PLEASE ARCHIVE THANK YOU

I had a frustrating experience, and wanted to find out whether anyone else on this forum has had a similar thing happen to them.

-My waiter left the wrong check on my table and walked away.

-I noticed the mistake after he walked away, so I did not give him my card.

-Five minutes or more passed before he returned, and I told him about the mix up.

-He seemed very confused, and asked me for my card.

-I told him to bring me the correct check first, and I would give him my card at that time.

-The waiter became even more frustrated.

-I checked my bank account using my iPhone while the waiter stood at my table and could see the incorrect charge. BUT I HAD NOT GIVEN ANYBODY MY CARD.

-NOW I WAS CONFUSED, so, after the waiter insisted for the third time that I hand him my card, I did so.

-He returned with the correct check, which I paid in cash, AND a CREDIT for the first check... the incorrect one... in the amount that had already appeared in my account activity via my iPhone.

I have monitored my account, and the incorrect charge was removed, but it shouldn't have been there to begin with since I had not given the waiter my card... something fishy.

I Googled "card skimming" and see that there are small devices now, which clerks can use, and there have been some arrests in New Jersey in connection with skimming.

How would they have skimmed your card if you hadn't given it to them? I don't get it.

I don't know. That is my point. It was just weird.

imonlysleeping said:
How would they have skimmed your card if you hadn't given it to them? I don't get it.

It's weird that they charged your card without you giving it to them. I don't see what skimming has to do with anything. The only explanation I can think of is that they had your card on file from a previous visit and matched it to the name you made a reservation with, but that would a) require that you had been there before and made a reservation and b) most likely be illegal (or at least against the policy of the credit card company).

My husband's card was skimmed recently, but what you are describing doesn't sound like skimming at all. And I'm at a loss as to how they were able to charge the amount to your card before they even had the card in their hands.

It makes no sense. And they would have to have asked you for permission to charge the card if they had it on file. Something is not adding up. I feel like we are not hearing the whole story, or that you are having trouble relating it.

Did you sign up for apple pay?

Shouldn't this be immediatley brought to the attention of the upper management or owner of restaurant?

You either did give him your card or there was some tiny time warp

kmk said:
Shouldn't this be immediatley brought to the attention of the upper management or owner of restaurant?

Absolutely! (You beat me to the punch @kmk!)

No.

joy said:
Did you sign up for apple pay?

Since the charge was removed within a few minutes, I did not make any more out of it.

kmk said:
Shouldn't this be immediatley brought to the attention of the upper management or owner of restaurant?

That is possible. But I am a creature of habit, and I usually have my card ready when I am finished with my meal, because I don't like sitting around waiting. But my card was on my table for five minutes before the waiter came back to my table, and before I handed the wrong bill back to the waiter... That is why I suspected a scheme. And that is the point in the exchange where I became agitated and confused... I'll just be more careful next time.

orzabelle said:
You either did give him your card or there was some tiny time warp

randy57 said:
Since the charge was removed within a few minutes, I did not make any more out of it.

kmk said:
Shouldn't this be immediatley brought to the attention of the upper management or owner of restaurant?

....but you're talking about it here. Not that that's a bad thing, but why complain here if you didn't see the need to talk to the manager/owner?

Your insistence on making this about skimming--which I can't see any connection to whatsoever--suggests that either you have no clue what skimming is or you have some weird agenda here and this is a made-up story.

I was wondering if there were any victims of skimming who could share their experience. The only thing I am certain about is that this never happened before. So either it was my mistake, which is possible, or there was an employee trying to dupe me. I did read about skimming being done by employees using a small device that can fit in a pants pocket.

mumstheword said:

randy57 said:
Since the charge was removed within a few minutes, I did not make any more out of it.

kmk said:
Shouldn't this be immediatley brought to the attention of the upper management or owner of restaurant?

....but you're talking about it here. Not that that's a bad thing, but why complain here if you didn't see the need to talk to the manager/owner?

That wouldn't make sense - why would someone skim it and use it to pay the wrong bill? I bet he had it and you just were focused on something else.

I'm banking on the time blip explanation, because it's the most interesting

In our case my husband's ATM card number was skimmed and one day a bunch of charges showed up for brick and mortar stores up in Totowa and Hackensack. BofA found the spending to be suspicious (multiple charges at both stores) and sent me a text alert. I called my husband to make sure it wasn't him, but he was at work in Newark and hadn't put anything on his card that day. I got off the phone with him and immediately called the bank and they put a stop on his card number. The crooks were able to charge close to $400, all of which BofA reversed in a few days.

