I am NOT your financial advisor

[Bella_Vixen]

"Dear" customers--

I am in no way involved in your financial affairs, and have no clue what amount you have on your card at any time. I have my own money to keep track of, thank you very much!

If you only have $2.77 left on your foodstamp card, and the total for your groceries is $178.92, for the love of humanity, TELL ME SO. If we run your card
for the full amount, don't get pissed at me because it gets declined. Then we waste time rerunning your card with the lesser amount, plus whatever else forms of payment you have.

No regards to you-


--Me




*This had better not become a debate about what can/should/is bought with foodstamps. If it does, I will ask that this entire topic be deleted. This is about not telling your friendly cashier that your primary form of payment will not cover the full amount of the purchase.*

[Camry178]

I have the same issue with the Flexible Spending cards. First they'll say to try $100, then $75, then $50, and so on...

Please know what you have available on your card and don't waste my time!!

[InaHandbasket]

At my store, the American Express and various Visa prepaid gift cards are also an issue. The register declines the card if you try to use more than is on it. I usually knock it down by five dollar increments and often tell the customer they have to call the issuer, get the balance, and keep a record of what's on the card.

That's unlike the store merchandise credit and gift cards we have. With them, it'll post the amount on the card and the customer has to pay the difference in some other manner.

[KellyHabersham]

At my store, the American Express and various Visa prepaid gift cards are also an issue. The register declines the card if you try to use more than is on it. I usually knock it down by five dollar increments and often tell the customer they have to call the issuer, get the balance, and keep a record of what's on the card.

That's unlike the store merchandise credit and gift cards we have. With them, it'll post the amount on the card and the customer has to pay the difference in some other manner.

That happened to me every so often at Macy's......the way we handled it was to have the customer call the issuer for the balance, then use the Visa gift card to purchase a store gift card, and use THAT towards paying for whatever they were buying. No one ever got sucky about it that I can remember, but still, it was sometimes hard to explain the way those Visa prepaid cards work.

[fireheart]

I get the same issue at work. If I see a gift card, I'll run a balance check and THEN put it through...no problems there (we only take our store cards) I merely ask the person either to void items or pay the other half.

[Becks]

Fireheart17's post above me made me remember that our machines allow balance checks for FS.

I wish the customers would use it in such situations.


*The customers I get, who are getting low on their cards, don't get made at me, thank goodness.

[Bella_Vixen]

Fireheart17's post above me made me remember that our machines allow balance checks for FS.

I did not know that. The only time I get a balance is after the transaction is denied for ISF.

[Becks]

Oh, yeah...it's on the card reader.

I'll have to show you sometime.

[Fenrus]

When I worked at the local mall, they used to do Discover giftcards with the COOLEST thing evar...

The last 5 digits of the acceptace code when you'd run the card would be how much was left on the card after that transaction... so like, the acceptance code would be XXX05461, you'd have $54.61 left on the card. It was really really neat, and useful as all heck.

Too bad all prepaid gift cards don't do that.

[Catwoman2965]

At my store, the American Express and various Visa prepaid gift cards are also an issue. The register declines the card if you try to use more than is on it. I usually knock it down by five dollar increments and often tell the customer they have to call the issuer, get the balance, and keep a record of what's on the card.

That's unlike the store merchandise credit and gift cards we have. With them, it'll post the amount on the card and the customer has to pay the difference in some other manner.

Same thing at my store....with the prepaid Am Ex and Visa GCs, the customer MUST know how much is on there. Not an issue if they've never used it, as most of them know its for $50 or $100 or whatever. Its the ones who have used part of it, and have NO clue what the balance is. Our registers won't scan them; we have to hit credit card, and then enter the amount on the card, and if its not exact, DECLINED. Then they get pissy when we tell them they have to call and get the balance. Um, its not hard, the number's on the back, just call and find out!

Of course. a couple of the managers feel its OUR job to do that FOR the customer. yeah, whatever. if they're nice, I don't mind, but if they're sucky, sorry charlie, your SOL.

Our own gift cards you can simply scan, and hit enter, and it automatically deducts what's on the card from the total, and either gives the remaining balance due, or the remaining balance on the card, if they don't use it all.

[Hobbs]

At my store, the American Express and various Visa prepaid gift cards are also an issue. The register declines the card if you try to use more than is on it. I usually knock it down by five dollar increments and often tell the customer they have to call the issuer, get the balance, and keep a record of what's on the card.

That's unlike the store merchandise credit and gift cards we have. With them, it'll post the amount on the card and the customer has to pay the difference in some other manner.

That happens to me,too. But only if the card has been used already (ie. if the card is brand new $100, it will swipe through). When it's already used, we have to type in the amount left on the card so they can swipe it through...

[BowserKoopa1]

At my store, the American Express and various Visa prepaid gift cards are also an issue. The register declines the card if you try to use more than is on it. I usually knock it down by five dollar increments and often tell the customer they have to call the issuer, get the balance, and keep a record of what's on the card.

That's unlike the store merchandise credit and gift cards we have. With them, it'll post the amount on the card and the customer has to pay the difference in some other manner.

Oh God. I have that problem all the time with customers who come up with gift cards from Visa, MC, etc. They have no clue how much is on the card, and the computer keeps kicking it back if you try to run it through for more than what's on the card. Takes forever sometimes to complete the transaction.
I politely try to tell people that these gift cards were issued by ****, and that there is a number on the back of the card that they can call to get the balance. Naturally, the morons give me that look that sreams out, "I don't think you're being very helpful".

[bainsidhe]

One problem with the prepaid cards is that many charge a fee if you call them. So that $10 gift card is now worth $8 because of one phone call.

With multiple forms of payment, it's more common for me to have customer cards decline over and over until they finally find one that works. "I know there's money on that card!" I'm usually told. Whether it's true or if they say it to avoid embarressment, it doesn't matter to me. Just find another card and swipe it. Truth is, I see too many declined cards to care.

[blas]

It never failed at the grocery store. It'd the middle of a busy Saturday or Sunday morning/afternoon, and someone with an overflowing cart would pull into my line, and when it was their turn, they'd say "I'm not sure how much is left on this", flashing me their Quest Card (Wisconsin foodstamp card) and they'd insist I try the whole order. It'd end up being well over $100 and they usually ended up having less than $50 for a balance.

Sigh.

Voiding is great fun when you have a huge line of people giving YOU the cattbutt face behind the SC who can't keep track of their money.

[Bella_Vixen]

A customer and I tried to run through the balance option, but it didn't work for her.