Why didn't you just pay debit in the first place?

[Dave1982]

Normally I disagree with the periodic rants about checks vs debit cards. But what happened in my store last night.......

Guy came up to the register right at close with $6600 worth of Kiosk orders. Six seperate orders, each for a Sony Vaio laptop (he's one of our hater eBayers).

First of all, he was using $50 coupon codes that he PURCHASED ONLINE form someone. I don't know if that's legal, but it certainly makes it difficult for us to verify the legimacy of the coupons now, doesn't it? Why my manager allowed this is totally beyond me, but that's not why I'm here.

For reasons I won't get into here, I wound up ringing in the first five orders together and the last one seperately. The first five came to a total of some $5500. He wrote a PERSONAL CHECK.

I'm sorry, but I don't care who the hell you are or how much money you have in your checking account. A personal check for such a large amount is never going to be approved by our check verification company (I don't actually know what the criteria are, but I have never seen a personal check for more than $1000 go through). Even if you are Bill Gates himself and deposited a million dollars to cover this $5500 purchase, it still won't go through.

Yet, even knowing this, I am obligated to try, then to waste a good 15 minutes wrestling with the automated line with the check company answering 10,000 questions about the check and the customer's ID, only to repeat EVERYTHING with the human operator when they finally come on the line. Just decline the check and let me get on with my life, please?

Anyway, the guy of course made a huge stink about the check not being approved, as if it was our fault personally. Excuse me, but I wasn't on the phone with myself, ok? [Company] Check Authorization Services declined to approve your check, not me.

Now, here was the kicker. After calming down a little, he pulled out his DEBIT CARD and paid with that, and it went through.

Question: WHY IN GOD'S NAME DIDN'T YOU PAY WITH YOUR DEBIT CARD IN THE FIRST PLACE YOU !!!!!!!!!!

Doing so would have saved you and me both a lot of time and hassle. Moreover, since I had ot be pulled off the floor to ring your sorry butt through, I lost 20 minutes total that could have been spent doing ad prep and putting up price changes. All of us probably got out ten minutes later than necessary because of this.

Pardon me while I call in an air strike on this guy.....

[Gawdzillers]

Air strikes are fun.
Don't even have to lift a finger.

[Shengirl]

...Why?! Honestly, people just don't understand how retailers are made to view checks. They don't understand what sends off little alarm bells in a cashier's head. And instead of asking why and listening, they just like to flip out.

[Eben56]

A little too harsh?

While I understand the frustration that can come from a situation, I wonder if this isn't a bit of an overreaction.. First, why not be angry at the check service? What good is the service if it is turning down checks that are obviously good?
Also, normally a customer buying in the thousands wouldn't be berated for running a few people over 10 minutes... Especially since the problem seems to be with the store check service. I'm new here, so cut me to shreads if appropriate.. But I have been on the other side of the scenario (trying to buy a car with a check).

[MoonChild2007]

Question: WHY IN GOD'S NAME DIDN'T YOU PAY WITH YOUR DEBIT CARD IN THE FIRST PLACE

Probably cause checks take longer to clear so if he doesn't have the funds in his account, he can do anything in his power to get the money. Debit cards remove the money right away.

[Rapscallion]

Probably cause checks take longer to clear so if he doesn't have the funds in his account, he can do anything in his power to get the money. Debit cards remove the money right away.

Hmm - I can see the point, but the money was in the account if the debit card went through fine (at least, my cheque and debit card are tied to the same account).

Rapscallion

[BookstoreEscapee]

I'm new here, so cut me to shreads if appropriate.. But I have been on the other side of the scenario (trying to buy a car with a check).

Lucky for you, we don't do that sort of thing around here... Welcome, by the way.

I bought my car with a check, too, but it was a cashier's check from the bank, not a personal check on my account. (In other words, the bank takes the money out of my account and cuts me a check for it.) I would imagine a lot of companies have limits on how much they will take a personal check for, regardless of the customer.

[wagegoth]

Probably cause checks take longer to clear so if he doesn't have the funds in his account, he can do anything in his power to get the money. Debit cards remove the money right away.

He might take the money out, pay the return fee ($30 isn't much compared to $5500), pay the store's returned check fee (after making it good), then sell the items on eBay for enough to cover all the fees.

Maybe, convoluted, but we know that SCs are convolutedly stupid.

[Broomjockey]

While I understand the frustration that can come from a situation, I wonder if this isn't a bit of an overreaction.. First, why not be angry at the check service? What good is the service if it is turning down checks that are obviously good?
Also, normally a customer buying in the thousands wouldn't be berated for running a few people over 10 minutes... Especially since the problem seems to be with the store check service. I'm new here, so cut me to shreads if appropriate.. But I have been on the other side of the scenario (trying to buy a car with a check).

For the "over 10 minutes" part, it isn't part of Dave's normal duties to run register, and he had other tasks that were supposed to get accomplished, so the problem was, since this guy took a lot long than it should *to simply cash out* (the selecting had already been finshed by this point, from what I can tell), that's Dave's day made that much harder.

As for the being angry at the cheque service? Their policies, not the fault of the guy on the phone. He's doing what he can to protect from cheque fraud, as the guy might do any number of things, from having falsified ID and the cheques to make it from someone else's account, to calling the bank and stopping payment on the cheque after he's clear. That's basically the whole reason the service exists, is to reduce fraud. Now, buying a car with a cheque, it doesn't make sense, as you're basically expected to be laying out a lot of money, and most people have limits on what their debit card can do in a day. But at Staples? Most people aren't spending $1000 and up, which makes that a decent cut-off point.

[Dave1982]

Also, normally a customer buying in the thousands wouldn't be berated for running a few people over 10 minutes... Especially since the problem seems to be with the store check service.

Normally yes, we would not begrudge a guy spening thousands of dollars, but this guy was not normal. He's a reseller. He was buying on-sale laptops (six of them) using sketchy coupons, and did not buy a single attachment for any of them. So all this extra work and frustration went into a transaction that probably represented a loss of a few hundred dollars or more.

Hence the acrimony towards this guy.

[Eben56]

Thanks

Thanks for setting me straight... Did not pick up on his being a PIA reseller.

[Andara Bledin]

What I would like to know is why the hell a sale item that is likely also a loss leader designed to get people into the store to buy attachments doesn't have a limit of one per customer.

^-.-^

[Jadedcarguy]

I had a guy a few years back try to pay with a check for an engine. The total came to about $2300. He writes a check. I run it through verification, and......FAIL. He says "That's strange" and then without warning he went apeshit. He cussed me, his bank, the government, and a few organizations I'd never heard of. It was enough of a ruckus to bring my boss out of his hidey hole to tell the guy to GTFO. He didn't get his engine.

[digilight]

Just my opinion, as a reseller/business owner, a check creates a paper trail for tax purposes. Possibly while I agree he was a PIA, he was trying to protect himself come audit/tax time.

[Dave1982]

What I would like to know is why the hell a sale item that is likely also a loss leader designed to get people into the store to buy attachments doesn't have a limit of one per customer.

^-.-^

Well, I think that they don't conisder a laptop to be something many people will buy more than 1 of. PLus, he circumvented any limits by placing 6 seperate orders (though he probably did that to use all six of his shady coupons)