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Another tale from 10 years ago at CVS...
We had a number of issues with reading credit cards, and we sort of figured it was a combination of some customers' cards being very old and our own older equipment needing to be cleaned and/or replaced. More often than not we found that applying simple scotch tape on the strip and then swiping worked for us.
...a particular customer, however, believed that this was part of a scheme to steal credit cards.
Her: *reaches over and grabs credit card right out of my hands* "Get me your manager. Now."
Me: "Uuuuuh... okay." *pages supervisor*
At this point I kinda have a feeling she thinks I'm somehow using the tape to attain the data necessary to make purchases using it, but I'm not entirely sure. I asked the customer what the problem was, and she simply replied, "Just wait until the manager is here!" The supervisor comes and sure enough that's what the customer's fear was.
Her: "This clerk is stealing my credit card information!"
Supervisor: "How so?!"
Her: "He is applying tape on the strip to get my numbers off! Look!"
Supervisor: "Ma'am, that is done because your strip is worn, and he is trying to swipe it. This is a method we use to have the machine read it successfully."
Her: "I cannot believe you think I'm that stupid! I've watched this on Dateline, clerks use these kinds of things to steal customers' information! Look!"
She proceeds to take the tape off of the credit card and show it to us.
Her: "You see? There's an imprint in the tape!"
Supervisor: "Ma'am, I assure you--"
Her: "NO!"
She then puts her thumb on the tape, and then show us the print that's left over.
Her: "It's the same idea as this! Just like you have my thumb print, you have my credit card on this tape!"
Supervisor: "Ma'am, if you'd like you can discuss this with the store manager."
Her: "You're not her?!" to me "I asked you to get the maaanaaageerrrrrr!"
Supervisor: "I'm the shift supervisor. The store manager is here tomorrow if you'd like to speak with him."
Her: "I'd much rather speak to corporate. If I were you, I'd choose another place to swindle customers."
For some reason I couldn't keep myself from smiling. When these kinds of things happen, it's hard for me to keep a straight face for long, since it was so ridiculous and thoughts and imaginations were running through my mind as to how her efforts at getting us in trouble would likely backfire and make her look like an idiot. It was our district manager who told us about the scotch tape method, and she got it from others in corporate.
Her: "What are you smiling about?! Look! I've got the tape you used right here, you're not getting it back! And besides, I'm going straight to the bank to have them cancel this card!"
Supervisor: "Ma'am, if you'd like to speak to corporate, that's up to you. I'm confident they're going to tell you the same thing we are telling you. You can't get data off a magnetic strip using scotch tape. That's simply an impossibility. What you probably saw on TV was people using hand held electronic devices to covertly get data off of a credit card, which people have indeed been victims of. That's simply not happening in this case, however."
Her: "You're just a bunch of liars. I know what I saw on TV! Scotch tape is being used to commit identity theft!"
Supervisor: "Are you going to pay for these items using a different method?"
Her: "What do you think?"
With that she left, but with a parting word of, "I've got your names!" The supervisor and I, unlike many other cases of difficult and irrational customers, were not shaking or in need of a cool down. We were both quite amused by all this.
I never got a followup. Either they were able to convince her we were in the right or they did inform the store manager of a possible "ID theft ring" going on in the store, with a covert investigation that obviously went nowhere.
I'm actually thinking it's possible the latter happened because the store had previously been victim of internal theft, and thus in that way it wasn't necessarily foolish not to pursue some kind of investigation if a customer accused the staff of stealing info, no matter how idiotic the reasoning was.
We had a number of issues with reading credit cards, and we sort of figured it was a combination of some customers' cards being very old and our own older equipment needing to be cleaned and/or replaced. More often than not we found that applying simple scotch tape on the strip and then swiping worked for us.
...a particular customer, however, believed that this was part of a scheme to steal credit cards.
Her: *reaches over and grabs credit card right out of my hands* "Get me your manager. Now."
Me: "Uuuuuh... okay." *pages supervisor*
At this point I kinda have a feeling she thinks I'm somehow using the tape to attain the data necessary to make purchases using it, but I'm not entirely sure. I asked the customer what the problem was, and she simply replied, "Just wait until the manager is here!" The supervisor comes and sure enough that's what the customer's fear was.
Her: "This clerk is stealing my credit card information!"
Supervisor: "How so?!"
Her: "He is applying tape on the strip to get my numbers off! Look!"
Supervisor: "Ma'am, that is done because your strip is worn, and he is trying to swipe it. This is a method we use to have the machine read it successfully."
Her: "I cannot believe you think I'm that stupid! I've watched this on Dateline, clerks use these kinds of things to steal customers' information! Look!"
She proceeds to take the tape off of the credit card and show it to us.
Her: "You see? There's an imprint in the tape!"
Supervisor: "Ma'am, I assure you--"
Her: "NO!"
She then puts her thumb on the tape, and then show us the print that's left over.
Her: "It's the same idea as this! Just like you have my thumb print, you have my credit card on this tape!"
Supervisor: "Ma'am, if you'd like you can discuss this with the store manager."
Her: "You're not her?!" to me "I asked you to get the maaanaaageerrrrrr!"
Supervisor: "I'm the shift supervisor. The store manager is here tomorrow if you'd like to speak with him."
Her: "I'd much rather speak to corporate. If I were you, I'd choose another place to swindle customers."
For some reason I couldn't keep myself from smiling. When these kinds of things happen, it's hard for me to keep a straight face for long, since it was so ridiculous and thoughts and imaginations were running through my mind as to how her efforts at getting us in trouble would likely backfire and make her look like an idiot. It was our district manager who told us about the scotch tape method, and she got it from others in corporate.
Her: "What are you smiling about?! Look! I've got the tape you used right here, you're not getting it back! And besides, I'm going straight to the bank to have them cancel this card!"
Supervisor: "Ma'am, if you'd like to speak to corporate, that's up to you. I'm confident they're going to tell you the same thing we are telling you. You can't get data off a magnetic strip using scotch tape. That's simply an impossibility. What you probably saw on TV was people using hand held electronic devices to covertly get data off of a credit card, which people have indeed been victims of. That's simply not happening in this case, however."
Her: "You're just a bunch of liars. I know what I saw on TV! Scotch tape is being used to commit identity theft!"
Supervisor: "Are you going to pay for these items using a different method?"
Her: "What do you think?"
With that she left, but with a parting word of, "I've got your names!" The supervisor and I, unlike many other cases of difficult and irrational customers, were not shaking or in need of a cool down. We were both quite amused by all this.
I never got a followup. Either they were able to convince her we were in the right or they did inform the store manager of a possible "ID theft ring" going on in the store, with a covert investigation that obviously went nowhere.
I'm actually thinking it's possible the latter happened because the store had previously been victim of internal theft, and thus in that way it wasn't necessarily foolish not to pursue some kind of investigation if a customer accused the staff of stealing info, no matter how idiotic the reasoning was.
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