Here's a tip: Restaurants may be padding the bill
Some credit card terminals slap on 20 percent hold
Maybe the service was really bad. Maybe they left cash on the table or just ordered take-out.
Whatever reason diners have for not adding a tip to their credit-card receipts, they probably wouldn't appreciate finding that the restaurant charged them one anyway.
Because of a setting in credit-card terminals distributed by the nation's largest consumer bank, thousands of restaurants, without even knowing it, could be temporarily charging diners an automatic gratuity on top of the agreed-upon bill, reducing the funds or credit available to card users and potentially alienating customers in the process.
Pomirat Sawangpob, manager of the University District restaurant Thai 65, said he didn't know that each time he swiped a customer's card, the restaurant's bank, Bank of America, was seeking a charge on his behalf for 20 percent more than the amount on the customer's receipt.
The charges, which are authorized "holds" that appear on credit-card and checking-account statements, are only temporary in most cases and are resolved automatically by the bank in about three days.
External Source - For the complete article click here
Source - Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Whatever reason diners have for not adding a tip to their credit-card receipts, they probably wouldn't appreciate finding that the restaurant charged them one anyway.
Because of a setting in credit-card terminals distributed by the nation's largest consumer bank, thousands of restaurants, without even knowing it, could be temporarily charging diners an automatic gratuity on top of the agreed-upon bill, reducing the funds or credit available to card users and potentially alienating customers in the process.
Pomirat Sawangpob, manager of the University District restaurant Thai 65, said he didn't know that each time he swiped a customer's card, the restaurant's bank, Bank of America, was seeking a charge on his behalf for 20 percent more than the amount on the customer's receipt.
The charges, which are authorized "holds" that appear on credit-card and checking-account statements, are only temporary in most cases and are resolved automatically by the bank in about three days.
External Source - For the complete article click here
Source - Seattle Post-Intelligencer
