Embarassing experience

Sometimes the line goes down and cards will decline, then a few
minutes later it comes back up and everything's fine. In my
experience, the register doesn't necessarily tell you when there is a
temporary system glitch (depends on what the glitch is, I guess). It's
entirely possible that the reason it worked when you came back is
simply because the glitch fixed itself in the time you were gone. Were
there other customers trying to use cards at the same time? If not,
you would have no way of determining if it was the card or the system
(and if it is the system it will most likely affect all the
registers).

I notice that at the beginning of this letter, you say that you
dropped your wife off at Old Navy. Could it be that you both have
cards on the same bank account and it just happened that she was
buying something at the same time and for some reason that is why it
wasn't excepting yours? Not sure if that is something that would
happen or not. Just a thought.

is something you can't teach. i worked at a fast food place and if a
card ever didn't work at the drive thru, i would try the one in the
lobby before telling the customer it didn't take it. it was common
sense to me.

i do think if you noticed while you were standing there that there was
another machine then you should've spoke up and asked them to try the
other one.

all in all, you're right because if the cashier didn't think of it,
then the manager surely should have.

Maybe there were a lot of requests for authorization at that moment,
and the attempt to get approval for your purchase just timed out. I'm
not up on the latest card approval systems, but that used to be a
problem when I worked as a cashier.

But I can understand why they wouldn't want to cancel the transaction
and go run it on another register, especially one serving people who
don't have the chance to move to another, faster-moving, line.

Either way, I don't get why you would be embarrassed. Annoyed at the
inconvenience, of course. Anyone would be, no matter what the reason
for the inconvenience was. But embarrassed? This sort of thing
happens all the time for reasons other than the customer not having
enough money. It's just part of life in a society where we don't
carry bills and coins around to buy things with any longer. I can't
imagine you spend your time at Taco Bell thinking badly of people
whose cards get rejected when they are trying to buy lunch, and I
can't imagine that other people spend their time thinking badly of
you. Even if they did, that ways a lot more about them than it does
about you.

They can't just swipe your card at a different register than the one
you ordered at.

If the card wasn't working, then what else could they do? Regardless
if the bank said you had enough amount, it could have been a system
failure at Taco Bell. Maybe the drive-thru is linked to an entirely
separate register than the one inside? That's probably why they didn't
use it. Also, they asked you for another form of payment, you didn't
have it; as a result, they exhausted all their avenues to resolve the
problem.

sounds like maybe it was just the machine.

i've had that happen to me at the target where my parents live. one
register simply didn't like my card.

i did call the bank however to verify my account was ok (it was).


have you contacted TB's corp to let them know the machine is acting
up?

Sometimes it doesn't matter how much money you have in the bank. I
know some banks will flag an account and put a hold on it if it is
used too many times a day. This is a form of theft protection. As
someone else already pointed out, sometimes technology doesn't work.
Swiping your card at a different machine at Taco Bell would involve
voiding your order at the register and re-ringing it at a different
register. When you went back to Taco Bell and went to the drive
through with the intention of paying cash (which understand why you
wouldn't) you instead tried your debit card again. I never used a
debit or credit card at a fast food place. I know many people do but I
prefer to use cash only at these inexpensive eateries.

It is too bad that you were inconvenienced, but sometimes technology
is faulty. I'm not sure how an error with their POS is enough to make
you not go back. If this is a new restaurant as you say, maybe they
have been having some issues getting everything smoothed out. If the
drive thru was busy, then maybe they didn't have time to void your
order and then re-ring it up at the drive thru and swipe your card
there.

If they had reason to suspect the machine (other customers' cards had
the same issue) then yes, they should have tried another machine or
technique. I have had this happen or rare occasions with my credit
card.

But, if there is no history of similar problems, I can understand
thinking it was the card. Cards do go bad.

Ahhh the joys of not using cash in the first place.

You got to drive further out of the way to get cash, doesnt sound very
convenient to me, faulty equipment, or potential theft, who knows????

Sounds like a great reward to me!!



Good Day

Did you ask them to try another machine?? If not then I dont see how
you can blame them. It seems like they tried quite a few times and
they were not rude about it.

It just happens sometimes that your card didnt want to process.

For all you know the card was inactive til you used it at the ATM and
that activated the card. So trying it at every card machine in the
store wouldnt have made a difference.