Accused of being a scammer

[Evannah]

I work in a concession located within a large store.

Our card machine isn't working too good at the minute. When a customer puts their card in, it's hit and miss as to whether or not it will register in the machine. If it fails, then I try again. If it still doesn't work, the till has the option to manually input the card number and expiry date into the till. All the customer has to do is sign a receipt so that we can check it against the signature that's on the card.

One customer accused me of trying to scam her. Apparently she'd never heard of this and found it "dodgy as hell". I explained to her that it was a perfectly secure way of processing the payment, but she disagreed. I held my cool and tried to explain again but she just kept talking over me and getting increasingly irate. For what? It's not MY fault she thinks I'm scamming her. I was just trying to help her by processing it another way. She put her card away and paid by cash instead. She told me she was not happy, not happy AT ALL *pout pout* and that "it's just not good enough!"

So, at the end of the day, she got all huffy and defensive about nearly getting scammed, when it was all in her head, yet what about me? It's not very nice being accused of being a scammer!

[sirwired]

She acted like you scribbled her number down on a sticky note, promising to enter it into the register later...

[Tee]

I'm kinda curious now, which is more dangerous: full ignorance or some knowledge.

(Yes, both have a swirl of stupidity to them. : P )

[Limescale]

I'm kinda curious now, which is more dangerous: full ignorance or some knowledge.

(Yes, both have a swirl of stupidity to them. : P )

Well, to me at least, a fully ignorant person is more likely to listen than one operating on partial knowledge. Having some but not all of the needed information seems to instill a sense of pride in folk that is very hard to overcome, while someone who has no clue about something is more willing to ask for help and admit their wrongdoing.

Again, that's my own experience talking.

[Lovecats]

And I would say that this woman has never worked in retail. I remembered many times when our card readers would go down for some reason and we had to manually enter in the card #. When that happened we also had to see a valid ID and the customer would have to sign a receipt. I don't remember anyone accusing us of scamming though.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I remember when a copy was made of the credit card with a click-clack machine, which the customer then had to sign. That woman would have really been upset at that procedure.

[carryonnow]

This customer is obviously an amateur....ALL the BEST sucky customers know that in order for the huff to be valid, it must be accompanied by at least three of the following:

1. "Get me the manager NOW!"

2. "I know the owner and you WILL lose your job for this."

3. Stomping accompanied by an additional insult about the employee's intelligence

4. Several huffs and puffs WITH eye roll and "this cannot be happening I am in a hurry"

5. "If it doesn't scan that means its free, right?"

6. Tweeting about the horrible service and the "dodgy as hell" actions taken to expedite her transaction.

I think the customer needs to return to Sucky Customer 101 training and learn the basics or she will never be taken seriously.

[Teskeria]

lot of times the charge is approved on the card holders end and refused on the merchants. -which results in a hold on the cardholders balance until the charge completes or the hold releases days for most cards other than the pay pal one <not the prepaid>- i only get held 5 days on that.). Most companies don't seem to know how to process cards properly anymore. Lots of them don't remember to use the auth code when they complete, which causes more problems.. sigh...sorry. meandered off the path

[BrenDAnn]

I remember when a copy was made of the credit card with a click-clack machine, which the customer then had to sign. That woman would have really been upset at that procedure.

We're still supposed to do that when we enter cards manually into our system. Supposed to. The machine stays buried somewhere else, though. I do agree, she'd flip her lid at that procedure!

[Tee]

We're still supposed to do that when we enter cards manually into our system. Supposed to. The machine stays buried somewhere else, though. I do agree, she'd flip her lid at that procedure!

Sounds almost like incentive to me. XD

[workerbee222]

I remember the...did we call them knuckle-bangers? And having the customer sign the receipt, AND the manager saying we should make kind of an obvious theatrical process of ripping up the carbons before throwing them in the trash.

I had a woman with an unsigned credit card insist it was safer than a signed one, because no one would be able to forge her signature.

[notalwaysright]

And now my obligatory reference to Corner Gas.

[MoonCat]

What an idiot. How does punching in the numbers by hand make it possible to scam someone? You're handing the card right back to her! Does she think you're memorizing it?? Ugh.

[Ironclad Alibi]

We're still supposed to do that when we enter cards manually into our system. Supposed to. The machine stays buried somewhere else, though. I do agree, she'd flip her lid at that procedure!

If you do dig out the machine, don't forget the little book where you can look up her cc number to see if has been cancelled. One more thing to drive her over the edge.

[dalesys]

I remember when a copy was made of the credit card with a click-clack machine, which the customer then had to sign. That woman would have really been upset at that procedure.

They don't really start to complain until you have to get a hand print with the clack-clack...