You need the card itself, ma'am

[Eric the Grey]

This is the thing I do not miss about cashiering. People are such MORONS when it comes to credit cards. AAAAHH!!!!!! (Sorry, remembering the guy who threw his ID at me - twice - because he didn't understand that a card needs to be signed).

I need to take a deep breath........

One of the worse things that can be done is to sign something that could be lost or stolen, or otherwise fall into someone else's hands. The credit card companies seriously need to change that rule.

This story reminds me of when I worked for Avis RAC. We had to have a credit card and drivers license to rent a car to someone. People would come in with their reservations already made, complete with card numbers and not have their cards with them. They'd come up to the counter with someone else's card (Joe Walsh's manager did this to me, but was pretty cool about it).

As far as the "See ID" bit, I do that on my cards as well as sign them (since some places won't take the card at all if they're not signed). Trouble is, most places don't even bother to ask, even if they look at the back...



Eric the Grey

[LadyAndreca]

I was quite a bit surprised when I went home to visit my parents in Minneapolis last weekend, when it came to using my CC. I had cash for emergencies, but Mom and I did a shopping blitz...but she'd left her wallet in the mall locker and only had her checkbook (but no ID) with her, so I offered to just use my card and have her pay me back later.

Every single store checked my signature. All of them. It was almost creepy by the end, because around where I live, no one checks signatures at all. Looking back at it, I wish stores around here did that. It doesn't take any more time at all; you just get your card back with your receipt instead of right away.

Back on topic, there's only two times I ever will use written CC numbers from a customer. The first is to do a receipt lookup for a return, and I let the customer know that the refund will be credited back to the card--that's the default anyway, but I don't mention the option for store credit. (It happens so rarely that I've never had anyone argue it.) The second is when someone wants to make a payment on their store card. In both cases, I think that if you're going to put money ON the card it kind of defeats the purpose of stealing it.