What would have happened if I couldn't pay?

[marinathehummingbird]

This isn't an AIBU and is also hypothetical

Got hair done earlier andon paying (at end of treatment) my card wouldn't work - the salon realised after a couple of tries that their machine needed rebooting - but I got the cold sweats over it being my card!

So this got me wondering - in this or any situation where you pay after the goods have been swapped (and aren't returnable) what would happen?

This happened to me twice. One a full food shop for us and visiting family about 6 years ago when food was loads cheaper I had two trollies full of food came to about £300! My account had been hacked and they'd wiped my account in 4 days 6K! DH had to pay over the phone and my bank returned the money in within the week!

Second time I'd borrowed money off my brother who was staying to help me unpack with a newborn and toddler because DH I was working away to catch the bus because we were running late. Went to withdraw cash and my account was empty £600 gone! We'd just moved if it had been hacked the day before they'd of been about 4K in for a house move and we would of lost the house! Money was back in my account within 48 hours!

I now carry 2 credit cards and have only used one once because DH had taken my card ironically it was for his father's Day present

Hairdressers- last appointment of the day, just me and her. I didn't like the haircut much, it was ok but she kept trying to push me to get layers/shorter/a wavy perm anything really!
Gave her my card- she does not have a card machine! No worries, I have my cheque book - she doesn't take cheques! Had to ring my mum to get cash and drive down there to pay her. We were locked in the dark shop for half an hour together, with me apologising and her still trying to get me to agree a new "style" for the next time I came in. Never went back!

This happened to a complete stranger in front of me in Tesco a few weeks ago - his card just wouldn't go through, and the queue behind him was getting longer and longer. Asked if he had any other way of paying he just sort of slumped... I was in a bit of a rush, so chirped up 'I'll pay!' (may have been a bit wine-induced mellow). Poor bloke was crimson as I, with all the largesse of a drunk uncle at a wedding, waved away his subsequent offers to send me a cheque.

What made it really awkward afterwards was that having shaken hands and said our appreciative goodbyes, we then discovered we live in the same small block of houses and were walking home together.

All I've got is a debit card, so I live in fear of The Day It Gets Declined. Even if I use my card, I make sure I have enough cash on me to cover whatever it is I'm buying.

The hairdressers I go to doesn't take cards - that caught me out the first time. They just send people to the cashpoint across the road.

I had a bank card with a dodgy chip for several months. If I forgot to polish the card before i used it, it wouldn't work. Usually it would work on the second go but not always and there was one till at the local supermarket it would never work in. It was so embarrassing, never got to the point where I couldn't pay though as l always carry the card for our savings account.

@notoneofyou They definitely still accepted. Fancy shop was opened last year and is huge brand.

I went to a new hairdressers a couple of months ago (hair's a mess again now!) and I didn't realise they only took cash. They were surprisingly happy for me to just head down the street, get money out and return.

Obviously I did, but surely they've been fucked over before?? I offered to leave my bag sans purse and they said 'no, it's fine'.

They just shave your head or something don't they? Just kidding!

My card got declined at the hairdressers years and years ago when I was a skint teenager and I had to drive home to borrow money off my mum, think they were quite surprised I came back, but they didn't take details or anything. Wasn't a big deal.