You People And Your Checks

[TeslaRecoil]

I swear, some people must think I was born yesterday. I'm referring to the people that keep trying to pass bad checks on me. I've had a few in the past few weeks, so here's some of the better ones ...

Preface: Our company used to subscribe to Telecheck (a national, check monitoring service). They decided it was too expensive (in other words, the company's going broke), so they said they'd build their own database. Fine. But what they forgot to do was buy their data from Telecheck. So now, we hve a blank bad check database. How do we populate said database? By getting bad checks, of course. Until the database is built and populated, our LP rep send a weekly list of bad checks to each store. We're supposed to use that to verify each check. Does that happen? Of course not! It doesn't take the scammers too long to figure this out, so hence, my stories:

1) I'm headed up front when I see a line of the backup register, and my main cashier standing around, looking like he's waiting for someone. I ask what's going on, and he says rung a woman up, and her credit card wouldn't swipe. She tried another one, and it came back "Alternate Tender Required", which means "BAD CARD". She went outside to get another card from her car.

I checked her purchase, and it was almost $200 worth of stuff. Phone cards, cigarettes, and expensive cosmetics. Seems a little fishy, right? SO I wait for her to come back.

She comes back, checkbook in hand. I have to verify the name and address against her license. Her address (on the license and on the check) is about 25 miles away from my store (somewhere in Queens). The license is also expired. She's not on the bad check list, but I just didn't feel comfortable taking the check, so I told her it came back declined. She got a nasty look on her face, grabbed her checkbook and license, and stormed off, muttering something about me being a racist. She did, however, leave the check behind. Sure enough, whose name shows up on the bad check list the next week but this woman. She passed on in the store down the road from us for nearly the same amount. Big surprise.

2) Last night, I closed the store. Everyone else is gone, and I'm in the office doing the money for the day. I notice that one till has a check for $311 in it. Normally, checks over $50 require a manager/pharmacist approval. But being that this was for 3 Rx's (meaning we have the person's info on file), we'd let that slide. It does, however, have to be verified against the bad check list.

Wouldn't you know that the name and address on this check just happened to match the name and address on the TOP of the bad check list? That's right! THE FIRST ONE! And no one said a word. Nevermind the fact that it was a business check with no individual's name on it, and it was for a large sum of money, but they were first on the list. Even a quick glance at the list would have shown that.

What sucks even more is that, as per my LP rep, I am to deposit the check no matter what. True, it may turn out to be valid, but I highly doubt it. So now, the store's out an extra $30 on top of the $311. Isn't that great?

This is why we have to do away with checks. I couldn't even tell you the last time I wrote a check. Hell, I couldn't even tell you where my checkbook is. I'm like a magician. i can balance a checkbook without physically holding said checkbook.

If we convice enough environmental lobbyists that checks are killing trees, they might push to get rid of them.

[blas]

They got rid of Telecheck a few months back at the gas station, and were using a list of bad check writers as well.

Some people got so offended if you brought out the list and asked them their name while they wrote a check.
"I cannot BELIEVE you'd think I'd write a bad check!"
"I've never written a bad check in my entire LIFE!"

Then there were just the plain immature people who'd go:
"I'm not in there, na na na na na na!"

Then there were the threatening:
"You CAN'T look in there!"
"I'm not in there, DON'T BOTHER!"

[batmoody]

She passed on in the store down the road from us

Yay! It's always nice when they croak "everywhere else"

[Slave to the Phone]

What sucks even more is that, as per my LP rep, I am to deposit the check no matter what. True, it may turn out to be valid, but I highly doubt it. So now, the store's out an extra $30 on top of the $311. Isn't that great?

I think its possible you are wrong about the $30 fee. The fee for accepting a bad check is much lower than the fee for writing a bad check on an open account. Our Nevada bank charges $4 and the Arizona banks charge $3 and $3.50. It still sucks.

This is why we have to do away with checks.

I process the bad checks for our stores. I so agree with you that we need to just stop taking them. OTOH, I chase bad check writers after I get tired of talking to complaining customers. I get way too much joy when I see mail from District Attorneys, especially when they contain checks or copies of bench warrents.

My advice? Never, ever take counter checks. If possible, refuse checks that have numbers in the low hundreds. Always refuse checks that are not local, or in the same county. Verify the address on the check with the ID.

Or, better yet, just ban the dang things.

[AmericanZero8503]

Or, better yet, just ban the dang things.

Then you'll have those people who never read signs. We have a tough check writing policy. And a lot of people get pissed that we can't accept their checks. Sometimes it's legit, like one lady had her check book stolen but hadn't cleared her name from the list after she requested it be added, she was fine with it and paid by debit card.

But then we have the people who try to scam us. This guy came in and bought 100 dollars worth of stuff, paid by check. He then walked out the door, then walked in and returned it all! They gave him cash back, sure enough the check was bad.

I think checks are only good for rent. That's it. Now-a-days you can almost pay all your bills with a debit card, online somewhere. It's these old folks who watch the news too much that are too frightened to use a debit card.

[beercashier]

It's these old folks who watch the news too much that are too frightened to use a debit card

.

My 70 year old father pays all his bills on line, I don't even do that! It was a struggle several years back to get him to use a debit card, but once he figured it out he was good to go.

