The Declined Card

[lynstly]

Ok... I really don't know why some people go so nuts when a credit card is declined... I work at a gas station, most people are just curious maybe slightly doubtful if their card doesn't work... this guy, along with others, was not...

He tried to use his card at the pump and it rejected it "declined auth" so I told him and here's the dialogue:

Him: "What's wrong with the pump out there?"

Me: "I'm getting a message here your card was declined.."

Him: "No way..."

Me: "I could try it in here, how much gas do you want on it?"

Him: "I want to fill up!"

Me: "Ok I'll hang on to the card and try to ring you up on it when you're done..."

Him: "Ok, wait I gotta come back in here? Jesus...."

At this point he throws the card at me and stalks off back towards the pump.... after a couple minutes of a message never coming up for me to authorize payment (he obviously hadn't reset the grade and pump handle) he busts back in the door.

Me: "Still having trouble sir?"

Him: "To hell with you!!! Give me back my card!!!"

I gingerly and him back the card and he snatches it like he wants to rip my arm off....

Me: "Ok sorry, have a good day sir..."

Him: "There's nothing wrong with this card!! To hell with you I'm going somewhere else."

At this point he stormed out the door as I called after him "F*ck you very much!"

[Imogene]

"F*ck you very much!"

Hmmm... Not exactly a positive impression of your company there, particularly if the customer was still in earshot. No matter how terrible he was, he could still go over your head, particularly if you cursed after him.
*takes off the 'Not-A-Mod' hat*

[lynstly]

He was out of earshot as the door had closed after I said that... I don't want to reflect badly on a company but at the same time there are certain people I would rather not cater to... why else would this website exist?

[powerboy]

I was talking about declined cards earlier with my mom. Why is it, that when the card declined, that the customer want it tried again a couple more times. It didn't get authorized the first time, it wont now.

[Special Patrol Group]

I was talking about declined cards earlier with my mom. Why is it, that when the card declined, that the customer want it tried again a couple more times. It didn't get authorized the first time, it wont now.

Because it actually sometimes does. I worked in a supermarket for 5 years and I always suggested the customer try it once more after the initial failure especially if they were sure there were available funds. Sometimes it does work, I don't know why, maybe sometimes there is a connection error while it's trying to process it the first time? I'm also had this happen to me personally when I was shopping, asked to try it again and it worked.

[DeathKrispies]

Ahhh declined cards...such a joy to deal with the masses as they turn into 3 year olds as soon as something doesn't go their way. Best part of my day....................

[Banrion]

I had the declined at the pump a few times when gas prices were out of control. The pumps always said "Please see Cashier", never a blunt decline. What it was, was that the gas stations were setting the pre-auth for like $100.00 just to CYA if a huge truck or SUV was filling up, typically though, the attendant would look at my tiny Nissan and authorize the pump before I ever went in to talk to them. When the total was like $35.00 the card went fine.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Because it actually sometimes does. I worked in a supermarket for 5 years and I always suggested the customer try it once more after the initial failure especially if they were sure there were available funds. Sometimes it does work, I don't know why, maybe sometimes there is a connection error while it's trying to process it the first time? I'm also had this happen to me personally when I was shopping, asked to try it again and it worked.

We go through similar at my store - there are a couple of banks (I think one is a credit union) whose cards seem to have issues w/our pinpads and can sometimes decline on the first try. Usually, a second try will work.

When it doesn't, we simply tell them that our pinpads aren't accepting the card and they may want to contact their bank/credit union. Could be that there's insufficient funds, or it could be a problem w/the magnetic strip on the card itself.

One never knows

[ditchdj]

Hmmm... Not exactly a positive impression of your company there, particularly if the customer was still in earshot.

Ever heard of that old saying that it's better to give than to receive???

[mrsjfreak]

We have that A LOT. Credit cards are always declining, but I think it could also be the strip on the card. We have an older system, so it's sensitive as hell. We just keep swiping until it goes through

[BookstoreEscapee]

When I used to do register, sometimes the second try did work. If I ran the card (before we had the pinpads) and it was declined, I automatically tried it again before I even told the customer it had been declined. If it didn't work the second time then I told the customer, and if they asked me to try again I would do it, and also tell them I had already tried a second time. If it didn't work the third time (and it usually didn't), well, sorry

[customersruinmylife]

We had a guy come in and try and pay by card, but whenever we swiped it, nothing happened. The machine did not register it, it didnt even say declined. The guy looked extremelly confused. So, we went and did it the long way by typing in all the card details into the till, still, nothing happened.

We pointed out our cash machine and told him to go get some seeing as the card wasnt working, the cash machine took his card, and kept it. So, it was obvious that it was a stolen card.

The guy went insane! He demanded we ripped open the cash machine to get the card out, but once the cash machine has taken it, the only people that can remove it are the police!

He then came back with ANOTHER card, and guess what, the exact same thing happened. We told him to get out after that/

[Primer]

The only time I've ever had a card (of my own) declined, it came up as "expired." This was back when the magnetic readers were first becoming widespread, and almost every place still had imprint machines. I'm afraid I was slightly sucky about it, as the embossed expiration date was still about 2 years away, and the purchase was for only about $10. When I saw he wasn't going to budge, I pulled out a different card, the purchase went through, and I went on my merry way.

When I got home, I called my cc company about it, and they said the clerk should have run the card manually. I firmly, but politely requested a new card (with a new strip). The cc company did not want to do that, as I still had 2 years before expiry. I did not get abusive with them, but I did remain on the line and insist until they finally agreed to send me a new card.

Upshot: I got a new card, with a new magnetic strip, and I never went back to that particular retailer again. Over 10 years later, and I've still not been back.

Moral of the story? I don't know. Sometimes the strip does not work properly, but that's no reason to go ballistic.

[Andreamic]

I just had a guy come into my staion last night who tried to pay at the pump using our keytag system(you hold the keytag up to a reader, it flashes and charges the cc of your choice when you signed up for it). It came back declined. He had picked up the nozzel and i approved him to pay inside, and got on the intercom and told him he would have to pay inside, he was not paying outside. No answer. I repeated, still nothing.

I tried to get his lisence plate but another car was in the way, so i left the intercom on so i would know when he was done and try and get him then. He ended up coming in because he didn't get a recipt outside.

He asked why it didn't work, I explained. He was confused, after all, it should be working.

We tried the keytag inside. It asked me for an approval number (call a 1-800, enter card info, and amount of purchase, get approval # to punch in) I told hi8m what it said, that I could try again, but if it did't go through I could call. Suprise suprise, it still wasn't going through.

I asked him for the card that the keytag was attached to, so I could call the number.

He asked "what card?" Um, the card that you pay with sir, that you gave my company the info to so that they could set up the card.

Dumb dumb then relized that the card that it was attached to was cancelled because of some incident involving another companies cc records being stolen, and he had a new card.

*sigh* Charged the new card, gave him a number to call so he could get the keytag straightend out and wished him a good day.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Moral of the story? I don't know. Sometimes the strip does not work properly, but that's no reason to go ballistic.

But it's every reason for the bank to replace the card...if they have the wrong expiration programmed into the strip that's their fault...you shouldn't have to go 2 years telling every retailer they have to manually enter the card. That was sucky of the bank.