First Bad Experience Of Having A Card Swiped By A Pub As A Surety.

[madcat]

Cash and pay as you go is the only way for me,yes I'm old fashioned but it suits me

[Cheshire cat]

A couple of years ago we went up the Cauldon. The landlord of the Hollybush was having a really bad time of it. It was Easter Bank Holiday weekend. On the way up we called in and they'd run out of gas so couldn't cook anything. It's only just occurred to me that perhaps I could have loaned him a bottle of gas.

 

On the way back a family did a runner without paying for their meals. The air was rather blue. It was cash or card upfront after that.

[Ex- Member]

This annoys me at petrol stations when filling a lorry with derv. You're made to go in and hand over your card before dispensing fuel. On M/way services especially. In most stations the diesel pump is usually quite a way from the till as well, so you end up wasting time and queuing twice, once to hand it over and again to pay.

 

What's most annoying is you have a big lorry with all your credentials plastered all over it, your under CCTV surveillance with number plate recording. And you're hardly going to make a quick get away in a vehicle limited to 56mph. Its just ridiculous. Having said that using M/way service stations happens rarely LOL. but in regular petrol stations it's still annoying and un-necessary.

[tillergirl]

I would never leave my card behind the bar.......................refuse to eat in places that insist on that

[kevinl]

I would never leave my card behind the bar.......................refuse to eat in places that insist on that

What she said, if you hand your card over you are liable if it gets stolen or misused you are not supposed to hand it over to anyone.

[alan_fincher]

I would never leave my card behind the bar.......................refuse to eat in places that insist on that

 

 

What she said, if you hand your card over you are liable if it gets stolen or misused you are not supposed to hand it over to anyone.

 

To be clear, in this case we did not leave a card with bar staff.

 

This is a case where they swipe it when you open a tab, but then return it to you.

 

Maybe less than ideal, but if I didn't ever eat anywhere that did this, then I would be deprived of a pub meal quite often.

 

At many stopping points on the canal once there you seldom have a choice of a second pub, if there is something you don't like about the one that is there.

 

I'm not a fan of having hundreds of pounds carried with me in cash to avoid the use of cards each night - clearly that is not without potential problems either, whatever some of you are saying!

[luctor et emergo]

This annoys me at petrol stations when filling a lorry with derv. You're made to go in and hand over your card before dispensing fuel. On M/way services especially. In most stations the diesel pump is usually quite a way from the till as well, so you end up wasting time and queuing twice, once to hand it over and again to pay.

 

What's most annoying is you have a big lorry with all your credentials plastered all over it, your under CCTV surveillance with number plate recording. And you're hardly going to make a quick get away in a vehicle limited to 56mph. Its just ridiculous. Having said that using M/way service stations happens rarely LOL. but in regular petrol stations it's still annoying and un-necessary.

You queue to. Hand over your card??

I walk in, past the queu, and but in to hand over my card, stating loudly which pump it's for. Nobody has ever questioned, or refused this. After filling up, I will join a queu, to finalise the transaction.

[Cruising Mike]

Over here in sunny Dubai, if you want a tab what they do is they keep your I.D picture, your driver's license or something similar. That way if you leave without paying, intentionally or not, they can easily track you down. Far better than handing over a CC, which may not even be yours, and have all the silly money issues.

[luctor et emergo]

Oh, and as to having a 'bar tab', that is fine as long as you can either keep track of your expenditure, or trust the bar keep to only add the drinks he's actually served...

[Guest]

Oh, and as to having a 'bar tab', that is fine as long as you can either keep track of your expenditure, or trust the bar keep to only add the drinks he's actually served...

 

Agreed - I think the biggest weakness of these is that often it only then requires a table number to place a drinks order against the 'tab'.

 

Any other customer aware that a tab has been set up could easily abuse this. It's always worth checking whats been ordered before paying.

 

A couple of the big chain pubs I have been in recently have let me set a tab up without a swipe of the card and just a table number. Then on leaving they printed off a receipt which I checked item by item and handed my card over at the end to pay. Not had that before.

