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Isn’t it amazing how many people think they can outsmart business owners?

These are veterans, folks!

They’ve been in the game a long time and they know when something smells fishy.

In today’s story, a fireworks store owner (dream job) talked about how he busted a customer who tried to rip him off…but he was ready for him!

Get started now!

Firing a Customer [Tales from a Fireworks Tent].

“I own and operate my own retail stores.

They’re actually seasonal fireworks tents, but not like any fireworks tents you’ve seen before. They’re 4,000 square feet of fun, friends, and fireworks, with a touch of crazy thrown in to keep it exciting.

Every year, I get a couple of credit card chargebacks after the 4th of July and New Year’s Eve. I research the chargebacks and accept or dispute as necessary.

Sometimes I find an obvious error on our part, like where a transaction was submitted twice in a row so the customer was double charged.

He’s a fair businessman…

If it was our fault, I’ll accept the chargeback and move on.

But every now and then, I’ll come across one that I just can’t figure out.

Last year after the 4th of July, I had a chargeback for more than $800 where “Robert” claimed fraud. He claimed that the purchase should have been just over $80, but that we had mischarged him.

Unfortunately for him, I switched to integrated POS systems years ago, and was able to pull up his receipt with all of the items in his purchase. I responded to the credit card company with a copy of the detailed receipt.

This went back and forth, with the credit card holder eventually claiming that he had paid for the large purchase in cash, and had just gotten a few more items with his credit card.

Sadly, but not shockingly, the CC company found in his favor and the charge was reversed.

I was upset, but it’s not the first time it’s happened to me. As I was filing the information and reviewing my dispute files, I noticed that I had a dispute from someone with the same name from the year before.

Uh oh…

Sure enough, it was the same card number used as well. Now I was REALLY mad.

I understand that we occasionally make mistakes, but this guy was straight up scamming me for free fireworks. I made a note of the name and credit card number and made copies of all of my documentation.

When New Year’s Eve rolled around this year, I made sure that all of my cashiers were double checking ID’s and on the lookout for the jerk.

Sure enough, guess who tried to buy a cart full of fireworks on New Year’s Eve!

My cashier had caught it just after he had inserted his card for payment, so she quickly cancelled the transaction and acted like she was having an issue with the terminal.

Gotcha!

I walked over with my best smile and apologized for the issue.

I asked to see his credit card and his ID so that I could verify it was him. I then let him know that due to prior fraud with that card, we were firing him as a customer, and that he was no longer welcome at any of my locations.

He blew a gasket! He immediately started yelling and cursing at me and my cashier. Bad move dude.

I waved over the off-duty police officer I hire for security and explained the situation to him. He happily removed the still yelling former customer as my cashiers and I took turns high fiving just to rub it in.”

Let’s see what readers had to say about this.

This person weighed in.

Another Reddit user shared their thoughts.

This individual spoke up.

Another reader was impressed.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an ex-Army vet who quit his security guard job after he doesn’t get a promised raise.

And this Reddit user nailed it.

This guy had it coming!

What a creep!

Good riddance to him!

Don’t you just love it when a scammer gets caught?!?!