Comments on: Pannekoeken Huis: Savage, MN

By: Tiffany

Tiffany — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:30:42 +0000

We used to go to Pannekoeken Huis all the time when I was little, it was our favorite family restaurant. We make Pannekoeken at home but they’re never as wonderful and fluffy as the ones at Pannekoeken Huis. I recently saw the one in Savage and had to take my husband (who had never heard of Pannekoeken) there for lunch one day. To my utter joy they had Rhubarb for the variety of the day. Rhubarb anything is a must-try for me! It was delicious and I was so happy to find a remnant of my childhood still alive, and near my house, in Savage!

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 23:32:04 +0000

I’ll admit, I didn’t think these were still around. I thought they all closed back in the mid-90’s when the chain went under.

The link just goes to a placeholder page, though; I couldn’t find a current site.

By: MSPD

MSPD — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:38:39 +0000

Hey Gayle,

I’m not sure why you’re posting this to Bill’s blog but it looks to me like you are complaining about a non-issue.

The first thing you have to understand is how credit card/debit card authorizations work at restaurants, hotels and pay-at-the-pump gas stations. In each of these places you give them a card to PRE-AUTHORIZE your purchase. Then you use the service and the final bill is settled.

Because, in these scenarios, the final amount standardly includes a gratuity, the amount the software pre-authorizes equals the initial amount PLUS AN ASSUMED GRATUITY/VARIANCE. It’s built into the processing system (the “cash register” so to speak).

Take your restaurant experience. Your bill was $12.02. It looks to me like you added a roughly 20% tip of $2.40 ($14.42). Theoretically, this is the amount that should be deducted from your bank account or charged on your credit card bill.

In reality, when you handed the card to the waiter/waitress, they keyed in $12.02 and handed you your card back BEFORE you added a tip. The software is setup to PRE-AUTHORIZES that amount PLUS an automatic overage to “plan” for the customer adding a tip. The machine wants to know that your account balance is sufficient to cover the charge AND enough for an assumed gratuity.

If you do the math, $17.03 is 30% over the original $12.02. You can deduce that the credit/debit card software is set to pre-authorize bills for the amount plus 30%.

This does NOT mean they actually took $17.03 out of your bank (or charged your credit card company $17.03. You do not actually pay this amount, nor do you get charged interest on the extra amount for a couple of days. It is simply a placeholder line item that exists for 1-2 days on your account. After the actual amount is entered by the restaurant, the system reconciles and your financial institution adjusts the line item.

People generally discover this when they view their bank statements online very soon after they make a transaction. Many times the manager on duty at a restaurant isn’t familiar with this aspect of their credit card processing system. Most restaurants have an accountant or owner who worked with the credit card system vendor to get everything set up.

So when you call the restaurant to complain about the “overcharge”, they often have no idea what’s going on until the issue is escalated to an owner. In an ideal world, all restaurant staff would be trained to explain the situation.

Bottom line: If you’re vigilant about checking your statements, whenever you use a credit card/debit card, wait a few days for all of the transactions to finalize before taking action on “mistakes”.

By: Gayle Rengel

Gayle Rengel — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:17:35 +0000

I have no idea where to get help at Pannekoeken. Everyone I have talked to takes the attitude “not our fault, just don’t come back if you don’t like it”.
I visited your Maplewood restaurant , using a Metro Dining card. My bill, that I signed was for $12.02.
I checked the balance on the Norton/Symantec cash rebate card, and you charged me $17.03. I went back to the restaurant and was told”we charged you $12.02, and that I should call the card people. I did and was told that Pannekoeken entered a charge of $14.42 and a tip was added, bringing the total to $17.30.The reference was from Savage so I called there.
There I was told that is is the card problem. When I suggested that I was not happy with the treatment and did not think I should come back. Both locations told me that was fine with them.
Is this normal customer help?

By: Brandy

Brandy — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 23:04:53 +0000

I was excited to see the review of Pannekoeken on your site! I agree about the comment that Kim made. We have four locations now and the Savage one is the least visited. Try us during the day on the weekend as we usually are hoppin’!