Bar Overcharged Me by $1,061.28 (buy, Target, savings, used)
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The news has been full of stories where Eastern bloc babes in high heels introduced and/or met or chatted up men and the next day their AE card had a charge on it, in the tens OF THOUSANDS of dollars. Any hospitality venue today you have to be careful.
Or use a pre bought debit cardthat they can't "jones" you with.
Some businesses won't accept them. I had tried to use one for an online purchase but said they don't accept them. It's been quite some time now so I don't remember the specifics.
I am so out of it that I still haven't figured out why anyone would ever use a debit card for anything. Have I missed something here? Cash...Credit card...ATM card if I need to get small amounts of cash...Go to bank if I need to get a large amount of cash...Personal check.
So what advantage does the debit card provide? I seem to have managed all these years without one.
That’s terrible! If it were me, I would be utterly defunct until it was corrected because I have no cushion.
Heck, I was “utterly defunct” once because I paid for gas at the pump & it froze the only $100 I had to my name for 6 days.
I use primarily cash now. Have a card to book a hotel room or make an online purchase but my day to day existence is as a cash consumer.
Yep that happened to me a couple of times at a gas station. They usually remove the $100 within a few hours but one gas station didn't remove it for 24 hours causing me an overdraft. I always pay cash or go inside and tell them to put $25 on pump whatever.
I called them and they gave me this song and dance about a typo from the tip. Then he said they typed it in wrong again, inadvertently taking out another large amount. Although it seems like a lame explanation, I'm inclined to believe him because there is no way an average person would not have noticed such a huge bill, even if I had had that extra money in my checking account and my account had stayed in the black. He was extremely apologetic, told me he would refund the entire amount including the $40, and gave me his personal cell phone number to call in case it didn't show up on my account within the next couple of days. I called Chase and they don't see the credit yet but I will give it a day and see if it shows up.
Funny how a charge hits your account in 1.2 seconds and a credit takes 3 or 4 days. But I agree it's unlikely it was deliberate as the best way to scam people is to do it persistently in small increments that won't be noticed.
I only have one credit card. I filed a dispute with them a while back, sending in mounds of paperwork and talking with them on the phone numerous times regarding the issue. After many weeks they ruled against me. That left a bad taste in my mouth. I have had my Chase debit card for many years. Over this time, I have had a handful of disputes, mostly related to identity theft but also two involving not receiving merchandise. They have always ruled in my favor. To me what matters is not the kind of card, but whether the company who offers the card will help the customer in a legitimate dispute. As for cash, I was always concerned with physical thievery, but electronic thieves have gotten very sophisticated and I no longer use any kind of card at gas pumps.
I am so out of it that I still haven't figured out why anyone would ever use a debit card for anything. Have I missed something here? Cash...Credit card...ATM card if I need to get small amounts of cash...Go to bank if I need to get a large amount of cash...Personal check.
So what advantage does the debit card provide? I seem to have managed all these years without one.
People use debit cards so that they don't have to carry cash around. Many also don't want a credit card due to the possibility that they might get in deep debt with it, so it's fully understandable. This is why (many years ago) when I worked for a large national bank I would tell people that you MUST monitor your accounts, if not daily, weekly! Mistakes happen, computers and humans are not perfect. But as I said earlier, any reputable bank will give you a temporary credit as they investigate the issue!
Yep that happened to me a couple of times at a gas station. They usually remove the $100 within a few hours but one gas station didn't remove it for 24 hours causing me an overdraft. I always pay cash or go inside and tell them to put $25 on pump whatever.
You always have either a debit (requiring a pin #), or a credit option when using a debit card. If you choose the credit option at a gas station, they will not freeze the $100. in your account.
I kept having the identity theft/card information theft problems with debit cards so I completely quit using them about 3 years ago. Apparently the scammers like debit cards because it is easier to get away with using them. I only use credit cards now for almost everything. I buy gas, pay bar tabs, restaurants, bills, you name it; I pay it with a credit card and then pay the entire balance when the credit card bill is due. My credit cards all have alerts set up on them that notify me immediately on my cell phone app along with an email on every single purchase. When I check out at a store or pay a tab, my phone immediately goes off within a couple of seconds. What this does is allows me to screen every single charge in real time so I know if either the amount charged was inaccurate or a scammer is trying to use my credit card info. Since I got credit cards with this feature, I have not had a single scammer incident whereas with debit cards, it was happening about every two months and I was having to get new cards constantly.
So Scooby, what did the bar say? Was it an accident or was it deliberate?
He answered that question already in post #17. He called and got some excuses about some mistakes being made in entering the charges. The manager apologized profusely and is refunding the entire amount.
We ordered one drink apiece for a total of $40 including tip.
I had almost forgotten why I haven't gone to any bars in the last few decades. Thanks for reminding me.
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