What would you have done?

happyandcontented

melanzana wrote: »

Would have got one of the staff to accompany me to the nearest ATM. In his/her own car!! + a signed receipt after handing over the money.

I realise OP was out in the wilds, but they had to get back to somewhere.

They would have needed a bus....there were quite a few folk in the same position. I don't know what they all did, we saw some coppering up.:D

cookie365

I'd have told them that you had agreement from the waiter to pay by cheque, so here's the cheque.

And if they weren't happy with that they could call the police.

Carrot007

Does nowhere have the old swipey credit card payment system anymore for when things go down? I'm sure i did that under a year ago.

happyandcontented

cookie365 wrote: »

I'd have told them that you had agreement from the waiter to pay by cheque, so here's the cheque.

And if they weren't happy with that they could call the police.

To be fair, he actually didn't agree, he simply did not say anything.

Carrot007 wrote: »

Does nowhere have the old swipey credit card payment system anymore for when things go down? I'm sure i did that under a year ago.

I spoke to the Manager about that and said in such a remote spot they should have a back up plan such as the old card swipe system.

Feral_Moon

Reminds me of a pub I once visited, five miles from anywhere!

I'm guessing if the terminal connection had gone down then it's unlikely there would have been a data or wifi connection to use online banking either.

20aday

Carrot007 wrote: »

Does nowhere have the old swipey credit card payment system anymore for when things go down? I'm sure i did that under a year ago.

We use the "ironing board" where I work when the system crashes and we can't process payments via Online Authorisation.

It's not so bad when you know someone will be in again (i.e. regular customers) if their payment declines when calling merchant services for an authorisation code that way (and the thought of Ross King welcoming me to American Express is never a welcome prospect :rotfl: )!!

I guess one way around it (signal permitting of course) could be making a payment to the business' bank account?

hollydays

I take it your friends weren't regular customers there?

arcon5

peachyprice wrote: »

It's not the policy of pretty much any retailer in the country, and the cheque guarantee card is obsolete.

What's the difference between them writing down your card details while you are there and giving them your card details to write down over the phone?

They wouln't be writing them down later on over the phone, they'd be entering the info as a customer not present transaction on the card machine.


I'd have left a cheque, with a name and address and walked out. The member of staff may not have explicitly said 'yes', but they certainly didn't tell you that you wouldn't be allowed

JReacher1

There is no difference between giving your card number over the phone to the pub than giving it to any other retailer. I must give out my card number to hotels, event bookings, restaurant deposit bookings at least 5/6 times a month.

In the very unlucky scenario that they do something fraudulent you know who has committed the offence.

I wouldn't be that happy about writing my card details out and leaving them but not giving the details over the phone is being unnecessarily difficult.

These reputable retailers you're happy to give card numbers to still only pay barely minimum wage to their staff so there is more chance of that staff member writing the card down than this pub manager.

Hedgehog99

I would have asked the friends who live nearby to give their number so they can call in and pay when they're told the system is up and running again.

The management should have told you they wouldn't accept a cheque, then you could have chosen to stop ordering at that point and leave (shouldn't be obliged to pay for what you'd had before that point if the manager won't accept your legal offer of payment).

That's the problem with food or a haircut etc - you have received it and cannot give it back, whereas you could just abandon shopping.