Strange Days

[Don Draper]

So yesterday we did not see the strange ones at all except as they went out in the morning. I saw their car here yesterday afternoon so presumably they slept here but they snuck out early this morning. Room was tidy, key left in there. BYE!

 

[Don Draper]

OH!!!! I get it NOW!!!!! Credit card was declined for the balance due on the room. Nice. I sent them an email, think I'll ever hear back? Nice.

 

[JBloggs]

OH!!!! I get it NOW!!!!! Credit card was declined for the balance due on the room. Nice. I sent them an email, think I'll ever hear back? Nice..

OH!!!! I get it NOW!!!!! Credit card was declined for the balance due on the room. Nice. I sent them an email, think I'll ever hear back? Nice.

STOP! Strange ones left without paying, it is a felony in our state, call their cell phone, get them back or else!!! Call them...

 

[Joey Camb]

OH!!!! I get it NOW!!!!! Credit card was declined for the balance due on the room. Nice. I sent them an email, think I'll ever hear back? Nice..

In the UK the charge is obtaining services by deception and is a crime so speak to your local law enforcement. We had weird thing this week like I think cat lady warned about booking for 7 nights never turned up and card didn't work. But see no purpose in it as they never asked me to charge the card or for to charge it extra etc just clogged up my inventory which I luckily resold so was less bothered than I could have been though at lower prices. Just can't see the point of it?

 

[Alibi Ike]

OH!!!! I get it NOW!!!!! Credit card was declined for the balance due on the room. Nice. I sent them an email, think I'll ever hear back? Nice..

They didn't pay? Oh boy.
We only had that once...late check-in but here for 3 days. We were going to run their card the morning they left. They left at 5 AM and the card was bad. (Which is why I now run the card before the guest gets the code for the door.) We did call and he was horribly embarrassed, fixed whatever was wrong and we ran the card later in the day no problems.
Call them. Quite possible that they overextended their cc and will have to make a payment for that one to work. At the least, get another card.

 

[Don Draper]

OH!!!! I get it NOW!!!!! Credit card was declined for the balance due on the room. Nice. I sent them an email, think I'll ever hear back? Nice..

They didn't pay? Oh boy.
We only had that once...late check-in but here for 3 days. We were going to run their card the morning they left. They left at 5 AM and the card was bad. (Which is why I now run the card before the guest gets the code for the door.) We did call and he was horribly embarrassed, fixed whatever was wrong and we ran the card later in the day no problems.
Call them. Quite possible that they overextended their cc and will have to make a payment for that one to work. At the least, get another card.
.

Just tried to call cell phone and got a very garbled message and then quick beep...this is not going to end well. I have not idea what recourse I have, if any. IT IS FRIDAY THE 13th TODAY!!!! I have had 2 cancellations for this weekend in the last hour due to deaths in the family.

 

[Alibi Ike]

OH!!!! I get it NOW!!!!! Credit card was declined for the balance due on the room. Nice. I sent them an email, think I'll ever hear back? Nice..

They didn't pay? Oh boy.
We only had that once...late check-in but here for 3 days. We were going to run their card the morning they left. They left at 5 AM and the card was bad. (Which is why I now run the card before the guest gets the code for the door.) We did call and he was horribly embarrassed, fixed whatever was wrong and we ran the card later in the day no problems.
Call them. Quite possible that they overextended their cc and will have to make a payment for that one to work. At the least, get another card.
.

Just tried to call cell phone and got a very garbled message and then quick beep...this is not going to end well. I have not idea what recourse I have, if any. IT IS FRIDAY THE 13th TODAY!!!! I have had 2 cancellations for this weekend in the last hour due to deaths in the family.
.

Call the cellphone from a line that is not connected with your name/inn name, like a cellphone. If you can't get thru to them and they don't answer your email, keep trying the card until it goes thru. You got the deposit, right? So the card was good last week.
You could file a police report. In most places, it's no different than leaving a gas station without paying. Theft of services or goods.
If nothing else, doing a search on their names at a later date will bring up that report. Embarrassing for them.

 

[Don Draper]

OH!!!! I get it NOW!!!!! Credit card was declined for the balance due on the room. Nice. I sent them an email, think I'll ever hear back? Nice..

