EDC Visanet Temporary Charge

[alexander00pr]

Im having problem with Aloha EDC and Visanet. I had been receiving so many complains from clients when they use a visa o master card that the ticket amount is not the same as temporary charge that appear in their account summay. I know that temporary transaction are temporary charge that dont represent the final statement but why i had to receive a temporary charge that is more than the ticket amount. Someday this charges are 15% to 20% plus the ticket amount. In restaurant that i dont have aloha and edc i dont have this problem! If there is a setting in aloha that cause this i want to know it.

 

[azrobert]

Don't use Aloha (Micros User) Transactions in my system are authorized for 20% more than the transaction amount to account for a possible tip. Imagine someone uses a debit card and they have 25.00 in their account, if you authorize the transaction for 24.00 it will get approved, if they add a 5.00 tip it will then get declined after the customer has left.
I beleive most systems do this aditional amount on the first authorization. There might be a setting somewhere in Aloha that will turn this off, I myself like it.

 

[zahead31]

Check out Maintenance->Store Settings, Credit Card drop-down, under the EDC Setup tab there is a box labeled Assume this Tip % for Authorization. That % is what your authorizations will be inflated by... I am using Aloha v6.1, but I do know that this was similar in v5.3 as well

Hope this helps,
Matt

 

[gt5133e]

zahead31 is correct there is a place to have the authorization of an extra percentage for tips. I know your pain, I have some idiots that check there cards all the time. You know the ones that are afraid of having there identity stolen. I have told my employees to tell any customer that asks about it to wait till the end of the week that it's a Visa/MC thing and when the transaction is completed it will be correct. I never here from them again since this is the case. I would not go and change this function due to the fact that it is there for your protection, it puts a hold on the card for that amount for the tip. If you don't accept tips then change it but if you do take tips don't change it. Just educate your employees so that they can explain it when the over zealous customer calls about the 20% extra on there card.

Very common issue with the advent of online banking!

 

[zahead31]

You know, gt5133e, it is interesting that you mention that if a restaurant does not add a percentage to the CC auth to allow for tip, that the card could be denied at settlement if the customer does not have enough funds to cover the bill plus tip.

We changed our tip buffer to 0% about two years ago, and I have never seen a CC get kicked back after it was approved on the initial authorization. I never thought the card could get kicked back after it has been approved, I guess we have excellent customers with plenty of money!!!

The biggest issue that we run into with CC's is when servers delete authorizations and swipe the card a second time. In that scenario, both authorizations will be held on the customers account for a few business days, then the deleted transaction will go away. It's easy to explain to a customer, some are fine with it, and some do not like the fact that you have a hold on their money. If the server has applied the CC to the worng check, there is no way to correct the issue without deleting the initial transaction. But, most servers aren't aware that if you can still adjust the check (more items, discounts) and adjust the CC payment without deleting the payment and re-applying.

 

[gt5133e]

yeah this "holding" of funds is very common in hospitality. Hotels do it, car rental does it etc etc. We just do it for a far lesser amount of money but probably get more grief then the others since customers are thinking that the servers are stealing tips.

fun fun fun

 

[bigblok403]

For anyone wanting to see an example of a CC statement when Aloha is set to 20% tip authorization -> Image

The original amount of the transaction from "Pizzeria" was $13.37 with no tip.

 

[posknowitall]

In CA this is no longer allowed. You must remove the assumed amount of a tip. From what I understand, Visa/MC guarantees the money if it is declined on the tip after thecustomer leaves

 

[Shift4SMS]

RE: "From what I understand, Visa/MC guarantees the money if it is declined on the tip after the customer leaves."

Well, this is a big gray minefield.

Originally, the card associations did not compensate for tips and the merchant and/or software vendor had to do the over-authorization percentage to make sure the transaction was covered. This is why Aloha and most POS application have some sort of over-authorization setting.

Sometime, I believe in the early 90's, the card associations automatically allowed for up to a 20% tolerance from the initial authorization for restaurant merchants. The actual method to allow for this was left to the issuers and different issuers handled this differently -- same added 20% to the authorization request, others simply compensated for the 20% on the backend settlement side. Either way, it was working fairly well and the merchants did not have to compensate for the 20%.

Then came online banking, the increase in debit card usage and branded gift cards. About two years ago the card associations changed the rules. Now, rate wise, as long as the merchant gets an online approval with swipe data for any amount, the transaction can be settled for any amount -- no more 20% limit to the tolerance. This means that technically, a merchant can now perform $1 and settle the transaction for $10, $100 or any amount and still get the "best rate". The problem is, the new rules do not address the liability and funding side of the equation. With a standard true credit card, this is not much of a problem. But with debit cards and prepaid gift cards, there is no guarantee of any funds in excess of the initial authorization.

As a merchant, you should sit down with your merchant provider to determine the best and most cost effective solution for you. Each situation is different and it boils down to a risk vs. reward decision. While you can't over-authorize the transaction up front, you will need to decide what your tolerance will be before requiring a secondary authorization for tips.

Steve Sommers

http://www.shift4.com

-- Creators of $$$ ON THE NET(tm) payment processing services

Blog:

http://shift4sms.blogspot.com

 

[gt5133e]

do notice that the "statement" pic is not a statement but a online summary of account action. This does not show up in statements. The final completed charge is the only thing that shows up. Just wanted to clarify this since I have said it b4 and will say it again, this is only a problem with people who are constantly checking there accounts online! If you look at your account when you check in at a hotel or rent a car there is a "hold" for a lot of moula! Then you never see it on your statement. Either way it should not be our problem but every year around the holiday buying season I get these calls, oh and around tax time too is the most prevalent time of year for this annoyance! I think once the customer is educated on what is happening then they just wait a little b4 they over react. All the customers I have educated on how this works still are customers and I don't hear about this from them again. They actually thank me for explaining this since this is usually not the only time they have seen this happen.

cheers,

 

[Micros888]

i have a similar issue and agree with the call back on overcharging on the debit cards , i am using aloha 5.325 and would like to change the setting so we dont hold any additional funds , what is the correct setting as not to fimilar with the maintance issues also if i can re-asign the delet key on the screen on the fop screen, regards