No, all you want is some free food. You have no right to expect that. You owe them the $9.52.
I understand this is the BBQ pit and that it is a good place to rant and get things off our chest, but mistakes happen and I saw nothing in your rant to indicate that they weren’t trying to deal with it. And I read nowherein your rant about geting the overdraft fees waived becuase of the error. I cannot get behind your indignity about having to pay for your original pruchase, though. Next time read what you are signing, if you can’t read it then get them to give you something you can read.
Rhum Runner: No, what I have a right to expect is that my card will be charged correctly, and that any problems that arise will be resolved in a timely manner. These things didn’t happen. If I wanted free food, I’d do like everyone else and use someone else’s credit card. It’s called customer service, and more people in food service need a dose of it.
:smack: :dubious:
Gangster Octopus: What didn’t you get? They’ve been dragging their feet on this since I first notified them of the problem. It’s been nearly two fucking weeks, when they told me they’d have it refunded by the end of the day I told them about it. I’ve been getting jerked around since then. I understand mistakes happen: But their incompetence has been dragging this out for far too long.
“Next time read what you are signing, if you can’t read it then get them to give you something you can read.” - I’m sure you do this every single time you charge something, especially when you’re hungry and in a hurry? If not, don’t be holding me to a higher standard.
I had some Taco Bell tacos the other night. They were quite tasty. I paid cash and it was no problem.
Read the receipt before you sign next time and give 'em another chance. I don’t eat there often but I just need every once in a while.
Can’t speak for Gangster Octopus, but that’s exactly what I do. It really takes less than two seconds to do so.
Yeah, it would be nice if they waved the charge for your food, but they don’t have to, since you do technically owe them the money for the food you bought and consumed. So it’s not much of a legal argument.
The NSF charges may be a different story, if you can show that they were directly caused by the overcharge at TB. Even then you’ll have an uphill battle, though, because TB’s mistake in punching the number in wrong is probably offset by your mistake in signing the slip without reading it and thereby acknowledging the charge and your liability for it. In other words, there’s an argument to be made that you are equally at fault for not catching the mistake as the little TB counterperson, and therefore equally to blame for the resulting snafu. Again, I can see your outrage, but I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if TB’s response at the end of the day is “hey, sorry about that; sucks to be you.” And you think you’re mad now, right? I certainly hope you get a better result than that, and I would suggest very respectfully that maybe the way to get them to cooperate in fixing the situation is to be a little more calm and reasonable and conciliatory? Because you are partly to blame too, you know.
And yeah, I do read every charge slip before I sign it. This is why. I know a lot of people who don’t though; a lot of people just sign whatever’s put in front of them and assume that it’s correct. If nothing else, your story is an object lesson on why that’s not a great idea.
I’m not trying to bust your chops; I can see why you’d be royally pissed and I hope things work out for you.
Yah, I was pretty sure that one of those little slips was a contract. I was also under the impression that if you signed a contract, you were pretty well on the hook for it. Sooo, yah, I always check stuff over before I sign it. And I always double check the amount on debit machines, too. Just in case, and all that.
Anyhow, tough break. Hopefully you can get it sorted out. (And sorry, but you owe the $9.52).
OK, SteelWolf, I guess I missed the two weeks part at the beginning. But yes, I do read every reciept before I sign.
OK, here’s a question. A few bars that I go to run your card when you go to set up a tab, so that if you are too drunk to remember to pay, they still get your money.
How does that work if you don’t sign anything?
I’ve learned never to ask a hypothetical on the internet, like “who possibly does this every time?” The anal people just come out of the woodwork.
Legal eagles, a ruling? Is the receipt a contract? They usually say something like “I agree to pay this charge in accordance with the cardholder agreement” or words to that effect. Is that, plus the delivery of goods to the signator, enough to create a contract between the purchaser and the vendor?
And as snarky as I was in my previous post, I agree that it would have been the right thing to do from a company standpoint to waive the charges for the food. I have no problem with the OP complaining about that as an example of piss-poor customer service, and were I he I would write a scathing letter to the Burrito-in-Chief of Taco Hell outlining the situation. I wouldn’t demand anything, just advise them that they’ve lost a customer forever because of the situation and the insult-to-injury of charging for the original meal after all the problems. I’d be willing to bet that I’d get coupons for free food galore along with an apology (form letter).
Just wanted to add that I had the exact same thing happen to me, without the overdraft charges, that is.
Only I was at a Quizno’s. The actual charge was something like $10.45. The next day, as I went to data enter my receipts for the week in my checkbook register, I noticed the receipt I signed said, “$100.45.” Egad. Who spends a hundred bucks at Quizno’s?
I couldn’t even be bothered to drive back over there. I picked up the phone, asked for the manager. As I stated the amount, he chuckled and said, “I counted down the register last night and couldn’t figure out why we were over by $90. We already corrected your receipt.” Okay. I chatted with him for a minute to keep him on the line while I logged into my bank’s website to check. Sure enough, they had only sent in $10.45, not $100.45. I thanked him and all was well.
