Bartending Scam in Milwaukee

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

So my buddy and i were out on water street last night. We're getting rewady to leave and my buddy goes to close his tab. to our surprise the bartender had charged SIX bud lights and four coors lights to his tab. Mind you, both of these are incredibly inferior beers that neither of us would ever order, let alone the fact that my buddy hates beer. ( i really only drink Leines)... anyways, as it turns out the bartender was either letting some random people charge things to my buddys tab, or was trying to cheat him for $$$.

 

My buddy questioned the charges, refused to pay, and asked the bartender how things could be smoothed out. The bartender demanded that he order two more drinks and give the bartender $10 in cash to smooth it over. My buddy obviously wasn't going to pay $30-$40 for TWO rum and cokes, so we left the bar after the bartender gave my buddy his credit card back and while he was busy making the new drinks. My buddy feels bad about not paying for the two drinks he did order and is going to stop by this week to give them CASH for those drinks.

 

This morning he filed a police complaint and also a complaint with the better business bureau. Note- both of us only had TWO drinks the entire night so the recollection of this isn't in question.

 

Has anyone else either been scammed by a bartender, or been the victim of an idiot bartender who will let random people charge things to your tab?

[patrickgpe]

it could of been as simple as 2 tabs with the same name and the bartender mixed up. Obviously the situation could of been handled better, but having been to those bars before i am sure the bartenders often tried to get ripped off by people trying to get drinks off there tabs. Personally i never do a tab only because its easier to keep track of how much you are spending when you are paying cash for every drink you order.

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

yeah...........i only will do a tab at Paddys Pub on the eastside where i know the owners very well and all of the bartenders know me......... this ordeal only makes me hate water street even more

[patrickgpe]

i love that bar, patty and woody are awesome. One of the worst parts of moving out of the east side is that i can no longer walk to that bar.

 

I prefer not go to water street, because first of all i realized that its a much younger crowd than me (which is very depressing). The drinks are very overpriced. I'd rather hang out at a quiet corner bar and have a few drinks and watch some sports when i go out to bars.

[nullbyte]

Which bar was this at?

[dadofandrew]

Sounds like a mix up to me...I can't believe they let folks run tabs as easy as it is to leave.

[logan82]

I wouldn't run a tab except at a small bar/lounge in the early evening. I think it would be to easy to get a mix up like that during the night in a packed bar.

[ewizabeff]

Sounds like a mix up to me...I can't believe they let folks run tabs as easy as it is to leave.

 

most bars won't let you run a tab unless you leave your credit card...then they can still get their money if you bail.

[dadofandrew]

Do they check to see if the card works? I probably have 20 cards open, but only have a couple actual cards...could I ask companies to send me a card and then cancel it to get free drinks?

 

I don't even drink, it just seems like many would do this.

[PeaveyFury]

Do they check to see if the card works?

 

I think they run it through like any other card initially for approval.

[ewizabeff]

I actually think most people are honest enough to use valid cards. They normally don't run my card until I close out my tab. Plenty of people drink so much they don't even remember to close out the tab. My friend is a bartender on North Ave and she says they have a stack of cards at bar close every night.

[stoutdude04]

Alot of places will charge $$ if you leave it over night. Like 10 or 20 bucks.

[Viva La Grinch]

As a bar manager, here is what we do in these type of situations. Its not very often that somebody disputes the tab, and if they seem pretty sober, I will often comp the difference knowing what our cost is. I never let a staff drink, so if its a staff versus patron situation, I will side with the staff nine times out of ten.

 

As for a card being valid, almost always a card will go through. You might grab a few cards a year that are not valid, but that is the risk you take. If the bill is high, I will often run it for a certain amount during the course of the night, just to make sure it will go through. As for tabs being left, if its a small amount, I will let it slide. If its a larger amount, I always add 10% to any tab left to make it fair to the bartender. Very often, people come in and want to leave a tip, but once its run and processed, we can't run a tip unless we run the card again since it was settled the night before.

[GAME05]

a bar wouldn't run a card for approval before starting a tab because that would take a ton of time to do. the extra number of drinks that could be made in that amount of time would far outweigh the time it would take to run cards and prevent one or two cards not working.

 

if a bar actually charged me $10-$20 if i left my card there at night, it wouldn't be a bar I'd return to. My bar puts a buck or two (or 10%, but it's less than I'd normally leave as a tip) if I leave it.

 

when the tab starts getting to around $50, my bar runs the bill on people even if they're still going to be sticking around and still drinking, just to prevent anyone from running off or the card not working or just to prevent the major surprise of a super-high bill.

[SheetsCyYoung04]

My buddies have had me go put drinks on their tabs for them a time or two on water and I always found it odd that there was no verification. I just said the name and they put it on the tab.

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

Reflecting.. this probably was a mix-up, and i only got the story second hand... i wasn't at the bar when the discussion occured.......... i feel bad for bartenders, because i'm sure there are alot of unruly, cheap, and deceptive patrons, but i think bars could do a better job to limit the crowd size from where it is in order to preserve more order...

[edod]

I wouldn't necessarily say this is a mix up. I've heard of and experienced this before and I believe its a more of a sly bartender helping out friends than a mixup. Though, usually they strike on large tabs, where one person is ordering drinks for multiple people--like those of us who do the round system or on people who are obviously drunk. The fact that the bartender wanted you to buy two more drinks and give him 10$ bucks, pretty much screams of a scam.

[Chio151]

I just pay cash for my drinks -- you drink less and save money.

[MillerParkSouth]

this is why whenever I pay for drinks on a credit card, i'll always close out and pay my tab after each round. it's a little bit of a pain, but well worth the peace of mind.

[paul253]

If you dont mind me asking, what did the police do? DId they take a report? It seems to me like they wouldnt because reports are only made when crimes are comitted, and to me it sounds awfully to prove a crime was comitted.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I never run a tab. I always just close after each drink.