Here’s a question for the bank-knowing and law-knowing among our FrontBurnervians: have you ever heard of banks adding 20 percent to the restaurant bill put on your debit card? Yesterday my wife took a friend to a restaurant whose name I’ll withhold for the time being. She paid the bill on our Bank of America debit/credit card, and last night she happened to see it – with $12 added that she did not add herself (her friend left the tip in cash) – among the bank’s pending transactions. She called the restaurant, and the manager said that the bank does that, because of using the debit card. He said he gets calls about it a lot.
Does this not sound extremely fishy? She’s talking to the bank in a few minutes, and if it turns out that the bank does, in fact, add the 20 percent tip the waiter wants, I’ll keep the name of the restaurant to myself. Nancy?