They didn't pay? Oh boy.
We only had that once...late check-in but here for 3 days. We were going to run their card the morning they left. They left at 5 AM and the card was bad. (Which is why I now run the card before the guest gets the code for the door.) We did call and he was horribly embarrassed, fixed whatever was wrong and we ran the card later in the day no problems.
Call them. Quite possible that they overextended their cc and will have to make a payment for that one to work. At the least, get another card.
.

Just tried to call cell phone and got a very garbled message and then quick beep...this is not going to end well. I have not idea what recourse I have, if any. IT IS FRIDAY THE 13th TODAY!!!! I have had 2 cancellations for this weekend in the last hour due to deaths in the family.
.

Call the cellphone from a line that is not connected with your name/inn name, like a cellphone. If you can't get thru to them and they don't answer your email, keep trying the card until it goes thru. You got the deposit, right? So the card was good last week.
You could file a police report. In most places, it's no different than leaving a gas station without paying. Theft of services or goods.
If nothing else, doing a search on their names at a later date will bring up that report. Embarrassing for them.
.

Thank you for the info, I am going to pursue this if I don't hear back.
Looking at the credit card slip it is not saying "Declined", it is saying "Please Call"...which could be because they are traveling and sometimes the cc companies shut it off.

 

[Alibi Ike]

OH!!!! I get it NOW!!!!! Credit card was declined for the balance due on the room. Nice. I sent them an email, think I'll ever hear back? Nice..

They didn't pay? Oh boy.
We only had that once...late check-in but here for 3 days. We were going to run their card the morning they left. They left at 5 AM and the card was bad. (Which is why I now run the card before the guest gets the code for the door.) We did call and he was horribly embarrassed, fixed whatever was wrong and we ran the card later in the day no problems.
Call them. Quite possible that they overextended their cc and will have to make a payment for that one to work. At the least, get another card.
.

Just tried to call cell phone and got a very garbled message and then quick beep...this is not going to end well. I have not idea what recourse I have, if any. IT IS FRIDAY THE 13th TODAY!!!! I have had 2 cancellations for this weekend in the last hour due to deaths in the family.
.

Call the cellphone from a line that is not connected with your name/inn name, like a cellphone. If you can't get thru to them and they don't answer your email, keep trying the card until it goes thru. You got the deposit, right? So the card was good last week.
You could file a police report. In most places, it's no different than leaving a gas station without paying. Theft of services or goods.
If nothing else, doing a search on their names at a later date will bring up that report. Embarrassing for them.
.

Thank you for the info, I am going to pursue this if I don't hear back.
Looking at the credit card slip it is not saying "Declined", it is saying "Please Call"...which could be because they are traveling and sometimes the cc companies shut it off.
.

Well, there's hope. Give your processor a call and see what they say.

 

[Breakfast Diva]

OH!!!! I get it NOW!!!!! Credit card was declined for the balance due on the room. Nice. I sent them an email, think I'll ever hear back? Nice..

They didn't pay? Oh boy.
We only had that once...late check-in but here for 3 days. We were going to run their card the morning they left. They left at 5 AM and the card was bad. (Which is why I now run the card before the guest gets the code for the door.) We did call and he was horribly embarrassed, fixed whatever was wrong and we ran the card later in the day no problems.
Call them. Quite possible that they overextended their cc and will have to make a payment for that one to work. At the least, get another card.
.

Just tried to call cell phone and got a very garbled message and then quick beep...this is not going to end well. I have not idea what recourse I have, if any. IT IS FRIDAY THE 13th TODAY!!!! I have had 2 cancellations for this weekend in the last hour due to deaths in the family.
.

Call the cellphone from a line that is not connected with your name/inn name, like a cellphone. If you can't get thru to them and they don't answer your email, keep trying the card until it goes thru. You got the deposit, right? So the card was good last week.
You could file a police report. In most places, it's no different than leaving a gas station without paying. Theft of services or goods.
If nothing else, doing a search on their names at a later date will bring up that report. Embarrassing for them.
.

Thank you for the info, I am going to pursue this if I don't hear back.
Looking at the credit card slip it is not saying "Declined", it is saying "Please Call"...which could be because they are traveling and sometimes the cc companies shut it off.
.

