Woman Gets Drunk At Strip Club, Disputes $10,000+ In Charges With Chase

A woman says that she ran up more than $10,000 in charges at a strip club, but doesn’t think she should be responsible for the transactions on her Chase Freedom and Chase Sapphire cards. She says she “had one too many drinks and/or I was drugged” and has filed disputes with Chase.

She was given temporary credits on her Sapphire card. However she’s been denied credit for her disputes on the since-closed Freedom card.

On my Freedom one, they are claiming because I approved one charge on the sapphire(about $100 drink charge(which I still think was an overcharge but I did have memories of buying at least one drink), that me being intoxicated throws into question whether or not I actually signed off on this FRAUDULANT charge. I don’t even have the Chase Freedom card, I cancelled it immediately the next day.

The cardholder notes that she is a “mostly straight woman and no I did not procure any services that would go for this much” and therefore believes she was “likely drugged by the strippers in question.” She doesn’t remember if she signed off on charges to her cards.

HUGE STRIP CLUB TRANSACTION: Chase claiming I am liable?
by u/heynowuraroxkstar in CreditCards

If you go to a bar and drink alcohol, you can’t really dispute the bar tab by claiming that the alcohol made you unable to consent to the purchases. You’re going to be responsible for the charges, not just the first couple of drinks when you were still sober. You went to the bar voluntarily. You were certainly sober when you began ordering drinks. And in any case you are responsible for your own condition.

If a merchant actually drugged you, that would be a different story. Get a blood test as soon as possible. File a police report. Simply saying you were drugged and therefore your signature on a credit card slip wasn’t voluntary isn’t likely to be persuasive.

In this case the customer says they “ha[d] blood work done… never got the results back.” That alone adds to skepticism around the claim, I think.

I’m reminded of the Phil Hartman Saturday Night Live commercials for the personal injury law firm of ‘Green Fazio’ offering a client testimonial, “Sure the sign said no trespassing. But how much does mean when you’re as drunk as I was?”

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. As I tell all my clients, If being under the influence of drugs/alcohol were a defense (except in very rate instances) we’d all get drunk and do drugs and go a raping and pillaging!!!!

  2. People are responsible for their own choices and actions. Don’t enter those places if you can’t handle the (usually sketchy) dynamic. And she spelled “fraudulent” wrong.

  3. While I agree that being drunk is no defense I **strongly** suspect shenanigans here. It’s pretty hard to run up a tab like that. It wouldn’t even have to be drugged–the same thing could happen with substituting expensive stuff for the regular stuff, or simply charging for expensive stuff instead of regular stuff. At $100/drink (which seems insane but I don’t drink so I don’t really know bar prices) that would be 100 drinks–she wouldn’t be disputing the charge because she would be dead.

    I would want to know the history of whether there were other such disputes with that bar. I don’t believe any one case can be resolved for sure but if there’s a pattern something’s very wrong. I have heard of bars playing games like this.

  4. If you go into such clubs, you have to be careful. This sounds possible but more information is needed.

  5. Her first mistake is admitting she agreed to the first one. If she would of just said none of it was hers the CC would.of just done a charge back and that would be the end of that..there is probably trillions of dollars a year charged back to credit cards.

  6. @jns:
    > If you go into such clubs, you have to be careful. This sounds possible but more information is needed.

    That’s how I feel about it, also. There are enough stories of such ripoffs that I would like to see historical data before I blame her.

    @rjb:
    > I never use my in card at those joints.

    If I were ever in such a place that would be my approach, also. Cash only, bring only what you’re going to spend, no tab.

    @Your daddy:
    > Her first mistake is admitting she agreed to the first one. If she would of just said none of it was hers the CC would.of just done a charge back and that would be the end of that..there is probably trillions of dollars a year charged back to credit cards.

    Bad idea. If this is a ripoff they would no doubt have video showing some transaction.

  7. Is it just me or does the quote make no sense?
    “Sure the sign said no trespassing. But how much does mean when you’re as drunk as I was?”

  8. @loren but the CC companies don’t care if you dispute and say it isn’t you they give you your money back and tell the merchant to go screen themselves… they ain’t watching videos… trillions a year…

  9. A long time ago, I made a $12 purchase on a visa card (this is when I was much younger). The merchant charged $58 instead. Don’t even remember what it was for, but I signed (back when signatures were still required). I didn’t even consider disputing it as I clearly signed the slip showing the $58 charge. The vendor either made an honest mistake or tried to pull a fast one. I signed. It was MY responsibility. I learned a lesson and to this day if I ever need to sign a slip, I always look for the amount and even go so far as to circle it to be sure I verify it.

    At the end of the day, it’s personal responsibility. She gave up her card and agreed to all the charges. She probably did something like buy everyone in the bar a round or two in her drunken stupor. It’s not excuse. She is fully 100% responsible. If you don’t like the prices, don’t buy things. It’s why I don’t go to Vegas. Things are stupidly expensive. I won’t go and spend a thousand dollars at a hotel for a night then claim they overcharged me. I would doubt that there is a $100 drink, but if there is and she bought it, it’s on her, not the bar. Personal Responsibility.

  10. @ ChadMC I have no doubt there was such a thing as a $100 watery V&T but otherwise I agree with you down the line. It takes some guts to argue than since I was drunk Chase, not me, is responsible.

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