I was in a restaurant last night, in a foreign country, and there were plenty of credit card stickers about the place.

After the meal, I asked for the bill and gave my credit card for payment. The waitress came back and said "sorry sir but our machine isn't working, you have to pay cash"

Luckily, I had enough cash on me, so I just paid and thought nothing more of it, other than being slightly annoyed at having to go to the bank to get more cash.

What would you have done in my position ? Just payed cash or kicked up a fuss ? I'm wondering what they would have done if I didn't have enough money.

Doug

Funnily enough this happened to me in KL last week and neither my colleague nor I had any cash. The guy who ran the place (probably owned I think) came over and apologised and asked if it wouldn't be too much of a hassle if we could drop by the next day. He was very pleasant and explained that he'd known at the start of the meal that the machine was broken but didn't see the need to hassle us about it up front. We insisted on leaving a business card so that he knew who we were and then sent someone round from our office the next day to pay up.

Seems out of whack. Even though the machines have been the norm for years, when a restaurant I frequent had an outage a while back, they reverted to running the card the old fashioned way, with a manual imprint machine and forms they had as a backup. Seems like this should be standard procedure for any retail establishment that accepts cards. I know many people who would never have enough cash at that point, even if it was a fairly small amount.

Once went to a no credit card restaurant without noticing. Bill came and I had no cash. Restaurant nicely offered me an envelope to send check but there was an ATM a couple of mintes away. I excused myself and went to the ATM and got the needed cash. That restaurant still will not take credit cards, but now has an onsite ATM!

If the restaurant accepts credit cards, they can call for a phone authorization.

It could be their way at getting around the dining out type deals, where the money for a loan or whatever comes off the credit card receipts before they even get the money. By asking for cash, there's no record of the transaction. Betting they could have processed it if you pushed it, either manually for entry later or with a phone authorization, just bet they needed cash badly.

End of the month and all that.

I think I probably would have asked to speak to the manager/owner. I would have explained that I do not generally carry cash on me when I'm on travel, and that I needed to pay with a credit card.

If the machine was broken and they really had no back-up method, I'd leave one of my cards with the manager/owner, along with the name of the hotel where I was staying. I'd ask him to call me in the next day or two when their machine was up and running again so that I could then stop by and settle my bill.

I don't think I would have wanted to give up the reward points for using my credit card and/or be hit with at least one fee for an ATM withdrawl. Just my opinion, but I think that if the restaurant was unable to accept credit cards at the start of the meal, something should have been said then. At that point you can then decide whether or not it's worth eating there if you have to use an ATM to get some cash.

If they don't notify you up front, then it's their responsibility to negotiate a mutually acceptable method of payment.

This seems to happen a lot in Europe. I just quit trying to pay at small places with credit cards. It's perhaps not the right response, but I didn't want to deal with unpleasantness. The other issue that comes up now with credit cards, which shouldn't, is unwanted dynamic currency conversion, usually at a margin favorable to the merchant.

It happened to me a few years ago in NY. I was with my boss from Denmark and an employee. Employee and I were in the bathroom when my boss (fairly strong accent) was told cash only, machine is broken. When we politely declined to pay cash, the waiter threatened to call the police. I asked if he'd dial 911 or 311 (NYs non emergency number). Amazingly enough, the machine started working again.:D

Happened to my wife not long ago at a Subway. They gave her her sandwich and told her to enjoy!

Use your cellphone to call the credit card company and tell them the merchant is refusing to make a manual imprint of the card. I bet the problem is solved immediately.

That doesn't sound right. I was at a place once where that happened, and the manager simply took down all the information to enter manually when it was up and running..

I would feel ethically obligated to give the waiter a tip.

