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In reply to the discussion: Family Says They Did Tip Gay Server, Didn't Leave Note [View all]Mojo Electro
(362 posts)They put a hold on the card for the amount of the bill, but only later when they settle the transactions do they add the tip in and then charge the total amount. Your card has not been charged yet when they bring the receipt back to you, they've just run it to see if you have enough on the card.
That's why sometimes you can't use those pre-paid cards or Visa gift cards and such in restaurants. Or if you can, you have to have like at least 130% of the bill (or whatever the chosen number is) available on it.
It's so they don't get stiffed on the tip.
If you have 100 dollar Visa gift card lets say, and you run up a bill of $98, the bill would go though, and then you could write in a $20 tip on the receipt and when they tried to charge it, the card would decline.
Most regular debit cards will just overdraw your account if you do that, so the restaurant still gets paid.