US: tips, card payments, and risk of fraud?

SouthLondonUser

In the UK we have chip and pin. In the US they don’t – at least it’s not as widely used. When you pay by card, you typically add the tip scribbling it manually on the receipt. How is the payment processed? Does the waiter enter the amount manually? I suppose there’s the risk a waiter might enter the wrong amount? Not necessarily fraudulently, but, when you’re tired and process hundreds of transactions, human mistakes may happen.
Also, does swiping the card mean getting some kind of pre-authorisation? Is there any kind of automated check if the tip is greater than a certain %? Eg if the bill is $100 and someone adds a $60 bill, will it be flagged as potential fraud, or not because a single $160 payment (with no breakdown between bill and tip) is processed?
Should one, in theory, keep all the receipts for a while? I suppose otherwise it’s almost impossible to prove the tip was X and not Y.

Not to mention that many waiters in the US want to get your card, disappear somewhere in the back, process the payment, then bring you the card back. I have had weird looks by waiters and Americans who were at the table with me (look at these paranoid Europeans…) when I made it very clear that I wasn’t leaving the card, and if the machine was not wireless then I’d go to the machine…

EssexExile

But whatever you do with the tip the total is on the printout they give you, which I assume you check at the time & keep. The USA is one of the worst places for credit card fraud & you can see why when you see the blas! way they treat them. Having said that I've been going there since the 70s & never had any trouble.

HogMan

In my experience (when using a prepaid card) in restaurants there seems to be 15% service charge added pending the final check being processed.


The use of chip and pin in the US seems to be increasing although I have yet to see the use of handheld wireless card readers in any restaurant.

Murphy_The_Cat

HogMan wrote: »

In my experience (when using a prepaid card) in restaurants there seems to be 15% service charge added pending the final check being processed.


The use of chip and pin in the US seems to be increasing although I have yet to see the use of handheld wireless card readers in any restaurant.

I've just come back from my jollies in the US.
On my trip, Chip and Pin was the norm (although some shops asked me to sign as well), rather than the exception.
A few shops (particularly coffee shops) had a tablet like screen for you to sign on.
Contactless was quite prevalent.
Tipping seemed to go from an expected 15%, to an optomistic 20%. One restaurant even had a handy spreadsheet that showed the incremental increases on a sliding scale for you to add to the CC chitty.
I can't remember any hand held card readers whilst I was away, but there were a couple of Iphones with card scanners attached that I used.

as for tipping - always remember that its an optional (but expected) additional charge for getting good service. If the service or food was poor, don't feel obliged to make an additional payment.

SouthLondonUser

Do UK chip and pin cards work (with chip and pin) in the US? This means the customer enters the tip amount in the machine and there is no risk of fraud, right?

HogMan

Chip and Pin works same as here. Only the customer handles the card.

michele-p

Hi, last time we were in the states in restaurants they would take you card when you wanted to pay, they brought back a slip of paper, with the bill amount, a place to write the tip amount, and you manually sign it!! I spotted the first amount as a pre-authorised amount a few times but they did drop off. When you have written the final amount they took the card again, and brought a receipt for the full amount taken. It feels very backward, and unsafe compared to what we are used to, but it's what happens most of the time.

It's not so scary in shops etc, as you are with the card. Some supermarkets did take chip and pin, but this was the exception rather than the normal.

Backbiter

I'm in the US at the moment and am amazed at the absence of Chip and Pin. My Fairfx card seems to be accepted on just a swipe, and it's not cantactless. We were in Canada till 2 days ago where chip and pin was everywhere. The only place my card was not accepted was on an Air Canada flight - they even refused Canadian dollars, and I had to use my Barclaycard to pay for inflight snacks.

pollypenny

We visit the USA regularly and I'm always twitchy about the waiter taking the card away. DS and DIL laugh at me though. There does seem to be mire honesty the the States - the mail bid box at the end of the drive, accessible to anyone, for example.

DS used to leave his keys 'hidden' in the wheel arch of his car, Jeep Cherokee, when he went paddling and the whole team left bags wallets etc on the key when they practised.