I had a "please call" a month ago. I did call while the guest was still here and it turned out to be the card had fraud charges from the day before. Fortuntely for me, the guest was still here. I was on the phone with our processing company AND the guest's credit card company for about 1/2 hour. Unfortunately, I'm still having to deal with the situation. Even though their company opened up the card for me to run my transaction, I'm now having to fax in all the documentation because there's a fraud case and they're questioning all charges. The lesson I learned from this is to charge a different card if it happens again.
Hopefully, it's not your guests who are the frauds!

 

[IronGate]

OH!!!! I get it NOW!!!!! Credit card was declined for the balance due on the room. Nice. I sent them an email, think I'll ever hear back? Nice..

They didn't pay? Oh boy.
We only had that once...late check-in but here for 3 days. We were going to run their card the morning they left. They left at 5 AM and the card was bad. (Which is why I now run the card before the guest gets the code for the door.) We did call and he was horribly embarrassed, fixed whatever was wrong and we ran the card later in the day no problems.
Call them. Quite possible that they overextended their cc and will have to make a payment for that one to work. At the least, get another card.
.

Just tried to call cell phone and got a very garbled message and then quick beep...this is not going to end well. I have not idea what recourse I have, if any. IT IS FRIDAY THE 13th TODAY!!!! I have had 2 cancellations for this weekend in the last hour due to deaths in the family.
.

Call the cellphone from a line that is not connected with your name/inn name, like a cellphone. If you can't get thru to them and they don't answer your email, keep trying the card until it goes thru. You got the deposit, right? So the card was good last week.
You could file a police report. In most places, it's no different than leaving a gas station without paying. Theft of services or goods.
If nothing else, doing a search on their names at a later date will bring up that report. Embarrassing for them.
.

Thank you for the info, I am going to pursue this if I don't hear back.
Looking at the credit card slip it is not saying "Declined", it is saying "Please Call"...which could be because they are traveling and sometimes the cc companies shut it off.
.

Some cards are notorious for that. The companies think they are being helpful and saving themselves money by proactively preventing fraud. I think they are losing more money by having to hire people to deal with it. Do you have phone number for the card company? You might be able to resolve this from your end. Good luck!

 

[Alibi Ike]

OH!!!! I get it NOW!!!!! Credit card was declined for the balance due on the room. Nice. I sent them an email, think I'll ever hear back? Nice..

They didn't pay? Oh boy.
We only had that once...late check-in but here for 3 days. We were going to run their card the morning they left. They left at 5 AM and the card was bad. (Which is why I now run the card before the guest gets the code for the door.) We did call and he was horribly embarrassed, fixed whatever was wrong and we ran the card later in the day no problems.
Call them. Quite possible that they overextended their cc and will have to make a payment for that one to work. At the least, get another card.
.

Just tried to call cell phone and got a very garbled message and then quick beep...this is not going to end well. I have not idea what recourse I have, if any. IT IS FRIDAY THE 13th TODAY!!!! I have had 2 cancellations for this weekend in the last hour due to deaths in the family.
.

Call the cellphone from a line that is not connected with your name/inn name, like a cellphone. If you can't get thru to them and they don't answer your email, keep trying the card until it goes thru. You got the deposit, right? So the card was good last week.
You could file a police report. In most places, it's no different than leaving a gas station without paying. Theft of services or goods.
If nothing else, doing a search on their names at a later date will bring up that report. Embarrassing for them.
.

Thank you for the info, I am going to pursue this if I don't hear back.
Looking at the credit card slip it is not saying "Declined", it is saying "Please Call"...which could be because they are traveling and sometimes the cc companies shut it off.
.

I had a "please call" a month ago. I did call while the guest was still here and it turned out to be the card had fraud charges from the day before. Fortuntely for me, the guest was still here. I was on the phone with our processing company AND the guest's credit card company for about 1/2 hour. Unfortunately, I'm still having to deal with the situation. Even though their company opened up the card for me to run my transaction, I'm now having to fax in all the documentation because there's a fraud case and they're questioning all charges. The lesson I learned from this is to charge a different card if it happens again.
Hopefully, it's not your guests who are the frauds!
.

