Experience: I paid £55,000 for a beer
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When I asked for the receipt, the bar tender printed it out and put her hand over her mouth. I’m a cricket journalist from Sydney, and in 2019 I was in Manchester to cover the Ashes. After dinner, I stopped for a beer at the Malmaison hotel. I’m pretty fussy about beer and I love an English bitter. I asked the bartender if she had any ales. She offered me a European pilsner, though eventually got me a Deuchars IPA.
There were a few cricketers in the bar, so I was chatting to them while I distractedly tapped my card on the reader to pay for the beer. The bartender said it didn’t work and asked me to do it again and put my pin in. I did, then she asked if I wanted a receipt. I never get receipts. I’m a bit careless with money and not very attentive. I didn’t have my glasses on either.
At first I said no, but as she walked away I thought there was something odd about the interaction so I asked for the receipt. She printed it out and put her hand over her mouth. I asked what was wrong and she kept saying, “Oh no!” I got alarmed. She showed it to me, and the charge was for just over £55,000. I said: “Oh God, you’re going to fix this, aren’t you?”.
Six months before, somebody had skimmed my card, and my bank had called to tell me that someone was trying to buy a six-pack of beer in the western suburbs of Sydney. It isn’t where I usually buy beer, so they didn’t put the charge through. That day, I thought: there’s no way a bank will put through a charge of £55,000 for a beer. I talked to the bar manager, who reassured me that it was their mistake and that I wouldn’t be left out of pocket.
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