Tt used to be that restaurants did carbon copies. Heck, when I was a kid I remembered mom doing the carbon copy thing. You get a receipt with several layers, and whatever you wrote on the receipt would get passed onto the layers underneath. Now, I get three slips of paper. This makes it MUCH easier for sneaky individuals to change numbers around.

One way that you can help yourself is really by writing the amount you tip and then, like a check, spelling it out. Since it's unlikely that a dishonest person will add mere cents to their tip, if your total is $23.50, write 'tip: twenty three' under it. You might get funny looks, or you might get laughed at, but you never know who might see if they can get a little extra on the side.

"and be sure to red the original post for"

I also been writing out the full amount of the tip on the receipt for a long time, and spelling out the amount, and have not had any problems with numbers being massaged.

How pervasive is this shady practice, really? I have a sick memory for numbers, so I just round tips for an even dollar total and double check when the payment posts online. Maybe I'm naive, but I was under the impression that servers don't try to screw you unless you tip like a stingy bastard. Either way, I suppose my freakish memory and lavish gratuity will keep me from knowing absolute truth on this one.

I read the entire post, it was ironic that they said to contact the restaurant last and this was optional. No restaurant wants the rep of being a place that's employee's steal tips from its customers. I hear from customers that check their balance on line and see that the amount is higher then the receipt slip. A common practice by some banks is to pre-approve a higher amount from restaurants (+25%) until the actual charge processes. When the actual charge finalizes that 25% add on is reversed. This article would have you call the police and your credit card company first. I am not sure what kind of restaurants these folks frequent but as a hotel food and beverage director for 30 years I have only seen isolated cases of this and have fired on the spot anyone caught stealing.

I see thousands of dollars in charges daily and from my experience this is more Urban legend then reality.
FYI :Also I see that more people use Visa cards then M.C. I also see in reviewing charges and tips that a bill paid with a M.C. is more then likely to have a far lower tip percentage

I've never even heard of this type of fraud happening, although I've thought about this situation a few times.

I've seen posts on "customers suck" type sites in which servers justify this behavior by whining about bad tipping and how they're owed the tip, blah blah blah.

It is unbelievable how the "industry" is full of entitlement whores who will stoop to rightly illegal behavior to get what they think they deserve.

If you steal, you deserve to not only lose it all, your job, but have to pay restitution to your victims and all chance to get another similar job in the future. Maybe even jail.

I get a lot of restaurant gift cards (as rewards for using my credit card) and I had the server add a couple dollars to the tip when I paid with a gift card. This is a little harder to keep track of so I started keeping the receipts until the card was used up and also I write what the new balance should be (after tip) on the card with a pen so next time I know how much should be left and can easily spot a discrepancy.

Keep your receipts. Period.

(Neat trick, though)

Not to go completely off topic, but has anyone else noticed the large amount of restaurants charging delivery fees? I always thought it was a ploy to ensure that people tip, so I would simply subtract that amount from the tip. After searching online, I found out that the delivery fees actually go to the restaurants and I had been ripping off the delivery guy that whole time. Anyway, I pay the full tip now, at least I'm the one getting ripped off, instead of the delivery guy.

Is this necessary? I've never, even been to a restauraunt where one would tip and *not* received both a copy of the reciept I add the tip to (either for me to fill out as well or a direct carbon copy of what I do fill out) *and* a final reciept with the end total showing as a charge to the card. If they don't match, there's a problem. But it's obvious when they don't.

I just round mine up to the next 10 dollars most of the time. It's usually pretty obvious if they pad another 10 bucks on to their tip.

Or, you could all be nice to your servers, tip generously and forget all this paranoia.

All credit card systems that I have ever worked with (the company I work for provides point of sale software to restaurants) whether it is integrated into a point of sale system, or a stand alone credit card terminal, will allow the server to re-print the check including tip. I always ask for a printed copy to verify that the tip they entered into the card system is the same as what I wrote in on the check. Not foolproof, since most systems allow servers to change this amount after the fact (often requiring a password/approval from a manager), but it helps, and if nothing else it will let the server know that you are someone who pays attention to this kind of stuff.

