Has anybody else noticed restaurants not charging the same amount as the total amount written in on a credit card receipt? Sometimes they will round down to the nearest dollar, and on carryout orders, often the tip amount is left off entirely. Seems to be happening more and more often.
For the past 5 years or so, most of my dining out has been work-related, but charged to a personal credit card (I don't have a business card). So I reconcile my charge slips to my CC bill and file (online) for reimbursement; but the totals
never add up. Also it seems like many restaurants are batching their processing, as the dates are also wrong; the date shown on my CC statement is often 2 or even 3 days after the actual event.
While the amounts and date more often than not are a bit off, I am rarely overcharged, and only once was double-charged (CC processors have logic in the system to catch the latter, so should never happen 'accidentally').
I originally started out trying
Mark Frauenfelder's checksum method to differentiate between personal meals and meals I needed to expense, but so many restaurants would just round down the cents to zero that I quickly gave up on that. More recently I have noticed weird inconsistencies in the amount charged. I will clearly write in $62.28 for the total, and when I get my credit card bill, I was charged 62.22.
Is the person keying in the amounts so lazy that it's easier to spam the '2' key than to get it right, and don't bother to even key in my (usually $3-$5) tip on pickup orders?
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