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  • Report:  #94080

Complaint Review: Visible Changes

Visible Changes Rip Off Overcharge On Credit Card Friendswood Texas

  • Reported By:
    Galveston Texas
  • Submitted:
    Tue, June 08, 2004
  • Updated:
    Wed, June 09, 2004
  • Visible Changes
    500 Baybrook Mall
    Friendswood, Texas
    U.S.A.
  • Phone:
    281-486-9642
  • Category:

I went to get a haircut at Visible Changes & they took alot more than just my hair. Seems that for the 26 some-odd-years they have been overcharging people with credit cards & now with debit/check cards they are getting the same done.

I went in on 06/02/04 & charged my haircut on my Visa Debit/Check Card, at the time the total was $43.50. So I signed my credit slip where it says baisically that I the cardholder agrees to pay what's on the receipt & nothing more for services.

So I go home & even planned to go back & get some highlights done, the next morning I goto check my account balance & I see $52.20. I am in a panic wondering if maybe I had left my card or lost it because I did not make a $50 purchase that day. Then I see it is for Visible Changes so I call them. The man who answered said that they were having trouble with their Credit Card terminals & that it would take a week to fix so I explained to him that they took more money out of checking account. So I call another VC to get Corp office & they are very nonchalant about it & just tell me to wait.

I find out that VC has been overcharging people by 20% (they said it is for a tip) for 26 years & they have never bothered to rectify this.

Valerie
Galveston, Texas
U.S.A.

1 Updates & Rebuttals


Juliet

Birmingham,
Alabama,
U.S.A.

Were you actually overcharged or was the amount just AUTHORIZED?

#2Consumer Comment

Tue, June 08, 2004

I work in the customer service department of a credit card processing bank. There is frequently confusion over this very issue. Were you actually CHARGED that amount, or was that amount just AUTHORIZED for potential use by the merchant?

What happens is the merchant runs the cardholder's card through their credit card machine and they key in the dollar amount of the sale. The Credit Card Machine's SOFTWARE is programmed to retrieve an authorization for the amount of the sale as well as 20% more when the merchant is in a "tip environment", such as a salon or a restaurant.

The cardholder goes home, gets online, looks at their account and sees the amount BEING HELD for the merchant, which is 20% more than the sale. But when the merchant sends their sales through the computer, the credit card is only charged the amount of the sale as keyed into the credit card machine by the merchant. The extra 20% just "drops off" of the authorization once the authorization has been used by the merchant.

This type of 20% authorization programming is standard throughout the credit card industry and in businesses throughout the entire U.S.

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