My boyfriend used to make his totals all come out to palindromes. We tip generously, but that doesn't mean some people won't be extra greedy.
I've never had someone enter my total with tip incorrectly in their favor, though there are a few times I've looked at my statement and seen that what I had written down was 50 cents more than what they charged me. Never sure who was wrong, but at least it's in my favor.

@Sidecutter: The point is that this gives you a quick way to verify that they charged the correct amount just by looking at your monthly statement, rather than having to pull out all your receipts monthly.

I had a friend who worked in the sort of restaurant that attracted high-maintenance, easily angered older customers (it was on the Upper East Side in NYC, unsurprisingly). One day after a particularly nasty party of diners left her no tip, after running her ragged, she lost her temper and changed their receipt. She was fired over it, but luckily (for her) the restaurant caught it before the diners did and corrected it immediately.

There's no way to justify tip fraud, but I could see why she was driven to do it. Imagine investing an hour or more of hard work for customers who are determined to treat you badly—usually at the expense of the other diners in the restaurant—and then making only a couple of bucks for the hour. I'm not surprised that tip fraud happens. Based on what she told me, it's the least of your worries if you anger your waiter.

I'm usually way too drunk by the end of a meal to do math like that. I usually round to an even 10 or 5 dollars and I only use my bank card so it posts within a few days and I can check it. I also worked in a lot of restaurants through college and after and there were so many people who either accidentally or purposefully added the tip wrong and my managers would make me charge whatever amount was smaller. It sucked to give up the extra money because of bad math.

Heck, the guy at my local Red Robin didn't even try to hide his number change. He simply rounded the entire bill to the next even $5 amount. The manager(now long gone) told me he couldn't find the transaction, etc. Long and short; they eventually quit responding to phone calls and emails...even at the corporate level. It is the only time it's happened to me. Hmmmmm?

A lot of times I will round up to the next whole dollar, or issue a tip which will make the dollars and cents the same, for example $17.17 or $54.45. This is kinda easy to spot if you're looking for it, but then again if they're looking for it maybe they will notice you've put some effort into keeping track of their tip.

I have been to many countries where tips are not allowed for services where tips are normal. Since the staff are paid a regular wage where tips are not required to get by. If that was more the norm in this country this type of fraud wouldn't be an issue.

However the staff must earn the tip from me. I will normally tip, but how you treat me will determine the amount I will tip. If I receive bad service a low tip, good service a higher tip. I am not a demanding sort and if the place is not busy then there is no reason to ignore me. I understand lapses in a busy place.

Umm what about those of us that are Heavy Tippers?

Cause I normally tip 20% using a formula my dad taught me. Basically. Move teh decimal to the left one pace, drop the last number, and double the ammount.

I've never heard of this happening either. The only type of tip fraud I've seen is where restaurants add the 15% tip but neglect to tell you that they've done so. I was at a restaurant and, in tiny print on the menu, it said a 15% gratuity would be automatically added to parties of 6 or more. Well, we were a party of 6 and when the bill came I looked specifically to see if a tip had been added. I couldn't tell so I roughly had to calculate each person's meal and sure enough, a 15% stip had been added but the way the bill came it was deceptive. I made sure we didn't leave any additional tip (also because the service wasn't very good) but I wondered if others hadn't fallen for the double tipping practice.

The only restaurant problem I've ever encountered was at a Taco Hell where the credit card got billed for $2 more than the actual receipt. Fortunately I kept the receipt in my totally disorganised pile of receipts and called up the Taco Hell manager. He claimed his workers would never do such a thing. I called Visa and did a chargeback. Hope it was worth it to the Taco Hell manager.

@JeffCarr: What if you have a bill for $11?

I'd love to be your waiter.

