Dining at a restaurant and not paying?

Question

Often my husband and I go out to eat at a nice restaurant where our check is brought to us at the end of a meal in one of those black folders. If we pay with our card we'll set that out and wait for the server to bring us back a receipt to sign. If we pay with cash often we will just leave the cash along with the receipt inside of the folder and leave since there isn't really much sense in waiting until they collect their payment. The servers always see us leave, then realize they need to go process the payment. So, what stops people from just leaving with out paying? Besides morality and honesty, are there any precautions in place that prevent people from walking out?

Also, are there any precautions in place that stop servers from taking down information from the cards they handle to exploit later?

Answer 1

:( You are right, morality and honesty holds people back from just leaving...but besides that, nothing else.

BTW, it's a very common problem that the waiters write down credit card info and then use it later.  (they may write their own tip from your credit card...that's what happens most often). So be careful!!

Here is a clip of how it's done:

http://www.contemporaryfurniture.com/Cat...

Here is a quick article about ONE of many waiters:

The man accused of conspiring with waiters at Mr. B's Bistro to steal customers' credit card information admitted his guilt last Wednesday. Federal prosecutors say Ali Hasan, 20, used the information to create fake credit cards which he used to purchase merchandise from local vendors.

The Secret Service arrested Hasan on March 17 while in possession of a counterfeit card with his name on it. A sting operation revealed he had pilfered information from 14 cards and bought more than $10,000 in merchandise.

A waiter at Mr. B's, whose identity was withheld by authorities, was prepared to testify he used a skimmer to record credit card information and gave Hasan skimmers loaded with information on at least 10 separate occasions.

Hasan faces a maximum of 30 years in prison and $750,000 in fines for conspiring to commit credit card fraud, using the counterfeit cards and possessing equipment to make the fake cards.

Answer 2

I left a restaurant without paying once. This happened about 20 years ago, at the famous Sardi's in New York. My friend and I were in NY for the weekend and we ate there early one night. We had the WORST service. Like, HORRIBLE. Every single time the waiter came over, it was a new waiter--they apparently thought we weren't worth their time, so they kept passing us off onto other waiters. Finally, at the end of a very long meal (b/c it was so difficult to get anybody to wait on us), we waited for the check. And waited. And waited. Almost an hour later, and nobody had bothered to come over, although everybody seemed to be glaring at us from a distance. Finally we very casually and very slowly walked out. And...nothing. On our way out the door, the maitre 'd wished us a good evening--the most anybody had spoken to us all night. We said thanks, and walked out on a $150-plus tab, all because nobody would give us the freaking check. Amazing. We were definitely not the normal Sardi's type--we were in our early 20s--but we were well dressed and civilized/polite, and there was just no reason for them to have been so awful about the whole thing. To this day, we still can't figure out what was going on.

I would say that common decency plus the fear of being humiliated/arrested keeps most people from walking out, but who knows. Nothing keeps servers from stealing your credit card info. Always pay cash.

Answer 3

ive done it once but only with a beer - my friend and i went to this restaurant and ordered a beer each before we looked at the menu and when we looked we noticed the food wasnt all that great so we asked for a our bill with our 2 beers on and waited, and waited so eventually we got up and walked out up the stairs into another restaurant opposite the road.....it was funny for us young ladies but i'd never do it again....just bad service

Answer 4

responsibility

Answer 5

if you pay w/a card then leave before they bring you the copy to sign they will still charge it they just wont be able to add the tip

Another thing is that if u leave w/out paying u probably wont want to go back because the server will remember your face and you might think that they wont because its too many people, but they will, they dont forget something like that

Answer 6

As a former server (10 years), trust me, we are on the lookout for people who skip out on checks. Even if you don't notice, servers have their eyes on you. Most of the time, the server collects the bill off the table before the people have a chance to leave.

Unfortunately, it does happen. One time I had to pay $200 out of my pocket for a table that left without paying. The managers said it was my fault for not paying more attention.

About the credit cards, there are a few stupid servers / criminals who steal the information. Luckily, every single one I ever heard of was caught and arrested. It's pretty easy to trace things like that back.