Scenario
I'm in a restaurant. I finish my meal. I go to pay with a credit card and I'm informed that the card reader is not working - can I pay with cash?
I don't carry cash. There's no nearby ATM. So I let them write down my card number, and my phone number.
Question
Is letting them take the CC number and phone number the right thing to do? Can they insist that I do this? Could I insist they send me a bill? I'm assuming there are laws at play here, but I don't know what they are.
Simple answer - they are obligated to do it manually. When they show the logo on their door, you are obliged to produce a valid card with sufficient credit line, the rest is on them.
Page 21 of Visa rules for Merchants spells out what the store is supposed to do if the terminal's reader isn't working. Nowhere in the document does it say the merchant can just insist on cash.
This is a situation where discretion matters -- quoting Visa merchant rules to an assistant manager who isn't empowered to do anything isn't really going to help you much.
I would offer to write a promissory note on a piece of paper with my name, address and phone number promising to pay within 2 weeks, and ask them to call me when the machine is fixed. Giving them a credit card number and phone number does nothing for either party.
The key is in the delivery, if you come off like a jerk, you're going to end up in a mutally crappy situation.
First, yes, letting them write down the credit card number, and your phone number, is the right thing to do. There isn't anything that they can improperly with the two of them that they couldn't do with just the credit card number itself. And having the credit card number written down is no riskier than giving it to someone to process in the back room (they can not only write down whatever they want, but they can also use a small machine to improperly read all the data on the magnetic strip.) So you're at no more risk here, if that's a concern, by providing a phone number as well as the card number. (Personally, if I were the restaurant, I'd ask for a driver's license or other ID as well, but that's just me.)
Second, it's your obligation to figure out how to pay the bill. When you walked in, you presumably thought there were two choices, cash and credit card, and you planned to use the latter. That the restaurant wasn't able to process your card electronically in no way invalidates the second option: you could still pay by credit card. They can quite properly insist that you either (a) pay cash) or (b) give them your credit card, since you knew - going into the restaurant - that those were your two choices. If they had said, for example, that your two choices were (a) cash and (b) dishwashing for several hours, then of course you have an issue (particularly if you did not have any cash on hand or in the bank). So, in summary, no harm, no foul.