What I've had happen is you order drinks and start a tab during happy hour and then close the tab after happy hour ends and you get charged full price for all the drinks.

When I used to wait tables, it happened all the time. I was too scared of getting caught to do it myself, but in my 3 years of waiting I never heard of someone who got busted.

That's why when I tip, I always write CASH on the Tip line, write the correct amount on the Total line, then leave a cash tip. Also, many restaurants won't give a waiter their credit card tips until the next pay period (I'm looking at you TGIF), yet they are expected to tip out the bar and busboy that day. So cash ensures the waiter has their money at the end of their shift.

Easiest way to combat this sort of fraud is to pay the tip in cash and write out "zero" in the tip window.

@Buran said: I've seen posts on "customers suck" type sites in which servers justify this behavior by whining about bad tipping and how they're owed the tip, blah blah blah.

Yeah... there's such a blog that I enjoyed for awhile but then I started getting really irritated by all the whining over tips.

Interestingly where I've encountered credit card fraud lately has been with hotels, not restaurants.

come live in New Zealand.
1) credit card purchases appear instantly on your account, so you can check all your purchases daily online.
2) we don't tip.

At the restaurant I work at, we actually have the customer fill out the tip and total on the check before we run the card. That way, the slip the customer is signing has the total, including the charged tip listed so there's no question. I know some people may not necessarily like having to fill out the tip in front of the server, but company policy is to just ask for them to bring the total down, step away for a second, and come back once they're done filling it out. Most people say we're the only restaurant to do this. If they ask why, we just explain that it's to protect them so they know how much has been charged. Most people are appreciative.

so lesson is, pay cash, can't really rip you off that way

I tip according to the circumstances, and as such, this has (knock-on-wood) never happened to me. I have very few bad experiences, but on the couple that I've had, thank goodness I had cash to pay with!

@timmus: heh, only place it's ever happened to me was a hotel. A hotel in Arizona. While on a trip there while visiting from Mexico, where I was living, where fraud was never perpetrated against me (couldn't even bribe the federale over a speeding ticket).

@ceejeemcbeegee: Yeah, I worked there too. Worst freakin' sh*thole EVAR. Picked up a few nice addictions thanks to that place.

Tip with cash. Pay cash so they can under-report it for their taxes. Helps stretch that tip an extra 10-15%. It's soooo scummy that restaurants can get away with shamelessly underpaying their employees then expect customers to make up the difference with tips.

Having worked in restaurants since I was a wee little lad, I have seen on several occasions a waiter/waitress not bother to even enter the change into the credit card machine when charging tips. For example, if the bill came to $14.99, and the customer left a $1.01 tip to round out the charge, the waiter would not bother to enter the single cent. This, of course, would defeat the checksum. And I know some waiters who actually get offended if someone includes change in a tip. (Of course I live and work on Nantucket where we heat our homes in the winter by burning twenty dollar bills.)

This happened to my sister at a touristy Chicago restaurant in the Loop. The charge was mysteriously $15 more than the amount + tip amount on her receipt, which she saved because she's über-organized. It wasn't like it was even an honest mistake of bad math or transposed numbers. It took several days of phone calls to get it reversed.

I wouldn't want to smear the restaurant. But I'd pay cash at the Weber Grill, is all I'm saying for totally unrelated reasons.

As a restaurant server, I find other servers who do this to be reprehensible. I make awesome money without resorting to fraud. Those that do are trash, and I suggest reporting anything like that to both the fraud dept. of your credit card or bank, and to report it to the police.

RagingServer.com

@junkmail: Word. Didn't ya just LOVE your "minimum wage" that is actually HALF minimum wage.

@lifeimit8smusic: Great system... wish other restaurants would follow suit.

@Namrepus: I'm the same way. I've get great Kharma because of it.

@Chris Walters: Messing with peoples' food is even less acceptable since health is then put at risk. Maybe even lives, if you trigger someone's allergy. Does your friend want to be guilty of involuntary manslaughter? It could happen. I'm surprised it hasn't already.

