Credit/debit card issues....overcharging turds

[LA_MERC_Sabre]

In the last 2 weeks, at different establishments I've been overcharged. Example....Last night I went to a very nice restaurant, had a great dinner, a bottle of wine and couple other drinks...

I get my bill and it says $xxx.xx ....so I sign for a $20 dollar tip (I usually tip 20% but I guess my math wasn't that great after the alcohol, and I feel bad that I was cheap)...anyway, I look at my charge online and it says $25 more than what I signed for.... I'm like WTF!!!!!

This happened at a different place, one of those mall vendors twice last week..

anyone else experience this? and what did you do?

[LA_MERC_Andyconda]

No. Hasn't happened here. I use a debit card and look at my charges very regularly as I do bills and such. Been used for quite some time now with no problems. As far as credit cards I still have 3, but they are for speacial uses only. I paid off all my credit card debt last year and have made a solem promise to never give those bastards the chance to put me in the hole again. Two things all you peeps should know. When you get a big bill that you can not pay don't immediately pay it with a credit card. Things like car repair, medical bills, and lawyer fees you can pay off monthly with the individual company. Credit card company charge outrageou rates and by law as long as your making an effort to pay off a bill they can't sue or hurt you. The next thing is if you find yourself in a large amount of credit card debt with high rates becuase you were late on a patment even though you paid your bill on time for 6 ****ing years what you need to do is get another credit card offer with a 0% rate and 0% transfer (Usually for 6 months to a year), tranfer your balance and make sure you pay on time and when the 0% phase runs out switch to another card with 0% rate and 0% transfer. I did this and had thousands of dollars paid off in no time as I paid 0% interest on my balances for almost 3 years. I added up the savings in excel and I saved my self almost 14,000 dollars in doing so. It was a great feeling to get all my balances back from my cards and have them all read ZERO. As for the over charges Al...Keep an eye on them and if you have your recipt you can sue them and get big money for fraud.

[LA_MERC_th33_r00k]

More than likely what is going on is a comp program. They are made to run a certain amount predetermined for amount of bill. Mine usually clear up by the time they hit my statement. They only read off while "pending" to the account. You can also see this in gas station at the pump charges. They will read $1 until they hit the account. They do this because they want to make sure the card will work, but are unsure of the total. They balance inquiry a certain amount and then charge one dollar. If it is your electronic online stuff I would just call your bank and let them know. You have the slip and they (the resturaunts) cannot do anything about it. Also, in more populous areas, there are more people that errantly run extra few dollars per so many transactions to make a few more bucks a night. If you do not watch your account no one is the wiser for a dollar here and there. Good luck and call your bank.

[LA_MERC_th33_r00k]

Was the total approx. 1 1/2 times of the actual food charge? 100.00 total = 150.00 charge. 80.00 total = 120.00 charge.

[LA_MERC_Diesel]

I know Al that to get the approval they put in a certain figure then when the actual charge goes through then it gets corrected...but I have also been over charged. My favorite is when Robby paid for my meal :)

We go out to lunch and Dirge gets his bill and I get mine...we have the same Bank debit card, and a few days later I get a call from Dirge, hey did you get charged from liuzza's? Um oh...I have no clue...let me whip out my receipt that I signed. Oh that is not my card...but I sure as hell signed it :P:
Thanks for the meal Uncle Dirgey.../Dirge mumbles profanities at the air head waitress...<click>

[Biggs]

i would throw the food up in a bag and bring it back for a refund........

but that sux.i had that happen to me..i open a tab at a local bar and when i closed out my bill was like 25 plus i gave a 10 dollar tip cause the bartendress was hot. so i get the statment and it says something like 50 buck at the abr...good thing i keep my reciepts..i pwned them biotchs

[HENK]

just call your bank,they send you a form u have to fill out .takes 5 min. you send it back .you get the money you claim has been overcharged.they contact the person that billed you who must prove they billed you correctly .if they did ,the bank takes the money they gave you back .if not you can keep it and the guy gets suid for false billing by the bank.i have done it,it really is not much trouble,at least with Hibernia.

[LA_MERC_Sabre]

Well...I went straight to the source and called the place (Sambuca if you must know)....

they said the bank sometimes holds 17% extra until the process is completed...then re-adjusts the amount back to the original when all is said and done.....I guess that's sort of what Rook was talking about.

So we'll see when the shiznit comes out of pending....