The great signature debate

[Lace Neil Singer]

Where I work, it's mostly chip and pin. For the rare occasions that a person still has a swipe card, their signature has to match. They can provide another signature if the one on the card has worn away, otherwise we don't accept it. I've had a woman curse at me cuz I refused to accept her cover story that she'd put her card thru the washing machine and worn the signature off, and that I should just take her word for it and accept her card. I refused, and she threw a tantrum. She had no other signature on her, not even a driving licence, which struck me as very suspicious. In any case, after a supervisor and a duty manager were called who agreed with me, she dug out a twenty, balled it up and practically threw it at me. -.- If she had cash on her, why make such a fuss about the card?

[rerant]

This part is in BOLD on page 29:

Although Visa rules do not preclude merchants from asking for cardholder ID, merchants cannot make an ID a condition of acceptance. Therefore, merchants cannot refuse to complete a purchase transaction because a cardholder refuses to
provide ID.

I think I'm having a stupid day because that bit confused me. Does that mean merchants are required to still process the transaction if the customer refuses to show ID? Because I'm certain that's what I read but that seems so backwards to me.

[chops]

I think I'm having a stupid day because that bit confused me. Does that mean merchants are required to still process the transaction if the customer refuses to show ID? Because I'm certain that's what I read but that seems so backwards to me.

Correct, assuming the card is signed and signatures match.

[rerant]

Correct, assuming the card is signed and signatures match.

Ah ok, I was thinking that it meant merchants couldn't ask for ID even i there was no signature.
So maybe it was just a stupid half-day.