@VoxPopuli: I'm going to Chicago tomorrow. I will not be going to the Weber Grill, just because of this tip.

I've been told to be sure to write out the dollar sign in the tip and total lines, so no one can tack anything on at the front. Since at most restaurants you don't see them ring up your bill at the register in front of you, paying and tipping in cash may be the only way to really ensure no one's messing around with how much you're paying.

@Buran: I'm not saying she tampered with food. I'm saying she told me stories. In the restaurant world, there are always stories. And they're frequently scary.

I RARELY go out to eat anymore, but it has happened at the one place I DO go to & tip. Ihop.... yeah... Ihop. I stop by there once a week to pick up a togo order & I always tip a dollar (even though I dont think putting together a to-go order that I have to walk in to pick up hardly deserves a tip). I always get the same thing so I know exactly how much my order costs with my usual tip. Well once when reviewing my Credit card statement.... I noticed one ihop bill was about 3 bucks more than it should be. I called the ihop immediately & after a day of checking.... the manager said that the waitress mistakenly hit 4 on the keypad (when tallying up the tips) instead of a 1. I dont know if it was actually an accident or not, but I have never seen that waitress working there since.

I have worked in restaurants & let me tell you waiters/waitresses can be some of the slimiest people there are. ESPECIALLY people employed in the waitstaff services agencies . We have had people's purses stolen,personal property stolen and credit card numbers stolen etc. etc.. by waitstaff. Many are often known for having drug/drinking problems & are quite often transitory in their jobs.

So i can FULLY believe that some waitstaff DO give themselves bigger tips by changing the tip amount on a credit card reciept.

Note: now this may not apply to good old wanda that has been working at the local greasy spoon for 10 years, but it sure as hell does apply to a lot of wanna-be-actor waitresses/waiters in the city who change their waitstaff jobs often.

why do you think that the trend is now so that the cashier or waiter never has a chance to physically hold your credit card anymore & will instead have you skim the card thru a reader?
Because credit card # theft has happened mostly in retail shops & restaurants. If they are stealing credit card numbers.... then padding the tip they get is not out of the realm of possibility.

@jpx72x:
Actually, the easiest way to avoid the problem is to just pay cash. Kind of hard to screw you over if you pay cash. Besides, everyone I know that has waited tables would much rather have cash.

My favorite was the waiter who tried to run my card through the system three times, then came back and told me that my card was rejected. Turns out it was because the charge went through all three times and 3x the total cost of the meal (I was paying for the group) was more than what I had in that account. I didn't realize that was the problem, so I paid in cash, checked my balance later that day, and had a very confident and loud-voiced friend call the place back later and give them hell so I could get my money back. And this was a very nice restaurant, too, catering to executives and business travelers.

@4dSwissCheese: Yes, but if you checked the reciept at the time of the sale and it matched *then*, it wil be the same on your statement. If they've changed it, which is nearly impossible if you have that final, totaled reciept that matches the itemized reciept on which the tip was entered, it will clearly show up when you check your actual bank balances against the balances your own records say you should have. And there is no excuse for not tracking your purchases and balance on your own. At which point you balance your "checkbook" (debit account log, whatever you consider it) just like you would (hopefully) do now and again anyway, thus exposing the exact cause, finding your reciept (which you should be keeping anyway for a few years) and going after them for it.

I bartended all through college, and I remember at least one instance of someone being fired for this. Honestly, I couldn't see it being worth the risk of losing a job or even legal troubles for a few bucks.

@gacompguy: These days it doesn't matter much to the staff in most restaraunts. Usually the tips are all turned into cash by the end of the day, whether paid in credit or cash.

I will pay cash when eating out 90% of the time. When I do use my CC I will leave a cash tip and just put the bill amount on the card. I'll also check the receipt against the statement to make sure I was not overcharged.