Havana and Credit cards-heads up
 

We were at Havana for sunday breakfast yeterday around 10:45. The place was about 1/3 filled and a party of 4 was turned away as the hst said that he was short staffed. As we were only 2 he put us in a booth and took our order hhimsself. During our stay, he called in another server early so there were now about 5 servers and patrons inside and out.

When we went to pay w used a credit card that the server said was declined so we tried another one and iit too was declined. I knew that there was plenty of space on the card as both had just been paid off for the month, but rather than fuss we paid cash.

When I went home, both card ccompanies said that there was no record oof the cards being submitted and declined and no charges. So I called Havana to let the manager know. He said that he had called the IT and was checking their system as he had swiped the cards himself and thought it strange that 2 cards were declined.

I thought I would post as a heads up for those thinking of going to Havana. I know there have been many threads on the poor service etc. but we have not had that experience the few times we have gone so we were not expecting much. Just a simple breakfast! I was wondering if theey were wanting to accumulate more cash pn hand but didn't want to say that on the door.

Probably won't be going back any too soon and will keep my eye on the card items!

LW888

a computer glitch turns into a conspiracy theory.

Hello Lightworker,

We own a business and once in a blue moon our computer system also goes into a funk. It is a major pain in the rear and I think makes us look poorly as a business but it is not our fault.

Please give Havana another chance if the only reason was the credit card glitch.

I think the credit card glitch was the icing on the cake. Will Havana ever get their stuff together???

I think the headline of this story is not the credit card glitch, but the fact that they could not accomodate customers on a Sunday morning. How do you stay in business when people cannot get in the door?

The title was Havana and credit card heads-up

Hence the comments on credit cards

We live in a "computer driven" society. Earlier this morning I kept getting "kicked off" my computer---for no reason that I could find. Now it's fine! Most likely something similar was happening at Havana.

We arrived last Sunday around 9:00 am and were immediately seated. There were were only a few people there when we arrived. The service was prompt and efficient. The breakfast was served as ordered. We didn't encounter any problem using our credit card. By the time we were finished there was a moderate amount of people seated. We plan to go back. Where can you get a breakfast, including coffee for less than $5?

missypie, I think what the poster meant was the big issue here should have been the fact that they couldn't seat people when the place was only half full. I don't think he was commenting on your having commmented on the techno glitch.

I think he meant not being able to seat people is a bigger problem than a cc glitch.

Oh ok thanks for the clarification. I stand corrected.

I guess that the issue of the credit cards was a last straw thing. We talked about the issue of servers over breakfast and realized that as the snowbirds return it is hard to estimate the numbers. They removed the sunday buffet because of the drop in clientele and the waste of food. I understand about computer glitches and would usually think of that first and not really comment on it. It just seemed that nothing was going right there. DH also asked for a refill of his coffee and it never came. Those who know me know that I look at the glass half full in most situations so it takes quite a bit to have me question what is going on. I guess the real reason I posted was to make others aware so that they could have cash on hand JIC.. Didn't really mean to stir the pot!


LW888

Quote:

We plan to go back. Where can you get a breakfast, including coffee for less than $5?

Well this explains a lot about Havana's troubles. Even McDonalds costs more than $5, with a worker handing it out the window to people dining in their car.

The real headline of this story is the fact that in this economy, you still have employees that do not show up for work!

Sometimes, it's just not possible to show up for work. We don't know the reason why the manager said he was short staffed. It could be a medical emergency or something as innocuous as a scheduling error. I worked hard all my life, but every now and then I missed a day.

I think that if the computer was down, he would get a message saying that the computer was down or that the transaction was not completed. In this case the waiter said that the cards were declined. If the computer was down how could it decline the cards?

Maybe it was an innocent computer malfunction or maybe it was a waiter trying to get away with something or even a business owner trying to avoid taxes. There's no real reason to believe any of these things, but there's no real reason to discount any of them either.

I don't carry cash, just my Visa card. How does a business deal with situations like that.

We were in a small independently owned grocery store last week whose owner said the machine was not working. He directed us to an ATM machine.

We ask people to bring the $ next time they come in. So far it has worked for us.

With the prime season heating up expect long delays short tempers and an increase in the quality/temperature of food (ie. too cold, no taste, short on the----------). some copied my credit card number

The cure cook home

do you have absolute proof some copied your cc number? That's a pretty serious charge. Your cc could have been compromised anywhere down the line, from the server to someone working at the cc distribution center with whom the resto does business, to hackers in cyberspace.

Still not a big issue.

If they, or any server, wanted to steal your info they don't have to make up any story about decline. They could simply write down all the numbers, and the exp. date, and the security code from everyone in the restaurant. Not sure what the decline has to do with security. ?

I can't imagine that they care that much about cash sales since most places build in the price assuming the majority of customers pay by card and they have to pay the transaction costs. And if they are like most businesses, the more transactions they process there is less cost for each transaction (i.e. volume discount).

We were at Applebee's on Sunday about that same time and also had connectivity issues when using a credit card. My guess it was an area problem, not just at Havana.

Weds-Sat for Dinner, the singing waiters/waitresses show was wonderful! Time for a little positive publicity for Havana. :coolsmiley:

havana
 

That is very interesting because the same thing happened to
Me, same day in fact at Sweetbay. I knew there was enough
Money in my account and even checked the account when I
Got home.

Maybe it was just a computer glitch!

WCS