'He's complaining to me he's overdrawn...not my problem dude': Repair shop refuses customer's credit card payment, then realizes his mistake

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Oct 22, 2023 11:00 AM EDT

This person told a tale of their car repair debacle from 20 years ago, and you can tell it's an old story because they discovered the repair shop using a phone book. A real phone book! What a delightful throwback! 

For those of you who don't know, a phone book was a very big and heavy book with hundreds of pages. The white pages listed the numbers of people, and the yellow pages listed the numbers for businesses. It wasn't just numbers, either, it usually listed addresses too. Having your phone and address floating around in the world is considered rather unsafe in the internet age, but back in the day, that was just how you had to contact people. 

It was common to look up your friends' parents number to call their house, and if you didn't know their parents names, you might accidentally call their uncle or someone else listed under that last name. Or, if you needed a car repair service, you'd flip to that section in the yellow pages and choose a business based off vibes alone — there was no such thing as leaving star-rating reviews online yet. The iPhone thing we have going on now is so much of an improvement. 

Another way you can tell this dude's story took place decades ago is that they had issues using a credit card. Now, credit cards are so ubiquitous that some places don't even accept cash payments. Whereas back in the olden times, credit cards were often used just for big purchases (not things like $4 coffees or filling up your car with gas). Lots of places wouldn't take credit cards, or were confused as to how to use them. This person had quite the headache trying to get a repair shop to take their payment, and you can check out the entire story below. Then, check out a tale of two neighbors who cannot agree on where one of them should park a truck. 

Advertisement
  • 01
    Gesture
    via Van Tay Media on Unsplash
  • 02
    Font - Repair shop won't take credit card м ос This happened about 20 years ago. I lived about 40 miles away from my office and did the daily commute. Several people at the office did the same thing. I usually worked 7-4 just so I could skip the bulk of rush hour traffic. I don't remember exactly how or what
    via u/effit_consultant
  • 03
    Font - happened, but basically after work one day my minivan decided to quit working. Best I can remember it was acting weird, some kind of transmission problem and just quit going. Luckily this happened between my office and the interstate ramp.
    via u/effit_consultant
  • 04
    Font - Everything else with the van was fine, no engine problems, etc. It was only about 5 years old at that time and I never had any trouble with it.
    via u/effit_consultant
  • 05
    Font - I deduced it was a transmission problem. Everything runs fine, it just decided to not go anywhere when put in gear. Picked a transmission shop out of the phone book that was not too far away and had it towed up there.
    via u/effit_consultant
  • 06
    Font - Waited around while they took a look at it and said ya they could fix it. Don't remember exact quote but it was probably somewhere around $800-$1000 for the job. Ok. I don't have that much cash in the bank, but that's what credit cards are for. They've got the van, I'm stuck, what else am I going to do.
    via u/effit_consultant
  • 07
    Font - They wouldn't take me 40 miles home, but they would give me a ride locally. I had them drop me at a motel near my office so I could at least walk to work the next day. I got a ride home with a guy from work next day, and then carpool a day or so until the van was fixed.
    via u/effit_consultant
  • 08
    Font - Couple days after I drop it off, the shop calls and I go to pick up the van after work, shop owner gets in the car with me while I give it a test drive. It goes, but Yuck. making noise, still not right. So I tell him to try again. This is getting to be a hassle. Another day, another car pool.
    via u/effit_consultant
  • 09
    Font - Next day, get the call, come pick it up. OK, drives fine, no noise. Sounds like he got it fixed. Pull out the credit card and owner is like "We don't take credit cards. Cash or check only." Well, I don't have my checkbook with me. I don't say I don't have the cash.
    via u/effit_consultant
  • 10
    Font - Ring the office and catch a ride home again with one of the guys working late. Malicious compliance part: I don't have the money to pay the shop, but I do have my latest cc bill. The one with the little checks attached to the bottom of it.
    via u/effit_consultant
  • 11
    Font - I just fill out one of those checks, take it to the guy the next day, he accepts it and I get my van back. Here's the fun part. I get a call from the guy later and he's telling me the bank won't cash the check, they tell him it's from a credit card company and he can only deposit it. But he doesn't want to do that
    via u/effit_consultant
  • 12
    Font - because he's over drawn at the bank. Asks me again if I have cash, and I told him I already gave him a check. He's complaining to me he's overdrawn at the bank and they'll take that out of his deposit. Not my problem dude. Sweet revenge for all the hassle.
    via u/effit_consultant
  • 13
    Font - BartFly I got stuck out of town. called a place told them i only have a CC. they said fine. They tow me to a mechanic, give the credit card, they said we don't take it. bill was 165 bucks. said I have 100 bucks, take it or leave it, i told you guys cc on the phone. they took the 100.
    via u/BartFly
  • 14
    Font - millzbill You can tell this was long ago. Businesses now just raise all their prices 5% and then offer a 5% "cash discount". It's to cover the fee the CC company charges them. I don't blame the businesses for that.
    via u/millzbill
  • 15
    Font - digitalrailartist 20 years ago, different era, but yeah. If you have a business that won't take a credit card, run. This is usually the problem, and ut's a business you don't want to do business with. 148 Reply Share effit_consultant OP. We've all been there at some point. You break down and just have to go to the nearest shop and hope for the best.
    via u/digitalrailartist
  • 16
    Font - MyPrivate AcctAZ My guess is you probably paid at least a 3% fee on that convenience check. Source: I used to work for a credit card company. 22 Reply Share effit_consultant OP. I've read the rules for using the checks and there was never an extra fee involved. It just went onto my account as a regular card charge. Maybe it was just my cc company.
    via u/MyPrivateAcctAZ

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

workplace-stories jobs job malicious compliance work malicious-compliance-reddit workplace cash credit card cars van driving driver car engine
Scroll Down For The Next Article