Given that most of the people involved in the checking of your signature aren't exactly trained in forensic document analysis, it'd be pretty easy to claim 'mismatch' in a very large number of cases.
In practice, they're barely even looked at. There are various signature-trolling stories around the net (signing as mickey mouse, Hitler, random pictograms, etc) demonstrating this.
When I worked (thankfully briefly) in retail, I'd give every one at least a cursory check, and maybe a bit more detail and less tolerance of differences if it was a big-ticket item. I actually got chewed out by my boss occasionally for checking, since few of the other staff did, and it might "upset the customer".
Comments
It's actually a violation of the VISA merchant agreement to require ID for purchase unless the signature doesn't match.
Given that most of the people involved in the checking of your signature aren't exactly trained in forensic document analysis, it'd be pretty easy to claim 'mismatch' in a very large number of cases.
In practice, they're barely even looked at. There are various signature-trolling stories around the net (signing as mickey mouse, Hitler, random pictograms, etc) demonstrating this.
When I worked (thankfully briefly) in retail, I'd give every one at least a cursory check, and maybe a bit more detail and less tolerance of differences if it was a big-ticket item. I actually got chewed out by my boss occasionally for checking, since few of the other staff did, and it might "upset the customer".