From the legal standpoint, I imagine it would play out like this:
911: What is your emergency?
call: Help!! I've been robbed.
911: Are the perps on the premises?
call: No. They walked away.
911: Were they armed?
call: No.
911: What was the robbery?
call: They left without paying after I refused to make an impression of their credit card.
911: Did they give any explanation?
call: Yeah, they said "Sorry, our ATM's not working".
911: Click! [dial tone]

I had this happen last month at a place run by a couple of older English guys in the South of France--way out in the the country. The very nice French woman couldn't get the machine to process any of my credit cards and we were trying to figure out what the right exchange rate for Amex travelers checks in $ would be for Euros when one of the bosses came in and noticed the terminal had come loose from the phone line.

He also told me that local phone service in the area was not very reliable and they had a lot of problems getting authorization for charges. But they could call in on a cell line if they had to.

That's why I usually carry traveler's checks for emergencies.

I had this happen last month at a place run by a couple of older English guys in the South of France--way out in the the country. The very nice French woman couldn't get the machine to process any of my credit cards and we were trying to figure out what the right exchange rate for Amex travelers checks in $ would be for Euros when one of the bosses came in and noticed the terminal had come loose from the phone line.

He also told me that local phone service in the area was not very reliable and they had a lot of problems getting authorization for charges. But they could call in on a cell line if they had to.

That's why I usually carry traveler's checks for emergencies.


Something similar happened to me also in Orange, Provence a few years ago the staff was very apologetic.

Walked a block or so away to an ATM and got the cash out and they took 20% off the bill .. good deal you ask me:)

mike

Use your cellphone to call the credit card company and tell them the merchant is refusing to make a manual imprint of the card. I bet the problem is solved immediately.

Yeah, IIRC it is part of the merchant agreement that they are required to have (and use) a manual imprint device in case their electronic systems are down.
-adam

Be a dishwasher! :p :D Just kidding.

My wife and I were at a restaurant (more sports bar) in Houston and when the check came, I pulled out the credit card and was told "oh, our machine's broken." Since I was working in the treasury group at my former employer at the time, I pointed out she can do it manually it over the phone. The waitress said she couldn't do that either.

So I told her "I don't know how much cash we have and I doubt there's enough for a tip" she said "that's OK, as long as you can pay the bill". We scraped together what we had and she probably got a $.50 tip.

Unsurprisingly, the place shut down about a month later.

What would you have done in my position ? Just payed cash or kicked up a fuss ? I'm wondering what they would have done if I didn't have enough money.

Four words: "Thanks for the free meal!"

Edit: I just noticed the "foreign country" part. In a foreign country I'd probably do what you did and scrape together the cash to avoid trouble. In the US, there's no way.

My wife and I were at a restaurant (more sports bar) in Houston and when the check came, I pulled out the credit card and was told "oh, our machine's broken." Since I was working in the treasury group at my former employer at the time, I pointed out she can do it manually it over the phone. The waitress said she couldn't do that either.

So I told her "I don't know how much cash we have and I doubt there's enough for a tip" she said "that's OK, as long as you can pay the bill". We scraped together what we had and she probably got a $.50 tip.

Unsurprisingly, the place shut down about a month later.

Honestly, in this situation in the US where credit cards are prevalent and used for everything, I don't think i would have stood for that. "We don't have any cash" (or "We only have a few dollars") would be a perfectly reasonable situation here (even if it's not true, none of their business). Let them figure out how to take the card or let you walk. No, walking to an ATM is not acceptable either. You have no money in the checking account (hey, typical of many Americans!), you left that card at home, etc.

If they warn you before you order, that's different. You can then choose to stay and deal with it or just leave. If they spring it on you when it's time to pay, that's their problem. Screw 'em.

Seriously, I can't imagine the machine being down ever even coming into play until they brought back the old style credit card slips from the manual imprint gadget. Only at that point should I know their electronic processing is down. (Well, maybe if I happened to see or overhear something, but I should not be told "Oh, our machine is down" when I present the card.)

Ops, maybe I am a bit paranoid, but this sounds quite odd. If it happened to me, good chance I would not have sufficient local currency to pay.