My register did something really odd today...

[bean]

Okay, I'm sure most of you cashiers have dealt with Visa gift cards at one point or another. Those who haven't - if you try to charge more than the card has available, it just comes back as declined, you have to know how much is available on the card to use it.

With store branded gift cards, the register will usually just take whatever it can from the card if the charge exceeds the available amount.

I had someone come through my line today with a $25 Visa gift card (this part is important) and a debit card, asking to split it up. No problem, I get this a few times a day and it's incredibly easy to do on our registers (you press total, enter the amount to be charged, then press the credit button).

That's exactly what I did - Total, 2500, Credit, she then slid her card on the reader, told me it was asking her to confirm a $25.00 credit card transaction, she hit yes and signed it.

So both of us were confused when "Credit cards: $10.00" showed up on the screen. At first I thought maybe I had typed in $10.00, but she told me it showed $25.00 on the card reader. I tried to run a $15.00 charge to the card to use it up, it came up declined. I tried a couple of progressively smaller amounts and they still came up declined, she swore she'd never used the card before and it should have had $25.00 available.

If it was a store branded gift card, it would have given me a real explanation - the register will say "Zero balance on gift card" if one is wiped out, and if it's not, it'll print the remaining balance on the receipt. This one was just coming back "Declined", thanks Visa.

She was understandably upset, but didn't turn into a SC. She looked on the back of the card and found an 800#, said she'd try calling them, and I gave her a copy of the credit card slip (normally we don't give those out unless requested) so she would have all the info she needed to take it up with the bank - exact amount charged, authorization #, etc.

[PepperElf]

that is weird. i hope she finds out what happened.

and thankfully she didn't go SC on you

[McGoddess09]

And that's a reason why we don't split payment at my job. Either you pay with cash or card. However, if you have a giftcard and only have enough to cover some of it, you can use another method of payment.

[bean]

With the popularity of EBT (basically electronic foodstamps), splitting payment is very common for me. EBT covers non-taxable items in Texas, which is actually most of the store. Most deli items aren't covered except for sliced meats and cheeses - anything that's "prepared" (ready to eat) is taxable.

It's also very common for someone to pay with part cash, part card/check. It's easy to do - total, amount, cash, then the register shows the remaining amount. My only gripe about splitting with cash is the drawer doesn't open until the final payment is made, so I'm left holding the cash while they finalize payment (which means I can't easily bag, I'm paranoid about not letting the cash out of my hand until the drawer opens). I do know how to open the drawer myself, but the register flips out and shows "! CLOSE CASH DRAWER !" and won't let the customer do anything on the card reader (you jiggle the drawer just right and it'll open).

I almost went SE (Sucky Employee) on one SC though, she split payment across 4 credit cards, plus cash, plus an EBT card, and the EBT kept coming up declined because she didn't have enough left on it (she also spoke very broken english and needed me to basically hold her hand while she used our card reader). The guy behind her went SC and started loudly talking about how I suck for being so slow (I'm one of the fastest cashiers in the store if you look at my stats) to everyone else in the line, then when the SC finally finished he started arguing with me about the price of the salad bar. I agree that our salad bar is obscenely expensive, but we have a sign that clearly states "Anything on the salad bar - $7.99/pound" on all 3 bars.

[SG15Z]

That's really really weird. Ever find out what happened?

[bainsidhe]

I feel for the customer. Also because that 800# is probably going to charge her a service fee if any value remains on the card. I usually direct customers to try the website first, since that doesn't usually charge. Unless that's changed which is possible. For being a "convenience", those Visa/Mastercard/Amex gift cards are really annoying.

[fireheart]

I can top that with the odd register thing.

Our registers really need replacing or a good repair. But that's beyond the point.

Sometimes on a particular shift, I'll get sent around to cover people's lunchbreaks-they get to eat, the register stays open, so if we get busy, we can cope. I got bounced around 4-5 times the other day and wound up on a particular register.

Try to weigh a quince: "Scale comm. error."
Try another fruit: "Scale comm. error"



So off we go to yet another register. Scan something-it makes the beeping noise, but nothing comes up.



And in the end, I was on yet ANOTHER register. Why do I make things break down?

[Pagan]

I feel for the customer. Also because that 800# is probably going to charge her a service fee if any value remains on the card.

That. Also, how old was the card? After a certain amount of time, and it varies from card to card, some start charging a "service fee".

[bean]

She admitted the card was a little old - she got it in December, but thought the service fee wouldn't be charged until it'd been unused for a year.

Agreed about those Visa gift cards being a pain in the ass.

I had Wachovia send me a $25 gift card for referring someone that opened an account - and the damn thing EXPIRED after a month. At least I'd used most of it up.