My cc company called me while we were out for dinner to tell me my card was being cancelled if I could not verify certain charges. I told them, 'Be sure this dinner goes thru, I was just there! I have to show my face in this town, don't deny them payment!'
They cancelled the card but let that charge thru and as far as I know that restaurant didn't have any problems.
I would think if the guest verified with their company that your charge was valid you shouldn't have to jump thru hoops to get paid. That's nonsense.

 

[Breakfast Diva]

OH!!!! I get it NOW!!!!! Credit card was declined for the balance due on the room. Nice. I sent them an email, think I'll ever hear back? Nice..

They didn't pay? Oh boy.
We only had that once...late check-in but here for 3 days. We were going to run their card the morning they left. They left at 5 AM and the card was bad. (Which is why I now run the card before the guest gets the code for the door.) We did call and he was horribly embarrassed, fixed whatever was wrong and we ran the card later in the day no problems.
Call them. Quite possible that they overextended their cc and will have to make a payment for that one to work. At the least, get another card.
.

Just tried to call cell phone and got a very garbled message and then quick beep...this is not going to end well. I have not idea what recourse I have, if any. IT IS FRIDAY THE 13th TODAY!!!! I have had 2 cancellations for this weekend in the last hour due to deaths in the family.
.

Call the cellphone from a line that is not connected with your name/inn name, like a cellphone. If you can't get thru to them and they don't answer your email, keep trying the card until it goes thru. You got the deposit, right? So the card was good last week.
You could file a police report. In most places, it's no different than leaving a gas station without paying. Theft of services or goods.
If nothing else, doing a search on their names at a later date will bring up that report. Embarrassing for them.
.

Thank you for the info, I am going to pursue this if I don't hear back.
Looking at the credit card slip it is not saying "Declined", it is saying "Please Call"...which could be because they are traveling and sometimes the cc companies shut it off.
.

I had a "please call" a month ago. I did call while the guest was still here and it turned out to be the card had fraud charges from the day before. Fortuntely for me, the guest was still here. I was on the phone with our processing company AND the guest's credit card company for about 1/2 hour. Unfortunately, I'm still having to deal with the situation. Even though their company opened up the card for me to run my transaction, I'm now having to fax in all the documentation because there's a fraud case and they're questioning all charges. The lesson I learned from this is to charge a different card if it happens again.
Hopefully, it's not your guests who are the frauds!
.

My cc company called me while we were out for dinner to tell me my card was being cancelled if I could not verify certain charges. I told them, 'Be sure this dinner goes thru, I was just there! I have to show my face in this town, don't deny them payment!'
They cancelled the card but let that charge thru and as far as I know that restaurant didn't have any problems.
I would think if the guest verified with their company that your charge was valid you shouldn't have to jump thru hoops to get paid. That's nonsense.
.

My cc company called me while we were out for dinner to tell me my card was being cancelled if I could not verify certain charges. I told them, 'Be sure this dinner goes thru, I was just there! I have to show my face in this town, don't deny them payment!'
They cancelled the card but let that charge thru and as far as I know that restaurant didn't have any problems.
I would think if the guest verified with their company that your charge was valid you shouldn't have to jump thru hoops to get paid. That's nonsense.

I think the reason we're having problems is that our processor is connected to our phone line. They wanted me to charge it while I was on the phone with them, but that was impossible. Their bank did not like that. I've now had to mail in the documentation and fax it. Of course, the guest has no idea that I'm having to jump through these hurdles. It's ridiculous.

 

[Alibi Ike]

OH!!!! I get it NOW!!!!! Credit card was declined for the balance due on the room. Nice. I sent them an email, think I'll ever hear back? Nice..

They didn't pay? Oh boy.
We only had that once...late check-in but here for 3 days. We were going to run their card the morning they left. They left at 5 AM and the card was bad. (Which is why I now run the card before the guest gets the code for the door.) We did call and he was horribly embarrassed, fixed whatever was wrong and we ran the card later in the day no problems.
Call them. Quite possible that they overextended their cc and will have to make a payment for that one to work. At the least, get another card.
.

Just tried to call cell phone and got a very garbled message and then quick beep...this is not going to end well. I have not idea what recourse I have, if any. IT IS FRIDAY THE 13th TODAY!!!! I have had 2 cancellations for this weekend in the last hour due to deaths in the family.
.

