You Must Bring Your Credit Card

[Little Redhead]

Anyone with least half their mind intact should know when you pay with a credit card you have to bring the credit card with you. Yes I know it sucks that I have to check your ID to make sure your name and pic matches said credit card. You should be thanking me because of the recent credit card fraud going on. That said..here it goes...


Last night I was stocking the chip rack next to the cash register.Customer comes in and orders her chicken bacon ranch (yeahhh be glad when sunday is here and we stop this $5 madness). Anyways she is all flirting with my coworker and kissing his ass. Yes I notice this cause I already know something is up. Sure enough she gets down to the cash register and she gets on on her phone. I start hearing her call out numbers to my other coworker. I peek around the corner and see the credit card screen up. I stop what I am doing and ask coworker what in the hell is she doing. Seems customer is trying to use a credit card without having the actual card but is on the phone with someone reading the numbers off it. I told my coworker we can't do that, we have to see the actual card. Customer gets mad, starts yelling, and walks out. I don't know if I am more amazed that the customer tried this or that my coworker was going to do it

[UncleImpy]

No more $5 goodness after Sunday?

I know what I'm doing for lunch today then!

[Evil Queen]

Oh my god, the only time I'm giving my credit card info over the phone is if I'm using it to book a reservation at a hotel! What is wrong with that lady!?!

[Mr_Bandwagon]

Oh my god, the only time I'm giving my credit card info over the phone is if I'm using it to book a reservation at a hotel! What is wrong with that lady!?!

Easy, it wasn't her card number. It's easy to be relaxed about it when it is not your info.

[lupo pazzesco]

Uuuuuggghhh....

I HATE when that happens, and it happens in Textbook Hell a LOT.

Little precious needs books. Little precious gathers books, brings them to the counter and then:
a. hands me a post-it with CC info on it from their parents or
b. calls mommy or daddy to give the card info over the phone or
c. hands me a CC with a different name than their ID says and claims it's their parents, I should take it anyways.

And in all 3 cases, little precious throws a screaming hissy because I can NOT accept any of the above.

In regards to A or B, if mommy or daddy don't want you to have the CC, they can order the books online and either have them shipped or opt for in-store pickup. OR they can come in themselves with the card and proper ID.

In regards to C, I believe if they wanted to, parents can also open another card on their account with little precious's name on it so as to avoid future fiascos.

Seriously, people. Credit card fraud. it DOES exist!!

LittleRedhead, good catch for you, and your CW needs a liberal application of a clue by four!!

[Ill_Used_Heroine]

Had that happen to me exactly one time, when I was the Head Cashier at Kay Bee Toys. This guy hands me a piece of scrap paper with a number scribbled on it, no exp. date, and this paper was like a torn off bottom of who knows what.

I just looked at him and said, "No." He freaked and played the lawyer card, lather, rinse, repeat. Got the Manager, same thing. He finally stormed off, cursing and muttering.

Seriously, what would make ANYone think they could do that anywhere? Is there really some place of business, besides phone-in or online, that accept a number scribbled on a matchbook or even recited to the clerk by heart?

[malmalthekiller]

It doesn't surprise me that a SC tried to do that, but I am worried that your coworker was going to accept it-were they new or inexperienced?

[Dave1982]

Sooner or later, the credit card companies are going to start cracking down on all the ways in which customers (and merchants!) use credit cards improperly. Frankly, with all the credit/identity theft that's been going on for YEARS, I'm surprised it hasn't happened already.

[Aramika]

This happened to me too, though it was actually approved by my manager.

A lady came through my line at the grocery store with about $50 worth of food and other stuff. She was digging through her purse looking for her card when she realized she left it at home. The conversation went like this:

Me: well, me!
C: customer
J: manager

Me: Your total is $50.XX
C: I just realized I left my card at home on the kitchen table. Can I call my husband at home and get him to read off the numbers?
Me: Ma'am, I don't think I'm allowed to do that.
C: Well can you ask a manager?
Me: Ok. Hey J, can you come over here?
J: What seems to be the problem?
*I explain*
J: Well I don't see why not, run it though.

