A Phoenix, Ariz., bar owner realizes a man walked out on his tab after the card payment didn’t go through. Then, she uses a clever trick to get her money a few days later.
In a video with over 39,000 views, TikToker and owner of The Playa Bar & The Corner Bar, Sandi (@bikinipreplife), holds up a receipt with a blue credit card in hand.
“Nothing is more satisfying than somebody that comes in and gives me their card and deliberately walks out on it knowing it’s not going to go through,” she says with a grin.
While the card didn’t work the day the customer came in, she says she tried it again a few days later.
“Four or five days later, I ran it, and I got it to go through!” she exclaims. “The small victories of being a business owner.”
Can Businesses Run A Customer’s Card Days Later?
Running a card days after a customer leaves may present issues for business owners if the cardholder flags the transaction as unauthorized. However, it’s a common practice amongst restaurant and bar owners.
“Sometimes we wait a week and try again and it will work. Sometimes it’s a month,” another wrote on the r/restaurant subreddit.
Walkouts aren’t free of consequences just because their card declined after they leave the bar. They are still legally obligated to cover the cost of the service they recieved. On the r/bartenders subreddit, others share how they deal with customers who leave “dead” credit cards for their tabs.
“See if there’s a way to ‘preauthorize’ the card for the price of the first drink, then edit it at the end of the night to the total. In some systems, if you do this, it cannot be declined,” one suggested.
Another wrote, “Close out tabs right away for anyone not physically sitting at the bar.”
“Take ID with the card. Post a sign saying that all cards left overnight that are declined will be reported for theft of services. Then call the cops (non-emergency) in the am and report it,” a third bartender added.
Do Viewers Agree With Her Method?
In the comments of Sandi’s video, many viewers say they’ve seen the trick work for unpaid tabs.
“This! My brother was a small business owner and would run card numbers of unpaid bills constantly. The vast majority would eventually process,” a commenter wrote.
A second said the trick works in other industries, commenting, “Working at hotels, if your cc doesn’t go through for charges, we will keep your cc on file and try to charge it several times a month.”
Others said they get revenge on card-freezers in more unethical ways.
“It’s been over 10 years so I can tell it, but this happened to me so many times as a server, and I’d keep them and fill up my gas tank. I feel terrible about it now but it’s true,” one admitted.
BroBible reached out to Sandi via email for further comment.