UK credit cards in the States

Neil49

Theleak250 said:

Just a warning, when you pay for a restaurant bill, some places will give you the bill ,you pay the bill, then they will bring another receipt where you add your tip, you write down what you will tip and then leave, the tip is then charged to your card. (you have the card, they can still charge to it)

Sounds like a very good reason to use cash. 

sausage_time

Neil49 said:

Theleak250 said:

Just a warning, when you pay for a restaurant bill, some places will give you the bill ,you pay the bill, then they will bring another receipt where you add your tip, you write down what you will tip and then leave, the tip is then charged to your card. (you have the card, they can still charge to it)

Sounds like a very good reason to use cash. 

Or just fill in a small (or zero) tip on the receipt depending your experience and conscience.  Do the same on the "Customer Copy" and keep it (along with a photo if the merchant copy if you are paranoid - not that I have ever had a problem in the US).  Have a nice day.

sausage_time

One other thought - see my 2022 post regarding buying petrol in the US at self-pay "gas" pumps with cards.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79288938#Comment_79288938

There may be some other tips on that thread useful to the OP.

Olenna

The Chase, Nationwide and Virgin Money Travel credit cards all have zero forex loading and interest free months on purchases on top (15 months for Chase and Nationwide, 9 months for Virgin Money (Travel).

Almost all the US ATMs surcharge so you'll probably get charged using a Starling, Kroo or Monzo debit card; only Chase debit card is free using their own US ATM network and the handful of surcharge free ATMs.

MyRealNameToo

Theleak250 said:

Just a warning, when you pay for a restaurant bill, some places will give you the bill ,you pay the bill, then they will bring another receipt where you add your tip, you write down what you will tip and then leave, the tip is then charged to your card. (you have the card, they can still charge to it)

Never had that happen, the "check" normally arrives with a section on Service with them having helpfully calculated 15%, 20% and 25% plus an "other" for you to fill in as you see fit. When they come with the card machine they just make one charge for the total. 

If you select anything below 20% expect a discussion, if you say no service then in some places they can get fairly intimidating. Have to remember minimum wage for waitresses can be as low as £1.58 with service making up the rest, though if the service doesnt bring it up to £5.34 the employer must. Living in a big city £5.34/hr is going to get you nowhere 

Nasqueron

MyRealNameToo said:

Theleak250 said:

Just a warning, when you pay for a restaurant bill, some places will give you the bill ,you pay the bill, then they will bring another receipt where you add your tip, you write down what you will tip and then leave, the tip is then charged to your card. (you have the card, they can still charge to it)

Never had that happen, the "check" normally arrives with a section on Service with them having helpfully calculated 15%, 20% and 25% plus an "other" for you to fill in as you see fit. When they come with the card machine they just make one charge for the total. 

If you select anything below 20% expect a discussion, if you say no service then in some places they can get fairly intimidating. Have to remember minimum wage for waitresses can be as low as £1.58 with service making up the rest, though if the service doesnt bring it up to £5.34 the employer must. Living in a big city £5.34/hr is going to get you nowhere 

The staff are rarely going to push back on claiming the difference because they know restaurant can sack them if they're in an "at will" state and they have naff all employee protections. The flip side, it's not my job to pay their wages, service should be a reward not an obligation, bad service being rewarded with a tip, even if "only" 10%, is not justifiable to me just because we might feel sorry for them. 

Olenna

Nasqueron said:

MyRealNameToo said:

Theleak250 said:

Just a warning, when you pay for a restaurant bill, some places will give you the bill ,you pay the bill, then they will bring another receipt where you add your tip, you write down what you will tip and then leave, the tip is then charged to your card. (you have the card, they can still charge to it)

Never had that happen, the "check" normally arrives with a section on Service with them having helpfully calculated 15%, 20% and 25% plus an "other" for you to fill in as you see fit. When they come with the card machine they just make one charge for the total. 

If you select anything below 20% expect a discussion, if you say no service then in some places they can get fairly intimidating. Have to remember minimum wage for waitresses can be as low as £1.58 with service making up the rest, though if the service doesnt bring it up to £5.34 the employer must. Living in a big city £5.34/hr is going to get you nowhere 

The staff are rarely going to push back on claiming the difference because they know restaurant can sack them if they're in an "at will" state and they have naff all employee protections. The flip side, it's not my job to pay their wages, service should be a reward not an obligation, bad service being rewarded with a tip, even if "only" 10%, is not justifiable to me just because we might feel sorry for them. 

I'm sorry to say that you're simply wrong and will create a uncomfortable situation.

We got in heated discussion in a restaurant in Boston when we paid roughly 20% tip to use up our cash. The server was apparently expecting more and we popped in more notes to close the situation down. 

On another occasion, an English couple only paid the menu price for their breakfast in NYC and left the diner. The server started to swear, literally chased them down the street until they gave her a tip.

You might get away with not tipping in England but it's not the same story in the USA.

_Chris__2

It really is a ridiculous state of affairs when you're still expected to give a tip, even if the service (and food) was terrible!!

MyRealNameToo

_Chris__2 said:

It really is a ridiculous state of affairs when you're still expected to give a tip, even if the service (and food) was terrible!!

It's not a tip, it's service. Would you work for £1.58/hr as they do? Do you think you live in a big city like New York or LA on £1.58/hr? They have no right to paid holiday or sickpay either, if they are very lucky they will get 10 days for both, the average UK worker would be using half of that for sick pay and then wouldnt have enough days left to even cover bank holidays. 

US is supposed to be the land of opportunity so in their minds our "London living wage" of $19 plus sick pay, holiday pay etc is what's absolutely madness. Effectively you are paying staff well over $21 even if they are really poor and unreliable. 

They think it's better to allow customers to decide how much they get paid based on service or whatever other criteria the customer decides thus the good can earn well and the poor will scrape by. The reality of such however is even for poor service you should pay something else people can't live. 

_Chris__2

MyRealNameToo said:

_Chris__2 said:

It really is a ridiculous state of affairs when you're still expected to give a tip, even if the service (and food) was terrible!!

It's not a tip, it's service. Would you work for £1.58/hr as they do? Do you think you live in a big city like New York or LA on £1.58/hr? They have no right to paid holiday or sickpay either, if they are very lucky they will get 10 days for both, the average UK worker would be using half of that for sick pay and then wouldnt have enough days left to even cover bank holidays. 

US is supposed to be the land of opportunity so in their minds our "London living wage" of $19 plus sick pay, holiday pay etc is what's absolutely madness. Effectively you are paying staff well over $21 even if they are really poor and unreliable. 

They think it's better to allow customers to decide how much they get paid based on service or whatever other criteria the customer decides thus the good can earn well and the poor will scrape by. The reality of such however is even for poor service you should pay something else people can't live. 

But the issue is that I shouldn't have to pay above the charge for the dinner for example, if their individual service has been poor.