“THE SWITCH”

Scene 1

Friend goes to the local gym and places his belongings in the locker.  After the workout and a shower, comes out, sees the locker open and thinks to himself, “Funny … I thought I locked the locker … hmmm.”  He dresses and just flips the wallet to make sure all is in check.  Everything looks ok, all cards in their place.

In a few weeks his credit card bill comes … a whopping bill of $14k!  Calls up the credit card company and starts yelling at them saying he did not make the transactions … customer care personnel verified that there is no mistake in the system and asks if his card had been stolen.  “No” he says … takes out his wallet and pulls out the card … and … yup!  You guessed it … a switch was made!

Another similar (same type Master/Visa from the same bank) expired card was placed in the wallet.  The thief broke into his locker at the gym and switched the cards.

Verdict: 

Credit card issuer says since he did not report the card missing earlier, he would still have to pay the amount owed to them.

Question:  Why were there no calls to verify the amount swiped?  Small amounts rarely trigger a ‘warning bell’ in some credit card companies.  It just so happens that the small amounts amounted to big ones.

Scene 2

My dad at a local restaurant paid for his meal with his credit card.  The bill came, he signed it and the waitress folds the receipt and passes the credit card along.  Usually, he would just take it and place it in his wallet or pocket.  Funny enough, he actually just took a look at the card and low and behold … wrong expired card of another person.  He called the waitress and she looked perplexed.  She took it back, apologized and hurried back to the counter under the watchful eye of my dad.  All the waitress did whilst walking to the counter was she waved the wrong expired card to the counter cashier and the counter cashier immediately looked down and took out the real card.

No exchange of words … nothing … she took it and came back to my dad with apologies.

VERDICT

Make sure the credit cards in your wallet are yours!  Check the name on the card every time you sign for something and it is taken away for even a short period of time.  Develop the habit to check your credit card, each time you take it back!  “Better safe than sorry.”