I do agree that if that was the response to a simple question that’s… Unprofessional and childish. Was it really that simple? What was your attitude to them? If you got angry and accusative, it seems a reasonable response. None of us know the full story here without chat transcripts…
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@anon68347098 are you actually disputing the transaction? Was the correct amount taken? I may be wrong but I read your question more as, “How was the restaurant able to take payment without either my wife’s PIN or her signature?”
Think of it like a telephone order - the required card details were supplied to the merchant - via the card rather than over the phone - and they processed the payment.
I agree that it’s a little disconcerting having a payment taken without going through an explicit approval process but in this instance I think handing the card over was the approval.
In future, I would recommend not handing the card to the merchant and requesting that the payment terminal be brought to you.
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I agree. But bear in mind there are cultural differences and in some places the idea of bringing a terminal to you is odd!
(When I was in the States they usually took it away and were very confused when I asked if that was normal. They were even more confused when the terminal asked for a pin and they had to ask me to trek to the staff area where they did the processing to enter it…)
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Yeah, Chip & PIN is still relatively new to the US - most places still want a signature.
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I never let my card be taken out of sight, if the machine is elsewhere then I’ll go to the machine and use it myself.
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Had this quite a lot in New York. America still has such a random plethora of verification options you never know what you’re going to get! Swipe & Signature, contactless & pin, chip & pin, chip & signature, swipe & nothing, chip & nothing. Contactless & sign. Pretty sure I had them all! 
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Remember in the UK, over the last fifty years of using cards, it was culturally acceptable to let your card be taken away out of sight for at least forty years. Only since chip and pin has it become custom to allow the cardholder to keep cards in sight.
I’d hazard a guess at least 50% (mostly older generation) cardholders still don’t think twice about their card leaving them, still.
If restaurants ever do this in the UK I’ll take the service charge off without a second’s thought, and explain what I’ve done that. It’s bad practice. Abroad, I’ll probably make the trek to the card machine.
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Totally with you on that one. In quite a few bars in New York the card wass swiped on the till itself as was normal here. Just something you need to accept happens in many countries abroad if you’re using your card
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Hi @anon68347098,
I was really sorry to hear about the issues here 
It must have been disconcerting to have had your card taken away and then be presented with an authorised receipt. As others have said, I think this is probably a cultural difference. Whilst we might tend to use Chip and PIN, some merchants might choose to use what is known as PAN Manual Entry which has a different set of verification requirements and liability shift (who is responsible for fraudulent transactions).
It wasn’t good to hear there had been some misunderstandings in your wife’s conversation with us - I have asked for someone to take a second look here to make sure we hadn’t missed anything.
Apologies again for the hassle and concern 
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PIN for Mastercard transactions is almost unheard of in the US. Most cards are programmed to prefer signature, and most restaurant terminals have PIN disabled to avoid the trek to the back for the occasional card that does prefer PIN.
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We are in Italy.
With all the advice given we now realise no one gives a toss on using any security process so we have decided to rack up millions of euros of debt and then claim that we never authorised a single one of them.
Lorra love.
Stephen
And then tell everyone what you’ve done?
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Admitting in a bank’s forum that you are going to defraud them is a unique approach. Maybe it’ll work
Spoiler
It won’t work
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Haha
Just spreading the word.
Got any dead certs Jamie?
Been crowdfunding for years and only just made my second million. I’m sure you’ve done much better.
Stephen
@anon68347098 I just removed your phone number again 
You might want to reply directly on here rather than via an email with your signature.
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I suspect Monzo will now be keeping a very close eye on both our accounts to make sure all is it should be my Monzo friend.
Sadly we didn’t invent the authorisation processes required we just try and follow them. If the processes are then ignored by merchants and not enforced by the banks what can us mere mortals do except lie back and wait for the grim reaper of fraudulent debt to take us to our graves.
Btw I’m only bothering to be on this community chat as I’m waiting to go to dinner.
I’ve had all the advice I need from our friends in Monzo and the community
I know what to do.
God bless you all and thank you.
Stephen
Thanks for the tip, Stephen.
May try that one myself 
Ben
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Thanks Hugh
I suspect though it wouldn’t take much for anyone to find out my inside leg measurement on the Internet.
Ps we love Monzo and I should have stopped the conversation yesterday
X
Hi Stephen,
Unfortunately this isn’t something we can help out with here on the forum. The best place to get this sorted out is through our in-app chat, where it sounds like you’re already in touch with the team.
And as a reminder, we don’t allow threads on the community that would encourage others to take part in any kind of fraudulent payments. There’s some more info about this here:
Thanks!
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