Call the cellphone from a line that is not connected with your name/inn name, like a cellphone. If you can't get thru to them and they don't answer your email, keep trying the card until it goes thru. You got the deposit, right? So the card was good last week.
You could file a police report. In most places, it's no different than leaving a gas station without paying. Theft of services or goods.
If nothing else, doing a search on their names at a later date will bring up that report. Embarrassing for them.
.

Thank you for the info, I am going to pursue this if I don't hear back.
Looking at the credit card slip it is not saying "Declined", it is saying "Please Call"...which could be because they are traveling and sometimes the cc companies shut it off.
.

I had a "please call" a month ago. I did call while the guest was still here and it turned out to be the card had fraud charges from the day before. Fortuntely for me, the guest was still here. I was on the phone with our processing company AND the guest's credit card company for about 1/2 hour. Unfortunately, I'm still having to deal with the situation. Even though their company opened up the card for me to run my transaction, I'm now having to fax in all the documentation because there's a fraud case and they're questioning all charges. The lesson I learned from this is to charge a different card if it happens again.
Hopefully, it's not your guests who are the frauds!
.

My cc company called me while we were out for dinner to tell me my card was being cancelled if I could not verify certain charges. I told them, 'Be sure this dinner goes thru, I was just there! I have to show my face in this town, don't deny them payment!'
They cancelled the card but let that charge thru and as far as I know that restaurant didn't have any problems.
I would think if the guest verified with their company that your charge was valid you shouldn't have to jump thru hoops to get paid. That's nonsense.
.

My cc company called me while we were out for dinner to tell me my card was being cancelled if I could not verify certain charges. I told them, 'Be sure this dinner goes thru, I was just there! I have to show my face in this town, don't deny them payment!'
They cancelled the card but let that charge thru and as far as I know that restaurant didn't have any problems.
I would think if the guest verified with their company that your charge was valid you shouldn't have to jump thru hoops to get paid. That's nonsense.

I think the reason we're having problems is that our processor is connected to our phone line. They wanted me to charge it while I was on the phone with them, but that was impossible. Their bank did not like that. I've now had to mail in the documentation and fax it. Of course, the guest has no idea that I'm having to jump through these hurdles. It's ridiculous.
.

Good point. If I ever need to call the processor...use the other phone line!

 

[Generic]

OH!!!! I get it NOW!!!!! Credit card was declined for the balance due on the room. Nice. I sent them an email, think I'll ever hear back? Nice..

They didn't pay? Oh boy.
We only had that once...late check-in but here for 3 days. We were going to run their card the morning they left. They left at 5 AM and the card was bad. (Which is why I now run the card before the guest gets the code for the door.) We did call and he was horribly embarrassed, fixed whatever was wrong and we ran the card later in the day no problems.
Call them. Quite possible that they overextended their cc and will have to make a payment for that one to work. At the least, get another card.
.

Just tried to call cell phone and got a very garbled message and then quick beep...this is not going to end well. I have not idea what recourse I have, if any. IT IS FRIDAY THE 13th TODAY!!!! I have had 2 cancellations for this weekend in the last hour due to deaths in the family.
.

Call the cellphone from a line that is not connected with your name/inn name, like a cellphone. If you can't get thru to them and they don't answer your email, keep trying the card until it goes thru. You got the deposit, right? So the card was good last week.
You could file a police report. In most places, it's no different than leaving a gas station without paying. Theft of services or goods.
If nothing else, doing a search on their names at a later date will bring up that report. Embarrassing for them.
.

Thank you for the info, I am going to pursue this if I don't hear back.
Looking at the credit card slip it is not saying "Declined", it is saying "Please Call"...which could be because they are traveling and sometimes the cc companies shut it off.
.

Some cards are notorious for that. The companies think they are being helpful and saving themselves money by proactively preventing fraud. I think they are losing more money by having to hire people to deal with it. Do you have phone number for the card company? You might be able to resolve this from your end. Good luck!
.

We have had it happen (with the guest here) with MasterCard/Visa debit cards from the US. They were from a small bank and the bank decided that they could only use it as a debit card outside of the US with a PIN. But if it is branded as MasterCard/Visa in Canada it must be processed as a credit card (anti-trust laws prohibit MasterCard/Visa from the debit card business in Canada).
She had to use another card. The bank didn't seem to understand that our keypads don't have a credit/debit button.

