I ate at a restaurant and paid with my credit card. the charge was 33 dollars and i wrote in a 3 dollar tip?

Question

on my online banking it said "pending" and it was like 4 dollars more. i then called the restaurant and they said that this is normal. does anyone know if this is normal? she also said the charges would go away when it is done pending.

Answer 1

The restaurant's explanation is correct.  One thing that the restaurant didn't mention is that the bank will preapprove a restaurant charge for about 20% more than the actual bill, since customary tip is 15-20%.  It takes a few days for the bank to actually receive record and process the tip you actually leave.

Answer 2

NO.  You signed a check for $36.00. PERIOD. Pending or not doesn't make a difference. When you see a sign that says 25 MPH speed limit, that's what it is: 25, not 23 or 28.

You signed $33.00 + 3.00 tip. PERIOD. How is counting  your money, the restaurant, the bank or you?

Answer 3

The real question is this:  Why would you leave a 9% tip????  If you can't afford to tip appropriately, you should probably stay home.  Unbelievable...

Answer 4

i work at a credit union. YES this IS normal! when we started selling reloadable visa debit cards we told people when they went to buy the card that there were several places it will not work well at becuase of this.

A.is pay at the pump gas stations. lets say you had 100$ prepaid on the card (how much you put on the card) and your gas bill was only 60$. depending on the gas station they may over charge you 10 bucks , 1 dollar or the entire available amount on the card untill it knows you have enough on the card to pay for it in cas you spend 80$ somewhere else an hour ago and then you couldnt pay for the bill. its like holding a large check in someones bank untill it clears the other persons bank so that it doesnt bounce. they want to know you have the funds available.

B.is SIT DOWN RESTARAUNTS. they do this becuase you may have 100$ on the card but the bill is 99$ and then you want to tip 6& you wont have enough. they put a pad on the amount owed and whatever they charged you for the extra little "padding" wont be available untill the transaction goes through. same concept. in different places charge different amounts. if you had 5000.$ they may charge you 5000$ untill its not pending any more. then only the amount of the bill will come out and the rest of your 5000 will be available.

C. is gambeling. this has nothing to do with a regular credit card but just for the ref. reloadable visas do not alow gambeling PERIOD.atl least ours dont.

i know your talking about a reg. credit card and im talking about a relaodable visa, but its the same concept that they just want to make sure you have the funds. if you have a credit card the reason is likely that they want to make sure you have not gone over your credit limit yada yada.... hope this helps!

Answer 5

pay with cash stupid

Answer 6

the amount pending is the transaction processed from the card.unless there was an error thru merchant's or bank's system, that will be the amount to be posted. the best way to make sure it's not overcharging is to confirm from the merchant the real amount they will submit to the bank to debit your account.if the real amount that they did process is less than $3 the pending transaction, once the pending amt expires, it will just fall off and will be put back to your available balance and the right amt will be posted.-that's what they're telling you as normal...

if not, and still it is posted for the wrong amt, you have to dispute it thru the bank's end or contact the restaurant directly.

Answer 7

This is completely normal. Often in restaurants because they don't know what the total will come to they put through the card at either a set amount for everyone or for a certain percentage and higher amount, just to make sure that you have enough available credit. Don't worry until after it stops saying pending. Perfectly normal procedure.

Answer 8

Hi.  It's not the restaurant's fault.  It's because of the Industry Code they are assigned when they set up the credit card machine.  Any restaurant that is not fast food is set up with a "Fine Dining" program on their credit card machine by the credit card processor (the bank that gets the money from your credit card and gives it to the restaurant).  You can tell that a credit card machine is running the program when the reciept has a tip line, or tip information with it.  The program authorizes that extra amount when they swipe it thru to allow for the tip.  I believe that the amount can vary depending on the processor as well as what influence the restaurant has being able to do anything about it (unlikely-due to credit ratings, sutff like that).

Yes, the charge will "go away" when the pending is over.  Basically, the processor holds and extra amt until your bank actually processes the charge onto your account.  When they send the charge to that processor, they change the pending amount to the actual amount they send out.  That's one of the many ways how credit card companies make money-who do you think is making intrest on this cashola while they are holding the money, eh? lol

p.s.  This happens at motels and gas station pumps too, so beware!  NEVER USE YOUR CHECK CARD ON A VACATION TRIP UNAWARE OF THIS!! You can end up getting "pending" money on hold all weekend, or for 3-4 days as stuff transferes beetween banks, etc.