Awhile back my credit card was used fraudulently, but not at a brick and mortar store so I don't know if was skimmed or one of the many data breaches that have hit retailers recently. In that case the thieves purchased insurance for a phone and, fittingly enough, care packages for a prisoner. In this case I found out about five days after the charges, but they still reversed them with no hassle.

I think you may be thinking of a credit card that has rfid, which can be scanned from afar (saw this on a bunch of news shows a while back), here is a link from pop mechanics w more info:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/security/how-to/a1142/4206464/

If you're worried about this you can buy a wallet that blocks RFID signals

randy,

I think you're suffering from unnecessary abuse on this thread.

Good for you that you checked your bank account during the dispute. (I may have to enable my phone to check in with my bank accounts).

I think that that you should have held on to the incorrect check, but that's water under the bridge. Can you recall whether the incorrect bill had the last four digits of your card number?

I don't know whether skimming is the correct term, but there people out there with devices that can read a card without having the card.

We live in trying times.

TomR

P.s., If the incorrect check was for a lesser amount than your meal, did it occur to you to just pay the check, in cash? Probably not, but just curious.

How was the payment made? I have a couple favorite eating/coffeee places that use Square [or something like that] for payments. In that system my info stays on file. Have not had any problems with that, but it was a surprise

lukeysboat said:
I think you may be thinking of a credit card that has rfid, which can be scanned from afar (saw this on a bunch of news shows a while back), here is a link from pop mechanics w more info:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/security/how-to/a1142/4206464/

WoW! Thanks for this info.

randy57 said:

-I checked my bank account using my iPhone while the waiter stood at my table and could see the incorrect charge. BUT I HAD NOT GIVEN ANYBODY MY CARD.

Call your credit card company, they can tell if the card was physically present (read: swiped) for every transaction.

If I had to guess (and I do) I think you gave him the card and kind of spaced out. If it were some kind of scam, giving you the wrong check seems like an odd plan.

This is not made up, and I know what skimming is. It 's not just ATMs. Google it. I'm looking for anyone who has been skimmed. If that doesn't describe you then your snarky comment is unwelcome. Thanks.

imonlysleeping said:
Your insistence on making this about skimming--which I can't see any connection to whatsoever--suggests that either you have no clue what skimming is or you have some weird agenda here and this is a made-up story.

Thank you. I have had that type of fraud on my card, and like your case my bank alerted me and I was not charged.

spontaneous said:
In our case my husband's ATM card number was skimmed and one day a bunch of charges showed up for brick and mortar stores up in Totowa and Hackensack. BofA found the spending to be suspicious (multiple charges at both stores) and sent me a text alert. I called my husband to make sure it wasn't him, but he was at work in Newark and hadn't put anything on his card that day. I got off the phone with him and immediately called the bank and they put a stop on his card number. The crooks were able to charge close to $400, all of which BofA reversed in a few days.
Awhile back my credit card was used fraudulently, but not at a brick and mortar store so I don't know if was skimmed or one of the many data breaches that have hit retailers recently. In that case the thieves purchased insurance for a phone and, fittingly enough, care packages for a prisoner. In this case I found out about five days after the charges, but they still reversed them with no hassle.

Checking your bank account doesn't make sense if you hadn't given them the card. I'm guessing you handed the card over, but were distracted and couldn't remember if you had or not. In that case it makes sense that the server wanted your card when you pointed out that the bill was wrong, they need to swipe the card to reverse a transaction

Sounds like you already gave them the card and forgot -

Thank you Tom. The incorrect check did have the last four digits of my credit card. That is the moment when I first became confused. I could not fathom how that happened. My card was directly in front of me on my table and never left that spot until after I made the mistake known to the waiter.

Yes, my credit card account has been hacked from afar in the past -- the more common method. And when the correct bill arrived, which was a smaller amount, I paid it in cash!

Tom_R said:

randy,
I think you're suffering from unnecessary abuse on this thread.
Good for you that you checked your bank account during the dispute. (I may have to enable my phone to check in with my bank accounts).
I think that that you should have held on to the incorrect check, but that's water under the bridge. Can you recall whether the incorrect bill had the last four digits of your card number?
I don't know whether skimming is the correct term, but there people out there with devices that can read a card without having the card.
We live in trying times.
TomR
P.s., If the incorrect check was for a lesser amount than your meal, did it occur to you to just pay the check, in cash? Probably not, but just curious.

I paid cash after discovering the initial disputed bill. I do not use any of the coupons such as Square.

peteglider said:
How was the payment made? I have a couple favorite eating/coffeee places that use Square [or something like that] for payments. In that system my info stays on file. Have not had any problems with that, but it was a surprise