 

[Don Draper]

Thought you'd all enjoy the thickening plot on this one. Emailed and called the gentleman yesterday to state balance due for the stay and that credit card had not worked. No contact from guest, not a real message on the cell phone either, garbled and then the beep.
Called merchant services today and they stated that the "Please Call" message was coming in from the issuing bank as a decline. Called the issuing bank, it is Schwab One Bank (which means this card is tied to some sort of investment account). Customer service was helpful but of course limited in what they can tell me. She told me the LAST name on the card is correct, but not the first (I actually have TWO first names from this guy, what he made the reservation with and what he signed one of his emails with, but the first name on the card is neither of these names!). She was able to verify that the billing address for the card matches what he gave me on the reservation.
Reverse phone look up on the cell phone number given with the reservation shows a cell phone from TX, reservation and credit card show a MT address. Google the PO BOX address given with the reservation and it is a mail forwarding service for "permanent travelers".
So the address thing makes me think I'm not the first dupe of these two, but the Schwab One account doesn't seem like the kind of "disposable" cc you can get. The bank told me to keep trying the card (wouldn't tell me straight out but I think it is a check card and there are insufficient funds). Maybe I should try charging lesser amounts?

 

[Alibi Ike]

Thought you'd all enjoy the thickening plot on this one. Emailed and called the gentleman yesterday to state balance due for the stay and that credit card had not worked. No contact from guest, not a real message on the cell phone either, garbled and then the beep.
Called merchant services today and they stated that the "Please Call" message was coming in from the issuing bank as a decline. Called the issuing bank, it is Schwab One Bank (which means this card is tied to some sort of investment account). Customer service was helpful but of course limited in what they can tell me. She told me the LAST name on the card is correct, but not the first (I actually have TWO first names from this guy, what he made the reservation with and what he signed one of his emails with, but the first name on the card is neither of these names!). She was able to verify that the billing address for the card matches what he gave me on the reservation.
Reverse phone look up on the cell phone number given with the reservation shows a cell phone from TX, reservation and credit card show a MT address. Google the PO BOX address given with the reservation and it is a mail forwarding service for "permanent travelers".
So the address thing makes me think I'm not the first dupe of these two, but the Schwab One account doesn't seem like the kind of "disposable" cc you can get. The bank told me to keep trying the card (wouldn't tell me straight out but I think it is a check card and there are insufficient funds). Maybe I should try charging lesser amounts?.

Wowser!
I would give it a few days (they'll need to restock that card to use it anywhere else) then try the full amount again. If that doesn't work, try half.

 

[Don Draper]

Thought you'd all enjoy the thickening plot on this one. Emailed and called the gentleman yesterday to state balance due for the stay and that credit card had not worked. No contact from guest, not a real message on the cell phone either, garbled and then the beep.
Called merchant services today and they stated that the "Please Call" message was coming in from the issuing bank as a decline. Called the issuing bank, it is Schwab One Bank (which means this card is tied to some sort of investment account). Customer service was helpful but of course limited in what they can tell me. She told me the LAST name on the card is correct, but not the first (I actually have TWO first names from this guy, what he made the reservation with and what he signed one of his emails with, but the first name on the card is neither of these names!). She was able to verify that the billing address for the card matches what he gave me on the reservation.
Reverse phone look up on the cell phone number given with the reservation shows a cell phone from TX, reservation and credit card show a MT address. Google the PO BOX address given with the reservation and it is a mail forwarding service for "permanent travelers".
So the address thing makes me think I'm not the first dupe of these two, but the Schwab One account doesn't seem like the kind of "disposable" cc you can get. The bank told me to keep trying the card (wouldn't tell me straight out but I think it is a check card and there are insufficient funds). Maybe I should try charging lesser amounts?.

Wowser!
I would give it a few days (they'll need to restock that card to use it anywhere else) then try the full amount again. If that doesn't work, try half.
.

I just tried $50 and $25, no dice. No one said so explicitly, but it seems by how quickly the "Please Call" message is coming in that there is some sort of flag on the account...a regular old "decline" it usually goes through its full processing thing which takes a few seconds, this is coming back immediately.
I guess I'm most surprised that nothing like this has ever happened before. Now makes me think I need to start charging at check-in. See Joey how one person can cause a policy change?

