Undercharged at a restaurant

lisyloo

They can put it through as a "Cardholder not Present" transaction using the details from the previous receipt.

Ok, thanks, but I suspect they aren't authorised to take money without your authorisation even if there has been a genuine error.

But, yes IMHO they can and should charge for the amount outstanding although they should have the courtesy to ask/warn you that a mistake had been made and what they intended to do 1st.

Hm, I think they need authorisation to debit your card.

izools

They could put it down to "Correcting a banking error"?

I've read threads regarding online retailers doing this several times in the past.

dazza.mk

timbo58 wrote: »

But, yes IMHO they can and should charge for the amount outstanding although they should have the courtesy to ask/warn you that a mistake had been made and what they intended to do 1st.

And how would they do that given that they only have your credit card number?

dazza.mk

lisyloo wrote: »

Hm, I think they need authorisation to debit your card.

Agreed, they wouldn't get the CVV code from the receipt which is effectively the 'first level' authorisation on a cardholder not present transaction.

YorkshireBoy

izools wrote: »

They can put it through as a "Cardholder not Present" transaction using the details from the previous receipt.

Don't such transactions require the CVV (which they obviously don't have)?

Unless there's a workaround possible with the merchant acquirer's involvement?

EDIT: Beaten to it by dazza.mk

ryantcb

What will happen is the underpaid amount will be taken from the waitresses wages. So the restaurant wont chase you for it as they have taken it from wages. If you do feel bad that you have lost some poor girl who was working long hours some of her wages then go back and give the money to the serving waitress and not manager. If you give it to the manager they will keep it and have already taken it form the waiter/ess in question.

duckmaster

I work in a hotel and we regularly put credit card payments through. All we need is the 16 digit number and the expiry date.

The machine will ask for CVV code, address number and postcode but you don't need to enter that stuff to put the payment through.

dazza.mk

duckmaster wrote: »

I work in a hotel and we regularly put credit card payments through. All we need is the 16 digit number and the expiry date.

The machine will ask for CVV code, address number and postcode but you don't need to enter that stuff to put the payment through.

It isn't a required field, but by not entering it the restaurant would struggle to argue that it was an authorised transaction (as otherwise they would have had the number), and as I said previously what matters to the bank is whetehr the transaction was authorised, not if it was owed.

moonrakerz

I had a dispute several years ago with a card transaction which appeared on my card.
It eventually transpired that it was a genuine transaction which hadn't appeared on my statement at the "correct" time and had been added several months later by the hotel's head office - which was why I didn't recognise the transaction location.
I was informed by the card issuer that transactions can be added up to 6 months after the date of the "sale" - beyond that and up to 6 years the supplier would have to take the normal civil action route - if necessary.

chattychappy

Agree with the gist:

They can't put through more than you authorised. They are probably breaking the merchant agreement if they do and might even be committing a fraud offence. If they do, you're entitled to dispute. If nevertheless the money is owed, they have 6 years to reclaim.

Whether it can be deducted from waiting staff's wages depends on their employment contract and whether such a term and it's use is reasonable in the circumstances. Doesn't mean an employer won't try.

As for criminal offences by the OP - I don't think a basic theft offence (eg s1 Theft Act 1968) would be applicable here, but there is a specific offence of "making off" (s3 Theft Act 1978) which covers people who take petrol/eat meals and then bunk off without intending to pay. A number of hurdles would have to be overcome before an offence could be established.