, close out your tab. So I write a $5.00 tip because again, I was under the assumption that the cash tips had been coming all night.
So my bill was $87.50 in drinks - I had wrote in $92.50. She turns around and comes back and says "You only tipped me $5?!" and starts to cross out what I wrote. I explained I thought she had been tipped by my friends all night and I said no big deal, I'll give you cash right now. So I'm taking additional cash out of my wallet for her and I was like, please stop crossing out on the bill, leave it, I'm giving you cash. She made it look like she was fixing it.
I gave it to her and she walked away with the bill and the money - I check my account today and it shows a charge of $105!! Meaning she added more money on to my debit charge bill!!
I don't know what to do - how can I get this resolved? I am really angry that she walked away with a ton of cash and basically stole from me by manipulating my bill. My first step is to call the bar today and tell them what happened.
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Re: Need advice
WOW! Totally unprofessional on her part. I was a bartender for a number of years and not once did I ever question a customer's tip, that's just beyond tacky and rude.
I would definitely call and talk to the manager. He can pull the receipt and see if she indeed did write in a tip. If she did, that's fraud and she can be fired, not to mention-you can press charges (which probably wouldn't be worth it). HOWEVER....a lot of places have a system in place that automatically adds 20% tip to the check (Disney is notorious for this). Because it assumes you will add that much and verifies that much with your bank. The charge usually corrects itself within a day or so, so that could be the case here as well. Try not to get too worked up until you find out for sure. But yes, if she actually did change the tip, that's a huge deal and needs to be brought to management's attention.?
PS-I want to know where you can go and drink all night for $90! That's awesome!?
She can be fired for this..period. It's credit card fraud. She was a bittch to call you out on that bad tip (obviously your mistake and you were trying to fix it). I would call the place and ask to talk to the manager. Hopefully you had the server's name and can call her out. I would tell the manager the exact same thing you just told us about your friends tipping her. Regardless though, she should have never said anything. I've got some pretty bad tips in the past and even though I will go off to the side and complain to other servers, I would never, ever say something directly to the customer.
It would have been a different story if you didn't sign for it. Most bars in Boston will automatically charge you 20% if you forget to close your tab at the end of the night, but if you are there to sign for it, and the tip gets altered in any other way, she is committing fraud.
DEFINITELY CALL!
I wouldn't freak out just yet. Debit cards do funky things at bars and restaurants or anywhere where tips are typically included by the patrons (which is why I try to stick with credit cards). Because debit card charges have to hit immediately, they automatically pull extra out (usually an additional 20% or more) initially. By Monday or Tuesday, you'll probably see that the charge has been re-adjusted to what you actually paid, once the bar has time to process the receipts and the bank has time to make the adjustment.
Because you are concerned about it and you did see her marking across your receipt, I'd probably go ahead and give the bar a call and speak to a manager to give them a heads up. Tell him you're aware that banks do adjustments on debit cards after the fact, but that you were concerned because of the fact that you saw the waitress marking through your tip. Tell him you wanted to give them a heads up in case you do need to call back, if the adjustment isn't made by the bank. I'm willing to bet that you'll see the bank make the adjustment Monday or Tuesday, but if not...you'll at least have given them a heads up and can then proceed with handling it through the bar if it turns out she did change the total.
Lucy Elizabeth 10.27.12
Just to follow up on what hopscotch said. I've never had a restaurant initially charge me for more than the actual bill while the transaction was still pending. (I have Bank of America). Typically, I will have a pending charge for the bill (minus the tip), and then when the transaction clears, the full amount including tip will close.
Either way though, I would call the place and complain. If the charge is still pending I would wait until it clears, but if it's already cleared definitely call.
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I would call either way. Although I generally tip 20+ percent, tips are technically up to the customer and based upon quality of service, so it was very rude of her to complain directly to you, even if it was your mistake. And it is COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS that she would try to change your receipt total. She should be reprimanded for that, regardless of whether or not your total on your bill was actually changed.
It's absolutely CC fraud and the waitress should be fired if she physically wrote in a number that you didn't approve.
If it would make you feel better, I can check your CC number at my work (I have access to the Visa/ MC authorized sites) and see what was authorized and what the deposit amount was. The authorized could be 20% more, but if the deposit is 20% more then that's what is going to be physically charged to your account.
Just let me know - if you feel uncomfortable, don't worry about it haha...
This happened to my mom. We went to a restaurant, bill came, she filled it out and put a $0 in the tip b/c she was leaving a cash tip and then totaled the check. About a week later my mom was checking her bank account online and saw the charge to that restaurant was $10 more. She called the manager and he pulled her receipt and told her that she wrote in a $10 tip. My mom ended up going up there and showing her copy and calling my mom's bank, etc.
Long story short, It was not the first time that waitress did that and she was fired and my mom got her money back. Lesson learned - put a zero on the tip line if you are leaving cash.