CC Declines and Uppity SC's (long)

[Durandal]

I was seeing red after this encounter yesterday. I normally work the floor but when a cashier needs a lunch break i will happily jump on a register to cover. we were fairly busy and i had a steady stream of customers. no big deal.

Until "crazy lady." She had a fair sized purchase of about $140. She runs her discover card through the pin pad. My register tries to authorize and comes back declined. it happens, so we run it again. nope. Now these were both hard declines. Meaning that the system was up and the card really was declined. If our authorization was down for whatever reason (and it does happen fairly regularly) we get a prompt to manually call in the card and enter the auth code. This time i didn't even have that option. Crazy lady starts getting pissed and i am forming a line. she pulls out another card, again discover, and again both times i run it are hard declines. I tell her sorry, explain that i can't do anything. She huffs and throws down 2 $100 bills, finish transaction, and walks away. I get the line cleared and she comes bck demanding to know whose fault it is. I explain that the system is up because i had been taking other cards just fine, and maybe there was a problem at discovers end. She walks over to our front window and pulls out her cell phone.

I finish off with a few customers right before the cashier gets back, taking two visa cards in the process. As i am gathering up the software i was working on securing Crazy lady yells to me from her phone. "discover says its your card readers problem". I respond "I'm sorry mam but i have been taking cards all day and i just did two more while you were on the phone. I'm sorry." I was still trying to be polite but getting annoyed because she couldn't get over the fact that her cards wouldn't work. On another note our pin pads were all replaced less than a month ago because some security features were upgraded, so definitely not our equipments fault.

I think the mess is done but oh no. As I am stocking my software the lady comes to find me and starts berating me. "You mad me feel completely embarrassed up there. discover said it was you fault. you made me feel like a complete looser in front of everyone."

Shocked i respond "I am really sorry that was not my intention i feel bad but there is nothing i could have done." From there it gets kinda hazy but she turns on me and lets go again and then says what every customer does when in the wrong. Yep she pulls the store managers name (who she has known since high school) and says she will be going to the competition from now on. Then Storms out.

So anyway i never raised my voice, tried to apologize and ended up feeling like shit, and very angry.

Sorry still not done. Anyway about ten minutes later another associate was ringing out a gentleman and his discover card was getting the same treatment. they tried him on every register and even hand keying the number. so something was screwy, but only with discover cards. I left before anyone found out what . i had no way to know there was a prblem at the time of crazy lady. Even if i had know, without the register prompting for phone authorization i still couldn't have helped her.

Was it our end or discovers end, i don't know, all i know is crazy lady deserves whatever she felt for treating me like crap. She didn't have to get uppity, could have let it go. everyone from time to time has a card declined, i think. and yes you feel embarrassed no mater what reason, but it happens move on.

and now after some good therapy here i am going to do the same and move on, thanks all
Durandal

[Tria]

She huffs and throws down 2 $100 bills, finish transaction, and walks away.

She has the cold hard cash.... And freaks over a card?

[karma_gypsy]

Well, how were you suppose to magically know what to do? I would have done the exact same thing in your position, it's declined, so . . . sorry . . . if a card gets declined, I'll run it through twice, just to be sure. It probably wouldn't have mattered no matter how many times you ran the card. She probably would've freaked out on you no matter what (even if you ran the card five times).

[georgiab]

I have had to deal with this same issue..It's defiently not your fault nor your responsibility to ensure that all credit cards are accepted and are always able to be processed. I hated having to call in for for the approval code because people get all huffy and take it personally. I have a slight slur so having to explain this and them not understand makes it twice as hard and them twice as mad. But what more customers need to understand is that we as cashiers and such do not do this to them for kicks WE HAVE NO CONTROL......So don't feel to bad and you handled it great!

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Yeah, that often seems to be what the "discovery' is.

[Jester]

But what more customers need to understand is that we as cashiers and such do not do this to them for kicks....

No, we don't do it for kicks, but I know I can't be the only one who has enjoyed this sort of thing. You get an SC, they are totally sucky to you in every way, they pay with a card, and it is declined. Twice. I'll be honest...I have to control myself NOT to skip back to the table.

JESTER SAYS: "I'm sorry, Mr. Asshat, but your card was declined. Do you have another form of payment?"

JESTER THINKS: "Tra la la la la la, your card got turned down and now your self-righteous smug ass is going to look lame in front of those people you are trying to impress, I am the messenger bringing you this news, and there is not a damn thing you can do about it.....I'm loving this! Tra la la la la la...."

Okay, so I'm evil. Your point?

[Kusanagi]

Usually what I say to a customer is I ask them "Have you made alot of purchases or paid a few bills with the card recently?"

Understandbly I can ask this question because I work with them for about half an hour before we get to the point where the plastic comes out. This is my way of telling them the card is declined, and it gives them an out without feeling embarrased if they have insufficient funds.

How do I know this? I have about $800 worth of bills draft to my credit card within two days of each other. My bank flags this as suspicious activity, and puts a hold on the card. Every month.

[symposes]

How do I know this? I have about $800 worth of bills draft to my credit card within two days of each other. My bank flags this as suspicious activity, and puts a hold on the card. Every month.

I bought a laptop back in april, using my credit card.
I had to call the credit card company, telling them i wanted to allow the charge. Told them the name the charge would be under, ie company name, and the amount. Was told it would be okay.
I had to do this 3 times, before it finally worked.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Where I work, we do random card checks. 99% of customers are fine with this; every now and then we'll get a self righteous buttwad who'll go, "How dare you question me? My card is fine! Blah blah blah." They'd thank us for it if the card check pulled up someone who'd stolen their credit card.

[cheese]

You do, Lace? How do they do that, cos we don't? Its strange we work for the same company yet so many things are different between stores :\

[Lace Neil Singer]

Well, it's weird... basically, you can be ringing up a customer, and these strange numbers and letters appear on the screen. Then you call a supervisor, they save the transaction and take the customer to CS, where their bank will be rung up. If they pass muster, then their shopping is put thru. It's completely random, and I guess it is a pain in the butt, but it's nothing the cashiers do; it's a computer thing.

[Demonoid Phenomenon]

Similar to what Kusanagi said, a lot of times when I had to deal with a customer's declined card, the first thing they would say would be, "But I've been using it all day without a problem!"
Uh.
Yeah.
I'm no financial wizard or anything, but that might be your problem...

[cheese]

Oh, the only time that is supposed to come up Lace is when their card is expired and they haven't receieved the new one yet or have just forgotten to bring it. So when we get that we're just supposed to get them to use another card rather than go through the hassle of ringing the bank. Next time you get that, have a look at the expiry date..

[Dreamstalker]

I bought a laptop back in april, using my credit card.
I had to call the credit card company, telling them i wanted to allow the charge. Told them the name the charge would be under, ie company name, and the amount. Was told it would be okay.
I had to do this 3 times, before it finally worked.

That happened to my mom and I once when we went to Ireland (both of us). Luckily it didn't take that long to clear up; only had to confirm that yes, I was in possession of the card and I was overseas. I can only imagine what'll transpire when we go to Japan next year...

She has a card that she uses to make purchases for her boss' household, and that's been flagged a few times.

The bookstore's card readers used to get twitchy with Visa cards every so often.

[Seanette]

That happened to my mom and I once when we went to Ireland (both of us). Luckily it didn't take that long to clear up; only had to confirm that yes, I was in possession of the card and I was overseas. I can only imagine what'll transpire when we go to Japan next year...

Would telling your card issuer in advance when you'll be on that trip help any?