Credit Card Scamming

Aug 2, 2017, 2:22 PM

I was recently reading a review about Big Al's in Peoria IL. A couple went in there and a hostess demanded they use a credit card to start a tab. The went ahead.(dumb di dumb dumb) and got a call the next morning about an $1800 charge for Big Al's. First $1800 may not raise a red flag an many people's credit cards of if you use a less than responsible bank.

My question is this have you ever been pressed to start a tab with a card under threat of no service.

I have been asked if I want to start a tab with a card at places like Platinum Plus chain clubs and Hustler clubs but have never gotten pressure to run a credit tab anywhere I have clubbed. The closest I have come was a bar tender got snotty when I said I would pay cash replying "you will have to pay every time you get drink for you or one of the girls" I told him I had planned to do just that as I ordered my bottled water and told him I am here for the girls not the bar. I am aware of all the cautions to use cash only and I have never used a credit card in a club going all the way back to the 70's. In regular restaurants and anywhere else I use my card I am careful and verify the charges as soon as I can get to my computer. I seldom run a tab in a regular bar. I have walked out of clubs that demand to photo scan your drivers license and I would walk out if a card was demanded to purchase anything.

My second question is how do you handle it if you do not want to walk out. (Politely ask for a manager?)

The times I have complained to a manager I usually get platitudes to calm me down even if I am not upset but seldom get any action. Although in honesty I am usually complaining about dancer trying to rip me off or service on my way out the door.

Most of the time I do not even bring my cards with me. (They are in the hotel room safe.)

My third question is how the hell do they get away with it. Is it because they are a strip club and people are embarrassed to report them.

Last what strip club uses it's real name on the bill. most are owned by holding companies. Is it so the name shows up and embarrasses people into silence?

comments (7)

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ppwh8 years ago

Never had this happen. When credit card issues have come up for me, it has been stuff like I have to spend at least $20 to use a card or that I they require running a tab instead of paying for drinks individually.

I would suggest saying that your wife looks up your credit card transactions and you don't want an expensive divorce. While a random "discreet" name might look innocuous, a Google search would probably reveal what was going on.

Papi_Chulo8 years ago

"... have you ever been pressed to start a tab with a card under threat of no service ..."

No but I would not put anything past a strip-club to do anything - I read the review you are referring to when it was posted a while-back and I assumed it was a dive and they pegged the couple visiting as uninformed newbs ripe for the ROBing.

"... My second question is how do you handle it if you do not want to walk out. (Politely ask for a manager ..."

If I feel annoyed by a club I will usually just leave - I've SCed enough to where I don't gotta make something out of any particular visit. Talking to a manager IMO/IME is often a crapshoot particularly at dives where the "manager" can be as big a scumbag, or bigger, than the staff - thus talking to the manager may sometimes work but one should not assume he will give a shit as one would assume in a "normal business".

"... how the hell do they get away with it. Is it because they are a strip club and people are embarrassed to report them ..."

They don't give a shit - they know a lot of people will not bother reporting it (as long as it's not a huge tab) and will eat it - and the CC companies probably find it easier to pay-up b/c you were there and it's hard to prove that you didn't incur those charges (unless some kind of investigation is opened and LE nor the CC companies will not probably bother).

skibum6098 years ago

The only credit card rule around here is they ask you to provide a license when you first start your tab. Cash is just easier.

rh48hr8 years ago

Haven't been asked and I don't bring a card with me anyway.

shadowcat8 years ago

I've never used a credit card at a strip club and never will. As a matter of fact my favorite club does not even accept them.

gammanu958 years ago

I'd never use a CC at an SC, either. If a hostess or bartender says you must, then ask for a manager. If the manager agrees, then they are both in on the scam and it's time to head elsewhere.

san_jose_guy8 years ago

I would never even bring a credit card into a strip club!

I people talk about opening drink tabs, I have never done that or even see or heard of it at any of our clubs.

Cash - Cash - Cash, you do think just like you were one of the Mafia.

SJG

Check this out, freaky! I had always heard the rumor that Walt Disney was frozen. I assumed it was the truth. But the family strongly denies it. Cremated 2 days after his death, but first embalmed by county licensed embalmer.

This last would be harder to falsify.

Disney was heavy smoker, lung cancer took him down quite quickly at the age of 65.

So he died 12/15/66, after a lengthy stay in the hospital. They had operated to remove a walnut sized tumor from one lung. They instead found they had to remove the entire lung, and it was already into his lymph system.

Some talk about cryogenic freezing in 1960. But most of the interest started with a 1964 book.

So this group says they stated in 1969, but here on Wikipedia it says they started 12/10/1966. Maybe someone is planting false info on Wikipedia?

en.wikipedia.org

americancryonics.org

and then this video about Disney. Though the family has denied it, some do not believe it. youtube.com

Why don't they believe the family? I suspect that it is because maybe they think it is the kind of thing he would do. Money, flamboyant, adventurous, and maybe because he seems interested in the occult?