[Morat]

I once put my card behind the bar in Stringfellows.. that was an expensive night!

[KevMc]

I guess it comes down to trust ..... pubs/restaurants probably have good reason not to trust everyone that comes in off the street - it only needs a few 'runners' to make the difference between profit and loss on a shift, whereas if a pub tries to stitch up a customer they are able to identify the pub and get their money back.

[Nine of Hearts]

A number of canal-side, (and of course other!) pubs swipe your card as you start a food and drinks tab, as a surety in case you bu$$er off without paying. I can understand why, although clearly the majority are more trusting.

 

Why? It's common practice in most pubs to swipe a card if you set up a tab - they give you a slip of paper with the tab number on and you present that when you order food / drinks?

 

Was told when we visited the Weighbridge recently (and set up a tab) that the above practices are illegal, or at least against the terms of the card issuers and no-one should be asking you to do this. If they don't trust you, or can't manage tabs without resorting to this practice, they shouldn't be running tabs.

 

So this...

 

A couple of the big chain pubs I have been in recently have let me set a tab up without a swipe of the card and just a table number. Then on leaving they printed off a receipt which I checked item by item and handed my card over at the end to pay. Not had that before.

 

...is what you should always expect. Apparently.

[KevMc]

 

 

Was told when we visited the Weighbridge recently (and set up a tab) that the above practices are illegal, or at least against the terms of the card issuers and no-one should be asking you to do this. If they don't trust you, or can't manage tabs without resorting to this practice, they shouldn't be running tabs.

 

It woudln't surprise me if it was illegal/against terms of issue etc, but if that is the case why do the card machines and card payment systems allow it to be done?

[Nine of Hearts]

 

It woudln't surprise me if it was illegal/against terms of issue etc, but if that is the case why do the card machines and card payment systems allow it to be done?

 

No idea, you would have to ask the good lady behind the bar at the Weighbridge, I ceded to her superior knowledge. Or perhaps someone in the banking industry. Actually, no, I'd trust the aforementioned lady more.

[jonathanA]

 

 

Was told when we visited the Weighbridge recently (and set up a tab) that the above practices are illegal, or at least against the terms of the card issuers and no-one should be asking you to do this. If they don't trust you, or can't manage tabs without resorting to this practice, they shouldn't be running tabs.

 

So this...

 

 

...is what you should always expect. Apparently.

 

that doesn't stack up to me i'm afraid... Its VERY common practice to do the same at most major hotel chains to cover 'incidentals' like bar/food bills. - I can't beleive that all those hotel chains are breaking the rules/law any more than the big chains of pubs/restaurants. What the Card issuers small print says is you must not disclose your PIN to anyone else - fairly reasonable I'd say !

 

As for not using places that ask to swipe your card before setting up a tab I'd be more worried about using places that don't offer that facility....

[Guest]

...is what you should always expect. Apparently.

 

Tis interesting and probably correct because one of them that did this (swiped at the end) had pre-scanned my card prior to setting the tab up on a previous visit, so they have obviously changed in response to something (either that that or I had my very honest face on...)

[alan_fincher]

Why? It's common practice in most pubs to swipe a card if you set up a tab - they give you a slip of paper with the tab number on and you present that when you order food / drinks?

 

 

Was told when we visited the Weighbridge recently (and set up a tab) that the above practices are illegal, or at least against the terms of the card issuers and no-one should be asking you to do this. If they don't trust you, or can't manage tabs without resorting to this practice, they shouldn't be running tabs.

 

 

Not so, according to my card issuer.

 

I have just rung them for a view, and they say it is a very accepted practice, but that obviously if you do hand over a card before you have the bill, the possibilities of getting wrongly debited for something are increased.

 

So it is a case of "beware" it seems, but neither illegal, nor even infringing theterms of the card supplier.

Edited September 4, 2013 by alan_fincher