Just checked my daughter's bank statement....Whataburger charged her $ 108 for an order, and then re-charged her $ 10.80---but no credit for the 108...this ever happen to anyone?

It might be a bank hold- check first thing tomorrow with the bank.

Not yet, but I would inform your bank asap. With my bank you only have so many days to notify them of a mistake. I would do that first and then ask if you need to take it up with Whataburger.

A bank hold for $108 to Whataburger? Not so much.

explain bank hold, please.........

ever get that feeling you've been 'out-whataburgered'

yep

Some places initiate the transaction for more than the bill amount until they close the transaction. Freebirds is the most obvious local place that does it. Gas stations also do it. They (freebirds) say they do it to cover tips. I always pay cash there because it bothers me that a) they want a tip and b) they're holding funds that don't belong to them.

ok, thanks---I've seen that ---it is usually only $1.00 at the gas stations on my statement.....

Yeah, it's what's called an "approval" -- basically, they put a hold on a certain amount of your funds in lieu of the transaction actually happening, which only actually happens at the end of the day when they reconcile and audit the sales slips.

Someone probably noticed the error at the end of the day and went back in to correct it, but for some reason that didn't release the original hold.

we do it at the hotel all the time- its normal practice anywhere. We authorize the debit card for the full amount of a guests stay, including taxes. All this does is ensure the guest has enough money to pay. If the guest checks out 2 days early, for example, we charge them only for the time they were actually guests at the hotel. This amount will of course be less. The difference is still held by the bank until they receive the charge. They should then release the hold on the remaining money back to the guest but this can take a minimum of three business days for slower banks- some have a 24 hr turnaround though. My guess is the first transaction was rung up wrong and immediatley corrected. However, neither transacation has gone through to the bank as an actual charge yet, only as authorizations. Once the correct charge goes though and is received by the bank, they should release the other transaction. This is only with debit cards- credit cards work differently. Your bank can explain all this to you much better than I can when you call them tommorow to ask about the transactions.

I cannot tell you how many people who pay at the hotel with debit cards have called me to complain they thought they were charged twice. Once I explain to them that one "charge" is actually just a bank hold/authorization and tell them to call the bank to ask to have it released, they understand.

Hotels, rental cars, etc =/= Whataburger...


eta: speck, it does make sense on the reconciliation, but we're talking about a decimal point error that wasn't corrected

[This message has been edited by txdragonfly (edited 7/15/2008 9:31p).]

Yeah, my guess is that either the original $108 "charge" is just a hold that will disappear after 48 hours no matter what.

Verdict: Don't worry about it too much, but call the bank tomorrow just to reassure yourself.

My dear fly:

Assuming "both" transactions happened today, they have most likely not been sent to the bank yet to be reconciled. Let's assume she went to eat there at 7 pm. Lets also assume Whataburger sends in their credit card transactions (called a "credit card batch report" for the entire day after midnight. (I do not know when they actually do this but the hotels do this during their night audit, which is after midnite)

quote:

My guess is the first transaction was rung up wrong and immediatley corrected. However, neither transacation has gone through to the bank as an actual charge yet, only as authorizations. Once the correct charge goes though and is received by the bank, they should release the other transaction. This is only with debit cards- credit cards work differently. Your bank can explain all this to you much better than I can when you call them tommorow to ask about the transactions.


On the batch that the bank will send to Whataburger, it WILL show a charge for $108, but directly underneath that, it will show a REFUND of the same amount to the same card. Then on the next line, it will show a charge for $10.80 on the same card. We call this same charge/refund amount a "wash". This means that the refund of $108 will wash out the charge for $108 because they realized they made a mistake. (Assuming Whataburger is honest, as I am sure they are)

I hope this clears things up about bank holds.

[This message has been edited by 1984Consol (edited 7/15/2008 9:43p).]

will do...thanks
I was wondering if she had catered a party through Whataburger --- ugh

oooh a Whataparty

and then... whatabill

Annoying pet names aside, assuming is great for personification, but little else. Still, (and depending upon the bank) an authorization hold doesn't always display the merchant, be it debit or credit, until after reconciliation. In the case of an expired or released hold, it may display the merchant, original transaction date, and release date. All that to say that if he is seeing the merchant and the amounts, then the odds are good that this didn't occur today AND a miskeyed transaction is NOT the same as an authorization hold.

correct---it happened yesterday and what is worse is that the bank still sees it as a debit on her balance...she has plenty of money to cover it, but if she didn't, then she would be hit with service charges for an overdraft, even if the credit comes in a day or two later......

if a bank hold, my statement shows "pre-auth ATM" without merchant identifiers ....in this case, however,it just flat out says DBT CRD Whataburger with transaction numbers on both debits

Definitely sounds like a mis-keyed charge that wasn't properly corrected, NOT an authorization hold. Call your bank first chance and try to get it removed.

