Paying by card and shop people not showing the price amount on tap terminal thing

[MucozadeOnLucozade]

So we have a local fish and chip shop and everytime I go to pay they type amount into that portable thing you tap card on and hold it out so you can't see amount on the screen.

It really annoys me because if they have made an error you could be tapping out anything!

In this situation do you?

1. Ask them to show you the amount?
2. Be cool about it, they know what they're doing!

Just to add the place were great and refunded the difference when it was noticed

Taxi company near me does this they overcharge on purpose I always call them out on it and have complained 4 times.

I don’t have a “touch” contactless card from my bank because I don’t trust them. (On request my bank kindly sent me a replacement card without that facility.)
This means I always have to insert my card and use my pin. That way I always see the amount.
You can do the same. Just pretend your card is PIN driven.
It doesn’t matter to the vendor.

It was a pin one, not contactless. I noticed the number on the screen ortherwise it would have gone through. It shows how easy it is for them to make a mistake and I dread to think how long it would've taken for the refund!

There was a scam going on at a local (well-known) fish and chip shop here. They were overcharging a lot of customers. I now always check.

I just ask to see it but if you feel awkward, just say you have to use your PIN on the card.

Shop people?

I guess I'm very trusting because I just tap my phone. I use Revolut to tap with and there's never too much money on that card anyway.

Also, like a previous poster said, the amount comes up on the phone screen as soon as the transaction goes through so in the rare case of an error I'd just rectify it there and then.

Would you keep 6k just sitting in your current account? I normally just transfer in 400 or 500 when I'm running a bit low, I wouldn't feel very safe keeping so much in my current account.

@shivawn

I'm not that PP, but why wouldn't you feel safer having 6k in your current account? Most current accounts have the same level of financial protection as other accounts. I couldn't be bothered having to transfer across for every bill / bit of spending!

@MucozadeOnLucozade definitely ask to see it - a food vendor at a local festival got caught out last year doing similar and not putting the right price in, so many people tapped without checking then saw wrong amounts in their banks later. Was definitely running a scam (which is silly because they got caught out, posted on social media and a rather large backlash!). It's not rude to double check at all.

Why wouldn’t you have more than £400 in a current account? This just sounds paranoid.

This happened to me in a cafe recently, the owner was over engaging in conversation and gave me the card machine to tap on without saying how much. I know him, so didn't like to ask him, but when I got outside and checked on my banking app he'd overcharged me by £3. I'm pretty sure it was deliberate but decided to not go back and tell him, but he has lost my custom.

I suspect you use your current account differently to many people. I'd imagine many use it to pay for direct debits as well as everyday spending. Mortgage, utilities, council tax, phones, subscriptions, credit card payments etc etc. Several thousands a month going out. Transferring £400 at a time wouldn't touch the sides and be a pita!

Everyone manages money differently.

Yeah all my direct debits come out the day I get paid and 4 or 5 hundred easily covers a week or 2 of miscellaneous expenses.

My local chippy has overcharged me on the last two times I've been there. Not sure if they're scamming customers or just incompetent at addition, but I always add up my items from the board as they're preparing the order. Both times they told me the amount and I said "would you like to try that again?" They only take cash too, so at least I don't have to tap my card against an incorrect amount.

In these situations, cash is king and if they do not take cash, I do not go there.

I use my current account to pay all my standing orders, I don't have multiple accounts, so bar 2 transfers out of the account on pay day to a pension fund and an investment fund, it all just sits in the current account.

You've really got me thinking now, maybe I'm being totally daft. Do you get paid into account A and then do your shopping from account B, and transfer between the 2 as and when you need the funds?

@RosettaTheGardenFairy I have separate accounts. I might use it differently than @shivawn but my salary goes into my bill account. Everything over that goes to my saving or spending account. I usually transfer a set amount to spending so that once that's used up, I think about transferring more.

I used to have one account but have a few DDs coming out later in the month and i always found it frustrating to have to calculate what's left or how much I have frittered away.

Back to the OP, this pisses me off massively and I always ask to see it. It seems like a power move or cocky to me to not offer it up like we should trust them implicitly to not have made a mistake.

Irks me too, I just ask for a receipt and check it straight away. But I think it's crappy practice, it takes seconds to show a screen. Sometimes if I have a niggle, I ask to check the screen.

I remember when the tap started, the shop people would take card and tap it themselves. That pissed me off and I told someone off for that. I don't notice it happening anymore.

oh yes, i told them not to do that in my local chemist, they werent very happy

A few bars locally do this where they don’t show how much they are charging and I hate it. I used to feel embarrassed having to ask to see the screen but they could just be putting any amount in there.
Now I always ask to see or get a receipt.

I hadn’t thought about this a lot but it has been in the background that it annoys me they don’t show you.

I’m going to ask to see it in future and hopefully me asking will prompt others to as well

I just say ‘where’s the amount?’ Before tapping

DH paid £400 instead of £40 for some fancy chocolates and had to go back and arse about for ages waiting for the manager to turn up and refund. I was baffled he hadn’t looked before paying. It was only because the receipt was on the table and I noticed

I agree this has become quite common, although better than people taking your card and tapping it for you.
I rarely use a card now, and usually pay via phone, so you get an immediate update on your phone, far safer than using a card for many reasons.