While I agree you owe the $9, and also agree it can’t hurt to ask TB to reimburse you for the NSF fees… it’s still your responsibility to be aware of what you sign. My own story supports yours in that we don’t always bother to look at the receipt we’re signing. My point here is that this situation is all about your approach. All I’m saying is you tend to catch more flies with honey… and Taco Bell managers might be more willing to spot you the couple hundred in NSF fees if a) you’re really nice to them and b) you’re enough of a regular customer so that manager knows he/she could make that money back.
No point in being a jerk about it.
One question. Would there have been a negative balance without the Taco Bell overcharge- since the bank didn’t credit this deposit when you expected? Or, if the Bank messed up, and didn’t deposit the $1100 on time- could not part of the fault for the over draft be to the $1100 deposited late rather than that $85 or so TB overcharge?
To restate- you had $246 in overdraft fees. I can’t see how $246 of overdraft fees can come out of being $85 short- unless you write a LOT of very very small checks.
OTTO –
Not precisely. They can be considered a promise to pay (a sort of promissory note) if they contain the language you cite, but generally the slip you sign is merely written proof of your authorization to charge that amount to your credit card and/or take it out of your bank account.
If you dispute the charge, a lack of signature will be taken by the credit card company as a lack of authorization for the charge (for paper transactions), and the credit card company will charge the amount back to the merchant, along with a “chargeback” fee. ([tangent] One of the questions arising from internet commerce is how to handle disputed charges when there’s no paper trail. This is one of the reasons most internet merchants will make you “open an account” by which you cough up some personal information and/or are assigned a password. That way they can point to the existence of information only known to you (password, mother’s maiden name, whatever) as proof that anyone using the account must have been doing so with your knowledge and consent. [/tangent]) Due to the potential for disputed charges over unsigned slips, most establishments do not open a credit card tab, give you back the card, and then hope you don’t wander away. It is far more common practice in bars and taverns (at least in the U.S.) to just take your card and keep it behind the bar. You don’t get the card back until you pay your tab and sign your slip.
But the chargeback scenario only happens if you (the cardholder) dispute the charge. So it’s perfectly possible for an establishment to charge your card without your signature. If you do not dispute the charge, it will be put through as an assumably correct transaction. The credit card company doesn’t see anything signed by you, anyway.
Allow me to add that I’m amused to find people who actually bother to read what they are signing – especially where money is concerned – described as being “anal,” as if that’s some sort of excessive prissiness as opposed to common sense.
I guess I like crappy Amer-Mex food… hmmm (think Quizno’s wolfboy’s 'hmmm").
The cashier at the end of the night should of caught the mistake as an overage, first of all. For example, her end of the day report might have stated $600 dollars food sold total, while she has $686 dollars total in cash and debit card reciepts on hand. ($95.52-$9.52=$86.00)
Now, the cashier makes between $5 to $7 dollars per hour, she doesn’t care, has been on her feet all day during lunch and dinner and wants to get the “F” up on out of there, and simply drops the overage in the safe.
A supervisor/asst. manager/manager should verify her totals and signed off her work, if nothing as a security measure to prevent theft. Even if they don’t check (and it is stupid if they do not), managers have daily reports on food sold per day, and that $86 dollar overage should of popped up like a burrito in a punch bowl. Of course, this might be 2 days later and the cashier has forgotten all about it. It is easy to blend days together and be forgetful when you are a drone in fast food hell.
So, my friend, this was incompetence on their part 95% of the way. The other 5% is you, you should read what’s on that scrap of paper before signing it, and if you can’t read the damn thing, ask the clerk or manager to verify it there. It’s your money.
Lastly, if you eat out in a restaurant, and pay with a debit/credit card, make sure to write SOMETHING on the line below the total. This line is the tip amount you give to the waiter. Then there is a third line totalling the amount. make sure to write a number on both the second and third line or a dishonest waiter will write in his own amount and total it himself, if nothing out of spite for you and a tip for him.
I know this stuff because I have been in retail, fast food and restaurant work.
GRADY
To clarify a few things:
Yes, I use my debit card for lots of small things. Most of the charges that overdrafted me were less than $5. For anything larger than about $20, I go get cash. That’s how being $86 over generated $246 in OD fees.
I don’t really care about the $9.52 original bill - the point I was trying to make was, they charged me that even though I didn’t sign for it the second time - I told them I wasn’t going to pay the original bill until someone did something about the OD fees. So now, they have a slip with VOID written on it, that still got charged to my account. This is called fraud.
I have not been abusive to any of the personnel at Taco Hell - I know they make minimum wage and can’t do anything about it. This is the Pit, so I’m venting. I have been as nice as I can with these people. The general manager is a nice lady, and she understands how annoying this situation is - there’s just not much she can do for me.
Yes, this situation is partly my fault - I should have scrutinized what I was signing. That still does not excuse their failure to catch their mistake at batch time, or their failure to refund my money in a timely manner. The original charge was made on 10/21, and I notifed them on 10/23. It’s now 11/07, and I have bills to pay that won’t wait.
I too have worked food service, as recently as a year ago. I know how hard it is to care about doing a difficult job for low wages.
I did finally get confirmation of the name of the owner, and where he lives. If I don’t get a call from someone soon, I’m going to look up his phone number and contact him directly. I also have the store number, so if I have to I’ll file a complaint with the corporate level.