Call the credit card company. She committed fraud and you are not obligated to pay for it. Your credit card agreement obligates you to only pay for what you sign. When you file a a written dispute the credit card company will ask for the restaurant's physical receipt. The restaurant doesn't have one for that dollar amount so the credit card company will not pay them the extra money. As an added benefit, once you file they will immediately pull back the entire check from the restaurant while the dispute is pending.

+1

1. It's fraud. Call them on it.
2. Credit card disputes (called "charge-backs" in the biz) are a real headache for businesses. And in this case, a well-deserved headache. This is your leverage and you shouldn't feel bad about using it. The principle here is important.

If the manager makes it right for you, fine. If not, he/she needs to learn here too. Don't let it go.

Once at a restaurant I added the tip, totalled it, and they ran that amount. When I got my credit card statement, the waitress (lousy service) changed the tip amount - gave herself a much bigger tip. I called the restaurant and talked to the manager, and called the credit card company and disputed the charge.

Theft by fraud

Anonymous wrote:Unless there is a policy to automatically charge gratuity according to party size, I would dispute the charge.

OK, well first I would contact the restaurant and see if they will refund the difference. It that didn't work, then I'd dispute. And, I too, would be pretty pissed.

Even if its a policy it is not law.
I left a note once saying they sucked and we deducted the added gratituty. Tip: get a new job.

Challenge it with the bank. She stole for you.

Call the credit card company. She committed fraud and you are not obligated to pay for it. Your credit card agreement obligates you to only pay for what you sign. When you file a a written dispute the credit card company will ask for the restaurant's physical receipt. The restaurant doesn't have one for that dollar amount so the credit card company will not pay them the extra money. As an added benefit, once you file they will immediately pull back the entire check from the restaurant while the dispute is pending.

Definitely follow up, OP. i'm unclear on exactly what happened, but it is sadly very common for servers to add more tip to your receipt than you authorized. Most people don't check or notice it. then if you call them out on it, the servers may say it's a mistake. Think about it, how often do you check and make sure the restaurant actually only charged you for a 9 dollar tip and not a 10 dollar tip? Most people wouldn't notice it.

FWIW, I'm in Brookland and go to that restaurant I've never had my tip included automatically in my total before. I've been to the restaurant at least two dozen times. Was the tip hand-written or typed?

That seems very odd to me. Do follow up.

she prob authorized the card for that amt but the amt you signed for will post to your acct....sort of like how gas stations authorize for xx amt but the amt of gas you actually bought gets posted to the acct.

We had a really crappy waitress who had pre-filled her own survey card giving herself perfect scores. The balls on that one.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, I'm confused. When I manually include the tip, the hold on my card is usually just for the meal portion of my tab. When it posts, the final charge reflects the meal + tip.

OP, are you saying that when you got your receipt to sign, the amount was included in your total and you signed off on it? If so, that makes it tougher, but if the restaurant has a copy of the receipt then they should be able to pull up what you'd intended to pay for the tip. I still say call.

+1
OP would have no way of knowing they didn't charge her the $10 she'd written in until it had gone through and shown up on her bank statement. As far as she was concerned, the tip was $10, as she wrote it. She could not have handled this at the restaurant because she couldn't have known the waitress would run through $18 til it showed up on her statement.

EXACTLY!

This is incorrect. Typically you are given a check. If there is an automatic gratuity (such as added for large parties), it is totaled on the check. Before you give them your credit card, you should say something. By law, automatic gratuities have to be included on the check, they cannot fail to disclose an automatic gratuity on the check and then add it to the credit card balance on the credit slip. Once you give them your credit card and they ring it through, there is a "hold" placed for the amount. If you dispute the automatic gratuity, you should call attention to it to the manager before giving your credit card. The manager should be informed of any adjustment of an automatic gratuity so that she can make sure to watch and make sure that it isn't billed to y ou. Just crossing it out and signing it only helps if someone actually goes through afterwards, and corrects the hold amount in the register/computer. While most servers do this, some may not. The manager will ensure that it is.

Glad you resolved it, OP. Sounds like the manager knows about the problems with this employee. I don't doubt he'll dock her pay (or worse). Too bad for her; her actions were fraudulent.

Anonymous wrote:Even restaurants that include a gratuity will usually take it off if you tell the manager that the service was unacceptable.

I've never had this happen before. I tip every time and I tip well. But I also believe that when service is this bad, it should be noted. But I still gave her 10%. I think it might have been resolved with the manager so we'll see.

Even restaurants that include a gratuity will usually take it off if you tell the manager that the service was unacceptable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, I'm confused. When I manually include the tip, the hold on my card is usually just for the meal portion of my tab. When it posts, the final charge reflects the meal + tip.

OP, are you saying that when you got your receipt to sign, the amount was included in your total and you signed off on it? If so, that makes it tougher, but if the restaurant has a copy of the receipt then they should be able to pull up what you'd intended to pay for the tip. I still say call.

When I got my receipt the tip was included in the total, but I scratched it and put a different total on there.

OK, receipt or check (sorry, just want to make sure I'm seeing the whole picture here)? If you got the check with the tip included, but crossed it out, THEN she went to charge you, then yes, I'd be pretty steamed. Follow-up with the restaurant. I'm sure the manager will not want to lose customers over such a trivial amount. (Trivial to them; I understand your POV and would want my money back on principle alone).

Sorry, yes check. She brought the check with the tip included. I changed it because I didn't feel it was appropriate and she still charged me. I just called and talked to the manager. He seemed willing to refund the difference so we'll see. If he does that, I'll be willing to go back. I told him which waitress and when it happened and he didn't seem happy about it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, I'm confused. When I manually include the tip, the hold on my card is usually just for the meal portion of my tab. When it posts, the final charge reflects the meal + tip.

OP, are you saying that when you got your receipt to sign, the amount was included in your total and you signed off on it? If so, that makes it tougher, but if the restaurant has a copy of the receipt then they should be able to pull up what you'd intended to pay for the tip. I still say call.

When I got my receipt the tip was included in the total, but I scratched it and put a different total on there.

OK, receipt or check (sorry, just want to make sure I'm seeing the whole picture here)? If you got the check with the tip included, but crossed it out, THEN she went to charge you, then yes, I'd be pretty steamed. Follow-up with the restaurant. I'm sure the manager will not want to lose customers over such a trivial amount. (Trivial to them; I understand your POV and would want my money back on principle alone).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, I'm confused. When I manually include the tip, the hold on my card is usually just for the meal portion of my tab. When it posts, the final charge reflects the meal + tip.

OP, are you saying that when you got your receipt to sign, the amount was included in your total and you signed off on it? If so, that makes it tougher, but if the restaurant has a copy of the receipt then they should be able to pull up what you'd intended to pay for the tip. I still say call.

+1
OP would have no way of knowing they didn't charge her the $10 she'd written in until it had gone through and shown up on her bank statement. As far as she was concerned, the tip was $10, as she wrote it. She could not have handled this at the restaurant because she couldn't have known the waitress would run through $18 til it showed up on her statement.

EXACTLY!