How can I get waiter's attention?

[Rover_KE]

mrwroc, I hope you're equally outspoken with your praise and generous with your tips when you get an excellent meal and great service.

 

[probus]

We sold our Florida house as soon as Donald Trump was elected and have not visited the US since. (If you are American and want us back, you know what to do on November 3.) Driving back and forth between Florida and Canada we found plastic cards impractical to use at gas stations. When you put a debit card into the pump it aaks you for the zipcode of the billing address. Of course a debit card has no billing address. Our Florida zip did not work and after bad experiences with rip-off foreign exchange rates we gave up on credit cards too.

I might add that the Visa problem is exclusive to rhe USA. We've used our Visa cards in many European and Asian countries with no problem. Mexico too.

 

[GoesStation]

I have no idea how you expect them to bring the credit card machine to your table. While I am starting to see some wireless card readers and such in restaurants, it's still far more common to send your card away with the waiter. It's part of your responsibility as a card owner to routinely check your statements for fraud and theft. Some establishments will have you pay on your way out the door, at a cashier's station, where you can watch them handle your card, but that varies by restaurant.

I haven't had to relinquish my card in France for the last twenty years. Foreign travelers to the United States find it very disturbing that they're asked to do so.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I haven't had to relinquish my card in France for the last twenty years. Foreign travelers to the United States find it very disturbing that they're asked to do so.

The first time a pension owner asked me to turn over my passport for the night, I was disturbed. Alarmed, actually. Did it though. Turned out it was SOP and NBD.

 

[Skrej]

Driving back and forth between Florida and Canada we found plastic cards impractical to use at gas stations. When you put a debit card into the pump it aaks you for the zipcode of the billing address. Of course a debit card has no billing address.

Mine does. It's the same as my bank statement. I often have to enter the zip code when I purchase gas outside of my hometown. When I use it online, I have to enter that mailing address. I'm starting to wonder if we're talking about the same thing. I think technically my debit card is called a check card, because it's tied to my checking account, but everyone calls them debit cards. It can be run as a debit or credit card.

We sold our Florida house as soon as Donald Trump was elected and have not visited the US since. (If you are American and want us back, you know what to do on November 3.)

Actually, I'm still waiting for everyone who promised to do this to still follow through with it. Most did not despite all their posturing and promising. See you in another four years, maybe. Or just stay, we really don't care.

 

[emsr2d2]

The contactless facility is nothing to do with debit/credit. We have separate debit cards and credit cards here. The card you hand over dictates whether the money comes straight out of your bank account (debit) or is a credit payment (where you borrow the money and pay it back later with/without interest). Put simply, you can use your card contactlessly as long as it has a particular logo on (almost all do) and the card reader can take contactless payments. You just hold the card about 0.5cm from the reader, the machine beeps and that's it. You've paid. With a debit card, the money leaves your account within between 1 second and 24 hours depending on your bank. I have the ability to pay contactlessly on my debit card and both of my credit cards. It's simply a way to pay quickly, without having to remember your PIN. As a security measure, each bank sets a random interval after which the machine will automatically ask for the PIN, to check the rightful holder is using it.