(I'd be suspicious of a fast-food restaurant placing holds, anyway—they don't receive tips [normally...Sonic is sometimes an exception, haha], and they know what the total charge should be before they run the card.)

I have to admit, I laughed at "Whataparty" and "Whatabill."

And fly, you know you're dear to all of us.

[This message has been edited by southcutt (edited 7/15/2008 11:09p).]

I think a few other posters nailed it correctly...

Typically, it's not the retailer/restaurant per se... it's the merchant agreement/processor, and if it's coded as a "restaurant" it will automatically pad the charge for the tip... doubtful in this case since WB for sure is not likely coded as a full service establishment...

Again, I agree with the others, that it was probably a mistake and it just hasn't filtered through the customer's bank account since merchant transactions usually take 2 business days (depending on when they are batched)....

gotta love those debit cards though! I love mine but have to stay on top of it. Credit the OP!

Seems like they made a mistake, cancelled the first transaction, then re-ran the card.

I had the same thing happen to me, except it happened at CHISTOPHER'S and it was a $1000.00 when our bill was only 110.00! It took a week before the wrong charge was taken off of my pending transactions. The waiter did leave a 4 minutes appology on my cellphone (he neglicted to tell me that he accidently ran the wrong ticket on my card, and I called the manager).

i work in a restaurant and will explain it to you. retaurants have two different processes: when your server presents your check and you throw down a cc, at the computer, your card is "verified" for the amount of the check. when the slip is presented back to you and you fill out the tip (which should be 20-30%), and sign it, your card is "payed out" for the final amount, tip included. different computer systems work differently, but sometimes it will seem like you were double charged for a day or two, until the bank or cc company catches up with the restaurant's charge.
now sometimes, especially if you are at a table with seperate checks, occassionally, your card will be swiped for the wrong amount. in this case, it will appear that your card was charged twice, once for the wrong amount, and a second time for the correct one. rest assured that the incorrect charge will dissapear after a day. but be careful, if your card has a hold such as that on it, it is possible to overdraft your account, if you used a debit card.

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you fill out the tip (which should be 20-30%)

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I'm guessing you are a waiter?

20%...OK
30%... um nope. Not anywhere in this town.

it is Whataburger ---no tip

30%....WOW....I have NEVER had service that good in this town

happened to me at a chinese place not too long ago. Total was 12.00, but they rang up 120.00. Since it happened on a Friday, it was held the entire weekend, and didn't get cleared up until Wednesday. I contacted the restaurant and theey had already fixed the mistake, but the bank can't do anything until everything shows up in their system. Stinks that the money was held up, but it came back to me eventually.

Its banks and their credit card systems. They will debit your account immediately but credits (or authorizations falling off) will take several days to get through the system.

Actually it's the credit card machine (merchant service) and not banks that determine how quickly it leaves/returns to your account. For example, have you noticed how quickly a Wal-Mart purchase will debit from your acct, but a debit from a small restaurant probably shows up the next day. Once the bank sees the request to debit/credit your account, it will go right through with the request. The quickness/slowness is all based on who the store deals with for merchant card services. That's why a credit takes a while to show because it has to be processed through the merchant service.

what the most recent posters are saying is correct. it is not the restaurant's fault nor the banks fault. it just depends on the time of week or the bank/credit merchant combination....they take a while to communicate at times.



and ps....i am not going to get in a big tipping dispute. if you would like to have one, create a thread and i would gladly participate, but yes....these days the acceptable tip amount is AT LEAST 18%. 20-30% if you recieved GREAT service. if you feel that is ridiculous, and refuse to tip that much, than that is probably why you recieve crappy service around town. (we remember who the crappy tippers are...appreciate our job, and your service will be better).....again....lets not hi-jack this thread....create a tipping thread if you would like to discuss this further

[This message has been edited by rumrunner0? (edited 7/17/2008 3:45p).]

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these days the acceptable tip amount is AT LEAST 18%....20-30%

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who told you this? your manager? thanks for telling the customer what you deem acceptable these days

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these days the acceptable tip amount is AT LEAST 18%....20-30% if you recieved great service.

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muhhahahahahahaha!!!

acceptable tip amount is whatever I give. There is no AT LEAST in tipping.

muhahahahahahha!

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AT LEAST 18%....20-30%

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Ditto the laugh rum. Take a step away from the bottle ...

People in NYC don't even tip 30 percent. You get what the market will bear, not what you expect.

Also, just so you know that I am not unfair, I tipped $9 on a recent $11 lunch bill. My server was just excellent. I never had to ask to have my tea glass refilled, and I wasn't bugged by incessant trips to my table.

[This message has been edited by rocket502 (edited 7/17/2008 10:26a).]

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AT LEAST 18%

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lol

what else are you entitled to?