I heard an unfortunate story last night from a friend who had some trouble with a local bar Halloween night.
She'd ordered a couple of drinks and paid with her card. The tab was left open, but not by choice -- the bartender grabbed the card and then hurried off to help other customers. My friend didn't have any intention of ordering more drinks, but she was unable to get the bartender's attention, so she went back to her table. When she went up later to settle the tab, the bartender told her that they'd lost my friend's card, and that they were sorry, and would void out the charges for the two drinks.
Panicked, my friend hurried home to call her bank. She'd left her contact info with the bar just in case the card turned up, and luckily it did. The bar called her that night to say the card had been found behind some paperwork.
When she was finally able to retrieve the card (she showed up the next day only to be told to come back when the manager was there), she was asked how she wanted to pay for her drinks. Naturally, my friend was incensed, as the bartender had told her the charges would be voided out for her trouble. Not only that, there was an additional $40 charge that someone had made on the card, which she also is trying to have removed.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time I've heard this story about one of our local watering holes. An acquaintance of mine was once told at a bar down the street that her card was "lost" as well.
Look, bars get busy. Mistakes get made. It's not excusable, but it's understandable. The point of this tale isn't to shame local businesses. It's to remind us all to be a lot more cautious with how we handle our bank and credit cards. The only person who is responsible for my credit card is me, so I'm going to make it a point to keep it with me at all times if I can.
Some businesses -- Livingstone's comes to mind -- now swipe the card and hand it back immediately, keeping the tab open but not keeping the card in the bartender's possession. I like this system, and hope others adopt it. Otherwise, I'll try to carry cash as often as possible (though I very rarely remember to have it on hand), or simply close out my tab in between drinks -- even if that means politely harassing the bartender until I get my card back.
Hopefully everything will work out well for my friend, and there won't be any long-term problems from this situation. Her tale is a good lesson for the rest of us, and I thank her for sharing it with me.
Yeah, the few times that I've forgotten my cards they've always been retrieved the next day or so and I've been lucky to never had problems with dumb charges (either that or I just don't remember how many drinks I ordered the night before). But yeah, it can be a little scary to have your card floating out there.
that's pretty messed up that no guys at the bar offered to pay for her drinks.
Thanks to you and your friend for sharing this Heather! It's a great reminder, especially for those of us who tend to hand our cards out everywhere we go. There's definitely something to be said for carrying cash ... unless you get mugged.
i NEVER pay for drinks with a card.
eliminates the above mentioned problems, and guarantees i will never drink more than i can afford.
end of problem.
Heather, you have become quite the consumer advocate lately. A regular Ralphine Nader.
Good for you. And thanks.
I always try to remember that the credit card risk increases exponentially with every drink.
Cash is definitely the way to go at bars and at restaurants. Does anyone else remember this story?
Yikes. I've been far too lucky for far too long.
...and they ran a tab without anything. We just asked if we could run one and they said ok. It was the Clovis one. Paid cash at the end of the night.