The lady called her husband and explained the situation and handed me her cell phone. Her husband gave me the card information and thanked me. The transaction went through and the wife thanked me too.

Later I asked my manager if he though it might have been a scam. He said he hoped not but the thought did occur to him. I never heard anything about it so I assume nothing happened.

I did find it kinda funny that I was on a cell phone on a register though because we're not supposed to have them with us while working much less be talking on one.

[bainsidhe]

Good grief. Same thing with people who want to use gift cards when the cards aren't even with them. "But I have the numbers saved on my cell phone, seeeee". Yeah, let's call this SCAM.

[Cia]

We had a couple of techs out to Ft. Thompson, 300 miles east<--important, for a job, they checked into a local hotel and checked back out within 15 minutes after seeing the condition of the room...dirty/smelly room, dirty linens on the beds and the smoke detector was hanging off the wall...the room charge was refunded.

All good and dandy until a year later when the card was charged again by the same hotel...the only problem was the tech whose card was used hadn't left town. Disputed the charge with the c/c company. The c/c people forwarded the paperwork the hotel had sent them. I pulled out the cancelled charge from 1998 compared it to the 1999 one and the two knucklebuster receipts were exactly the same including the month/day, the room number and the receipt number, the only difference was the year. The hotel insisted the card had been presented cause they had the 3 number pin off the back of the card. I told them that we could prove our tech had been 300 miles west of their location at the time and would they please pull out the security footage so we could see who 'presented' our card. I also pointed out the uncanny simularities between the two receipts. Sent all this info the c/c company - we won and the charge was reversed.

[smileyeagle1021]

In regards to C, I believe if they wanted to, parents can also open another card on their account with little precious's name on it so as to avoid future fiascos.

yup, you can... takes maybe 10 minutes on the phone... parent calls in, does the identity verification with the card holder, asks the name that the card holder wants on the second card, the company makes up a new card and within a week little pwecious has his copy of the card with his name on it.

I know this because I'm on my mother's discover card (my condo is kinda sorta her investment property, even though I pay for it, it's in her name... oddly most banks aren't willing to loan a 19 at the time year old with no credit history $100k, so the loan is in her name... she gave me the card for home improvement projects).

[Jay 2K Winger]

I get this occasionally at the wholesale club, but the most common thing is someone doesn't have their membership card, which I need to start the transaction. So they'll do one of the following:

A -- ask if I can look it up with their phone number.
Nope. Our system doesn't work that way.

B -- say they'll just pay the surcharge.
All well and good, but you still need to have a one-day pass, which they keep over at the member services desk.

C -- offer to have the numbers read off the card by someone at home on their cell phone.
Nope. Our membership card may not be a credit card, but we still take pains to protect against identity theft in that respect.

D -- hand me an old receipt to have me use the numbers off that.
Nope. Same reasons as C. The only exceptions I'll make is if it's the receipt from the transaction I just finished, and it's clearly going to be too much of a hassle to dig the card back out of the depths of your purse.

[hotelnpa]

We get that at the hotel too.

Some get huffy when we tell them that we need a third party authorization form filled out and faxed to the hotel with the credit card and drivers license information.

But we are doing it to protect ourselves and the guests. A scammer could have your card and the person they are calling could be a scammer too. It's terrible to think like that, but it has happened in the past.

Also we have guests whose name and credit card match, but they did not bring the credit card with them. In that case, they either have to pay cash or use another card. We have to scan the card in our system. If we don't, we are charged by the credit card company. Also this also could be a scammer too especially if they can't produce a driver's license.

[cslater]

Credit card fraud

There is an astonishing amount of credit card fraud these days. My employer issues about 5 dozen corporate Visa cards to managers, and 3 of them have had to be cancelled and reissued in the past month, because of fraudulent charges. That's a lot for a month, but over the course of a year, we have 10 or more cards recalled and reissued, which is a pretty high percentage.