 

[Alibi Ike]

Thought you'd all enjoy the thickening plot on this one. Emailed and called the gentleman yesterday to state balance due for the stay and that credit card had not worked. No contact from guest, not a real message on the cell phone either, garbled and then the beep.
Called merchant services today and they stated that the "Please Call" message was coming in from the issuing bank as a decline. Called the issuing bank, it is Schwab One Bank (which means this card is tied to some sort of investment account). Customer service was helpful but of course limited in what they can tell me. She told me the LAST name on the card is correct, but not the first (I actually have TWO first names from this guy, what he made the reservation with and what he signed one of his emails with, but the first name on the card is neither of these names!). She was able to verify that the billing address for the card matches what he gave me on the reservation.
Reverse phone look up on the cell phone number given with the reservation shows a cell phone from TX, reservation and credit card show a MT address. Google the PO BOX address given with the reservation and it is a mail forwarding service for "permanent travelers".
So the address thing makes me think I'm not the first dupe of these two, but the Schwab One account doesn't seem like the kind of "disposable" cc you can get. The bank told me to keep trying the card (wouldn't tell me straight out but I think it is a check card and there are insufficient funds). Maybe I should try charging lesser amounts?.

Wowser!
I would give it a few days (they'll need to restock that card to use it anywhere else) then try the full amount again. If that doesn't work, try half.
.

I just tried $50 and $25, no dice. No one said so explicitly, but it seems by how quickly the "Please Call" message is coming in that there is some sort of flag on the account...a regular old "decline" it usually goes through its full processing thing which takes a few seconds, this is coming back immediately.
I guess I'm most surprised that nothing like this has ever happened before. Now makes me think I need to start charging at check-in. See Joey how one person can cause a policy change?
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Now makes me think I need to start charging at check-in. See Joey how one person can cause a policy change?

This is money, this is different than changing a policy because one person does something dumb. If your terminal is set up for lodging, you can do a 'check-in' to validate the card will be approved for the full amount. Then do a check-out when the guest leaves if there are reasons you want them to sign when they leave (you have a gift shop, housekeeping can get tips on the check-out receipt, stuff like that).

 

[Alibi Ike]

Thought you'd all enjoy the thickening plot on this one. Emailed and called the gentleman yesterday to state balance due for the stay and that credit card had not worked. No contact from guest, not a real message on the cell phone either, garbled and then the beep.
Called merchant services today and they stated that the "Please Call" message was coming in from the issuing bank as a decline. Called the issuing bank, it is Schwab One Bank (which means this card is tied to some sort of investment account). Customer service was helpful but of course limited in what they can tell me. She told me the LAST name on the card is correct, but not the first (I actually have TWO first names from this guy, what he made the reservation with and what he signed one of his emails with, but the first name on the card is neither of these names!). She was able to verify that the billing address for the card matches what he gave me on the reservation.
Reverse phone look up on the cell phone number given with the reservation shows a cell phone from TX, reservation and credit card show a MT address. Google the PO BOX address given with the reservation and it is a mail forwarding service for "permanent travelers".
So the address thing makes me think I'm not the first dupe of these two, but the Schwab One account doesn't seem like the kind of "disposable" cc you can get. The bank told me to keep trying the card (wouldn't tell me straight out but I think it is a check card and there are insufficient funds). Maybe I should try charging lesser amounts?.

Wowser!
I would give it a few days (they'll need to restock that card to use it anywhere else) then try the full amount again. If that doesn't work, try half.
.

I just tried $50 and $25, no dice. No one said so explicitly, but it seems by how quickly the "Please Call" message is coming in that there is some sort of flag on the account...a regular old "decline" it usually goes through its full processing thing which takes a few seconds, this is coming back immediately.
I guess I'm most surprised that nothing like this has ever happened before. Now makes me think I need to start charging at check-in. See Joey how one person can cause a policy change?
.

I'd file a police report. It won't accomplish anything but have it on record. If you have a 'group' of innkeepers in your area that you know, I'd tell them, too. Just a 'head's up' on this name and to run the card in full on arrival. They may be going all around in your area cheating everyone. At least if you file a report there will be a trail of where they have been.