@jsucool76 wrote:
I've never even seen it where the employee has to call up. If my card ever gets declined or doesn't go through for some reason, I've always got to get on the phone. No one does it for me :-/
I agree, it's definitely rare these days. Actually, I've not seen it happen in person since my own retail days.
Also, it may have something to do with how stores set up thier POS systems to handle exception events. When USAA put a fraud hold on my account last year (I was grocery shopping in the middle of the night) the Kroger cashier told me my card was declined. However when I called USAA, they told me they didn't decline my card, and the message the POS should have given the cashier was for him to call. I suspect Kroger may have 'kept it simple' and programmed their registers to treat anything other than an approval as a 'decline', regardless as to what the actual message from the bank is.
Another good reason to just call yourself (rather than have a clerk call) is that you get to speak directly with the issuer to resolve the problem. Whenever a clerk calls for a MC/Visa manual auth, they don't call the bank, they call a service center that handles all MC/Visa cards. Amex and Discover are a little different since the service center is run by the issuer (usually), but it can still be cumbersome for a clerk to leave their register to go to a phone, find the 'special' phone number and merchant codes, then make the call... the entire time with a customer's card in-hand. It's just easier to let the customer call, especially now that most people have a phone in their pocket at all times.
