topic Re: A Restaurant Charge Dissapeared in General Credit Topics

A Restaurant Charge Dissapeared

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Aug 2018 12:39:49 GMT

I put a charge on my card last Saturday at a restaurant I frequent. The total with tip was $50 and it went pending. It remained in pending status all week until this morning when I checked it see if it had posted as it was the only charge on that card. To my surprise the charge has disappeared and it shows my full available credit limit again. I'm curious will this charge show up again unexpectedly or should I call the restaurant and ask what's going on?

Re: A Restaurant Charge Dissapeared

SouthJamaica — Thu, 09 Aug 2018 12:56:32 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I put a charge on my card last Saturday at a restaurant I frequent. The total with tip was $50 and it went pending. It remained in pending status all week until this morning when I checked it see if it had posted as it was the only charge on that card. To my surprise the charge has disappeared and it shows my full available credit limit again. I'm curious will this charge show up again unexpectedly or should I call the restaurant and ask what's going on?

Sometimes the authorization expires, but the charge comes in anyhow.

But yes you should let the restaurant know.

Re: A Restaurant Charge Dissapeared

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Aug 2018 13:03:02 GMT

Ok I'll give them a call at lunch thanks for the advise SouthJamaica.

Re: A Restaurant Charge Dissapeared

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Aug 2018 13:49:09 GMT

I agree that you should call. But I would wait a day or two to see whether the charge reappears. I had a similar thing happen, called right away and end up with two charges on my credit card.

Re: A Restaurant Charge Dissapeared

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Aug 2018 13:52:35 GMT

One of our local restaurants acts this way every time we go there - it sits in Pending for a couple days, drops off for a couple days and then shows up as a Transaction on the 5th or 6th day. It's annoying but we've come to expect it from them.

Re: A Restaurant Charge Dissapeared

HeavenOhio — Thu, 09 Aug 2018 22:44:09 GMT

I believe that charges will drop from pending after five days on MasterCards and Visas. With AMEX, it's eight days. As others have said, the transaction can go through after that.

Re: A Restaurant Charge Dissapeared

Appleman — Fri, 10 Aug 2018 14:44:00 GMT

I would give is a few weeks to post. As you saw the authorization dropped but the merchant still has time to place the final charge.

It is good to be honest but I would wait a bit longer as you call may only confuse things.

Re: A Restaurant Charge Dissapeared

rbentley — Fri, 10 Aug 2018 14:53:00 GMT

I don't know if any restaurant that isn"'t rigerous about account for all transactions at end of shift. Their margins are so narrow that they can't afford to wait a week to get paid. The fact thatthe authorization has expired with a charge posting likely means something has been lost. I would call them. They won't get confused. They will be be appreciative.

Re: A Restaurant Charge Dissapeared

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Aug 2018 18:10:52 GMT

There's a practical should and an ethical should. The word is used both ways much of the time.

To summarize the advice thus far regarding the practical decision, I'd mark it down as a To Do for Wed of next week. That gives it plenty of time to appear. Posts # 4 and 5 support the idea of not waiting and not calling.

If by next Wed it has not appeared, it moves into an ethical question. Some people feel strongly about the customer doing the extra legwork to make sure the restaurant gets paid. Other folks might feel that this involves labor on their part for which the resturant won't compensate them -- given that it is a small amount (compared to the restaurant's monthly revenue) they'd feel the ethical burden is on the restaurant's part to do their billing right. I don't have a strong opinion either way. I'd lean toward letting them know for ease of sleep and being perceived by them as a good customer.

Re: A Restaurant Charge Dissapeared

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Aug 2018 18:21:02 GMT

I agree I am waiting it out simply because I dont want the headache of calling in to report the issue and ending up having to dispute a double charge if by Wednesday the charge has not posted I will contact the restaurant and explain the situation as I used a service and feel obligated to pay for that service. It has become a thorn in my side as my statement cut is approaching and having a charge suddenly post and report before a payment can process will aggravate my OCD lol. This hiccup has made me leery to pay for their services with credit next time. I may from this point forward pay via debit transactions.

Re: A Restaurant Charge Dissapeared

MakingProgress — Fri, 10 Aug 2018 20:27:56 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I agree I am waiting it out simply because I dont want the headache of calling in to report the issue and ending up having to dispute a double charge if by Wednesday the charge has not posted I will contact the restaurant and explain the situation as I used a service and feel obligated to pay for that service. It has become a thorn in my side as my statement cut is approaching and having a charge suddenly post and report before a payment can process will aggravate my OCD lol. This hiccup has made me leery to pay for their services with credit next time. I may from this point forward pay via debit transactions.

I would be careful of the debit. I once paid for a hotel room with my debit card, first there was the standard preauth for incidentals, which dropped off as it sould, then there was the actual authroziation for my bill, I saw it and didn't think about it again. A couple of months later I see this charge come through again. When I went back and reviewed statements I found that the authorization I saw never cleared my account , so when the hotel realized they hadn't been paid they charged me again. btw I get a daily email with all my account activity I reviewed it and the auth was there oneday and nothing the next. I should have been paying attention when that happened at first.

Re: A Restaurant Charge Dissapeared

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Aug 2018 20:35:15 GMT

I could understand being cautious using debit for a large purchase such as a hotel stay. I personally would use a CC for that but for a restaurant I only visit 1-2 times a month and spend $50-$80 I'm not worried because it wont impact my credit scores if a charge shows up unexpectedly.