Debit cards are extremely convenient. You can carry these lightweight cards in your wallet at all times. The risk of being robbed and losing the money in the wallet is reduced significantly with a debit card. All you have to do is swipe the card at any restaurant or shopping mall and your payment is complete. Just like every other technology, debit cards are not a perfect solution to all your monetary payments. They can create errors and issues every now and then. One of the most common occurrences is when you swipe your debit card at a POS in a restaurant and they overcharge your debit card. The increased deductions can send anyone in extreme panic mode. If this has just happened to you and you are looking for an answer, then worry no more because in this blog we will provide a detailed answer to the question: what to do if a restaurant overcharged your debit card.
What to Do If a Restaurant Overcharged Your Debit Card?
Many people like to use their debit cards when they are paying at various restaurants. This is because debit cards are not only easy to carry around but they often offer various discounts and coupons for restaurants. Sometimes after having a nice dinner or lunch out when you check your debit card statements, things just do not add up. This may come off as a surprise to you and when rechecking the value that you paid at the restaurant, it may be double the amount mentioned on your bill. Even though the first response of every human in such a situation is to panic, that is not what you should be doing. Instead, here are some of the tips that you can do if your debit card statement shows that a restaurant has overcharged your debit card.
Recall the Amount of Tip
Often when we are in a hurry, we mistype or accidentally add too many zeros to the amount of tip that we want to give the waiters. This is why when you are about to write down the amount for tipping, please pay extra attention. This will prevent you from entering an amount much higher than the one you want to give the waiters.
If this is the issue and you recall giving too many tips to the restaurant, you can always call them to request the manager to return the extra amount. You must explain the whole situation and keep your tone humble. Pushing the managers too much or getting angry over the amount will definitely not lead to favorable results. It is very important to understand that the manager might refuse to return the extra amount. The person who was catering your order may have consumed the amount by then and it can turn into an awkward situation.
In the case that you have given an excessive amount of tip and want it back, it is best to call the restaurant and request them for a return as soon as possible. The more you delay the task, the harder it will be to get the refund because as more time passes, the chances of having spent the tip will increase drastically as well on the end of the waiter and you cannot blame them.
Call the Restaurant
As soon as you identify the anomaly, it is best to contact the restaurant where you had your lunch and dinner. Discuss the issue in detail with them and then tell them about the values on the bank statement which do not corroborate with the amount that was mentioned on the receipt. It is important to tell the manager every detail about the service they provided you so that they can remember when they served you. This can help the people at the restaurant look in their records as well.
On call, situations can become complicated unnecessarily. This is why it is better for you to visit the restaurant in person and tell them the whole situation in detail. However, if that is not possible, it is better to call as quickly and early as possible. Do not forget to keep a cool demeanor and a respectful attitude. This will increase your chances of getting rid of the confusion as well as help in getting the money back.
Crosscheck the Receipt
When making payments through debit or credit cards, it is important to keep your receipts. Even in the scenario that you have paid via cash at any restaurant it is best to keep the receipt because you never know what might go wrong and you may need it later on.
Go through the receipt that the restaurant provided to you. You might have mistaken the total amount of the food that you ate there. The receipt will also include all the taxes that might be the reason for the overcharge.
Otherwise, if the receipt says one thing and the bank statement charges say another thing, it is best to take the receipt down to the restaurant and discuss the issue with solid proof in your hand.
Call Debit Card Service Providers
In many cases, there is nothing wrong or fishy going on at the restaurant’s end. They may have charged your debit card for the amount that was mentioned on the receipt and the tips that you mentioned. The error can be at the end of the service provider’s debit card. In such a scenario, you must call the bank or the customer support service at the bank. Tell them the issue in detail. Provide the details of the bank statement and the credit card to them. This will allow them to cross check the amount. In most cases, the banks usually reverse the additionally deducted amount almost immediately after the confusion is discussed.
Conclusion
The answer of what to do if a restaurant overcharged your debit card is simple. You can contact the restaurant and the bank after checking things such as the tipping amount and taxes on the receipt. All these things can help in understanding why the overcharge has happened. These sorts of issues of debit card overcharges are quite common. This is the reason why you must be careful at all times when using the debit card. Always recheck the amounts you have paid on the monthly bank statements that you receive.