So we got a call yesterday from a customer who had ordered Friday wondering what was up with her total on her CC,
Ends us she had a delivery and paid with credit card gave 4.00 CASH tip. The cc slip said 6.00 tip. After looking at the slip seems like it could have been driver’s handwriting that took it. He denied doing it.
I am always amazed at the ways employees find to steal.
Wondering what ya’ll would do in this situation…for customer…and employee.
We have already pretty much resolved it but thought it would be an interesting topic to discuss and see what everyone’s take on it is.
You’d be surprised that most people don’t keep track of their charges, and don’t even notice $2, $3, etc., added to their charge.
With the customer, I always play it off as a keying error - that a tip was accidentally added to the wrong order. I never suggest that the driver may have written it in.
With the employee - well, I usually don’t ask them about it on the first notice - because they will just deny it and it is their word against the customers. They will do it again and again, so it is easy to know who is telling the truth.
Legally, they didn’t steal from you. They stole from the customer - and it would need to be the customer pressing charges. But you know how that turns out - the customer just files a chargeback, etc., etc., the end result is no one else cares but you because you are the only one losing money.
I would obtain a copy of the credit card slip from the customer as my “proof” that the employee is stealing. If there was a difference in the customer’s slip from what the driver turned it – they’d get fired. Chances are if they’re being dishonest changing slips, they’re being dishonest and stealing other ways too.
I’d bet the customer doesn’t have a copy of the slip, and even if they did it wouldn’t prove anything. Maybe the customer didn’t write the tip in on their copy of the slip - on purpose.
I’ve found that doing this is the easiest way to make a lot of extra money. A lot of customers don’t even realize they should be getting a copy of the slip to sign. And unless they wanted to tip on the card, they won’t even ask for it. So the driver just signs the slip and fills in the tip. And as I said above, with most people not checking, no one notices a couple of bucks here and there…
I am guessing that everyone uses standard printer paper and not carbon paper anymore. When printing out 2 copies how often do you as a customer actually fill in the tip line of your copy? Kris I would maybe start to use carbon paper for deliveries and require the driver to bring back the carbon copy so no add-on tips can be written in. A slight cost increase for the paper but it might help curb the problem a little.
But you are assuming that the driver actually gives the customer the slip to sign. In my experience(s) with this, the driver does not.
It works like this - customer pay by CC, driver delivers, hands order over and says nothing, or says “ok, you are good, you paid with CC” and leaves. Customer doesn’t sign anything. Driver then scribbles a signature on the slip and fills in a $2-$3 tip - something that won’t be so obvious.
I am assuming nothing. What I said was use a carbon receipt and then if the customer calls to complain about a tip or charge they should have a copy of the original to show what they wrote. You also could mandate that the drivers have to make sure the customer gets a copy and any questioned tip will not be reimbursed to them. Gives them incentive to do the right thing. If a driver or any employee wants to steal… they will find a way too. You can only try to protect yourself and your customers by taking the little steps that help slow down the rate of theft. If you find you have one driver that always seems to have problems with extra tips and customers calling about charges…then open your eyes and take the steps to end that problem employee. It is most likely that it is not 20 customers that all forgot that they tipped an extra $5 on their orders…it is 100% your cheating and stealing employee! Use common sense. :!:
What we do is that a customer must place their initials next to every tip or the driver does not get the tip…NOW…I know that this does not prevent theft but the psychological affect can.
Next…they DID steal from you since YOU gave them the cash tip at drawer closing. What is being missed here is that messing with a CC slip is NOT a simple misdomeaner…I was once a cop and know that local authorities will take this one with a vengeance and this is FRAUD and THEFT.
When I hire drivers the backside of our employment app lists a bunch of reminders…which includes various kinds of thefts. ALSO…get an employee manual reinforce the fact that you will prosecute no matter how little or large.
OK…in the end I know that no one wants the customer to know what happened but they have already made the assumption and now YOU can look like the hero OR another driver who delivers the next time may let the truth slip and you look even worse.
I am with Mandy on this one. I think covering your ass by saying it was an error in data entry when you know it was a theft could really hurt you more than telling the truth. How long until one of your other employees tells someone that knows someone else…what really happened. Did you hear that “joe” was fired for writing in extra c/c tips on tickets? If this happened once then you can probably look the other way…but if you are having this conversation…then you already know that a pattern exsists and you have a larger issue. Again, this is a hard one to prove in most cases, but maybe a quick phone call to the local police/sheriff to see if they could have a community service officer come by and attend an employee meeting that includes a quick chat about stealing from the business by means of inventory, free food, additional tips…etc… and that the penalties for such actions are not worth a few dollars. Even if you cannot prove that one or more person has stole…having an officer take the time to chat will probably let them know that you serious and you are watching and also that the police are more involved than they knew about it…even if they really are not.
BTW…the way I investigate…NO LAUGHING… is to ask the employee to WRITE DOWN THEIR home and cell numbers for me on a piece of paper. More than likely you will have one or two examples of the same “tip” numbers written on the slip. This is sort of like when law enforcement gives you a glass of soda and you unknowingly leave your fingerprints and DNA…remember, ex cop here.
Maybe in a small town or something - but certainly not here. The police would laugh if I were to call them about this.
I’ve been through it with law enforcement before. First, technically the employee did not steal from you. Second, no theft or fraud took place unless the customer is the one to report it. The customer is the victim, not you. Third, the customer has no incentive to pursue such a charge, because all they have to do is dispute the charge and they have their money back in minutes.
The police know they are wasting their time with anything like this because the DA’s will not pursue the case once it hits their desk.