I had a guy who wrote us 2 bad checks try to write another when he knew the first 2 bounced. He said he would be in to pay them on payday and that this third one wouldn't bounce. Yeah right!

[Midnight]

Fortunately, the store I work at has Tele-Check so our ass is usually covered if a bad check comes up.

For example, a guy came into our store a couple weeks ago and wanted to purchase about $200 worth of stuff. (Like 5 video games, a few DVD box sets, and a couple controllers) The guy didn't exactly seem like the most upstanding citizen in history but he "claimed" he had JUST deposited almost $3,000 in his new checking account he had just opened up. He only had starter checks with him though since they "apparently" hadn't sent him his real checks yet, but I've taken starter checks through Tele-Check in the past no problem. (If we didn't have Tele-Check, there's no way in hell I'd even consider taking a starter check for payment, especially for a transaction of this size)

So I ring his stuff up, and send the check through along with his DL# like normal. Not to suprised it came back a "Code 4" which means the system has information on file that won't allow the check to be taken, i.e. this schmuck has probably bounced several checks in the past. He was cool about it and I agreed to hold his stuff he wanted to buy for a couple of days since he wanted to find out why his check had been rejected. I wasn't to surprised a few days went by and he never came back. If he was REALLY legit and wanted his stuff bad enough, why not just go take the money out of your checking account the next day and come back and buy it?

It's nice to have a system like Tele-check in place so our ass is covered and we don't have to worry about bounced checks.

[JustaCashier]

We check I.D. on checks of any amount, plus check them against the bad check list in our POS. If it's a regular customer, those of us Cashiers that have been there awhile are allowed to just write "known" on the front of the check. Checks $100.00 and over, we verify through the SCAN system, via a 1-800 number, and need Manager's approval (over the inter-store phone). I occasionally run into the Customer that gets offended by this.

I use my checks for mostly rent too, and pretty much pay everything else on-line.

.My 70 year old father pays all his bills on line, I don't even do that! It was a struggle several years back to get him to use a debit card, but once he figured it out he was good to go.

We have an employee that is 77 y.o. and he said just today that he has paid his bills on-line for years.

[Slave to the Phone]

AmericanZero8503[/B]]Then you'll have those people who never read signs. We have a tough check writing policy. And a lot of people get pissed that we can't accept their checks.

I don't care. Tell them to call me and I'll be happy to explain how costly bad check writers are. I spend hours each week chasing those low-lifes down. When I get bored, I send the paperwork to the District Attorney and they spend even more hours chasing them down.

This causes the price of our product to go up and taxes to go up.

IMO, If someone has a checking account, they have a debit card. That's just how it works. If someone is afraid to use their debit card, why in the world would they feel safe leaving a piece of paper with their bank account info, name, address and driver's license number laying around?

Again, this is just my opinion, scammers love using checks for small purchases because they know that the DA doesn't chase hard for 15 bucks. I don't care if its a $1.07 check, I will chase and I will file charges. If the DA gets enough $1.07 checks, the total will reach the magic number and a bench warrent will go out.

beercashier[/B]]I had a guy who wrote us 2 bad checks try to write another when he knew the first 2 bounced.

As long as the account is open, I can ding their account 3 times for the bad check. The first thing I do is send a certified letter that says in red letters: (paraphrased) Do not go to the store. They do not have your check. Do not send a check, we will not cash it.

After a set period of time, I ding their bank account. I've got justchex set up so the dings happen late Friday night. If I miss them that night, they get the bounced check fee and I try again the next Friday.

Usually after the second bounced check fee, they go to the store. Then they mail me a check. Which I happily copy and send back with a copy of my original letter, with date and red stuff highlited.

It's nice to have a system like Tele-check in place so our ass is covered and we don't have to worry about bounced checks.

I am so jealous. *pouts*

[Imogene]

Had a royal b*tch come into the Chesterfield store one night. Picked out a whole stack of junk. I rang her out, she paid with a check. I ran it through... comp says "no way, Jo`se!" Woman gets angry, I try it again, as I have been known to transpose one or two numbers while typing on those comps (the registers had a very prominent bug where, every few months, they would miss a single keystroke, and be constantly a step behind you. So, you had to futz with the damn thing for 20 minutes to an hour to figure out exactly how to fix the damn thing, and, unless it was slow, you couldn't fix it permanently (reboot got rid of it for a few more months, but took an hour).) So, I retyped check info. Comp says "Are you kidding me, Manuel?" At this point, I have removed any chance that it was a typing error on my part. I ask if she has another way to pay?
Of course not. But she just put $3,000 in that account. (And unless it was liquid money when you did it, it'll be holed up in the bank's verification process for a few days, b*tch)And why the hell is her account being turned down?
"All I know is the comp said "Are you kidding me, Manuel?" It doesn't say "I can't accept this check because there's no money/your family owes me a life debt/I hate your tie".
"Well, how do I find out why it didn't go through?"
"I don't know."
Repeat one or two thousand times.
So, I call upon manager on duty (forget who it was) He gives her the little yellow slip of Doom! Er, of Teletrac, which has their phone number, and that's how you can find out. Manager walks off. Woman sees the portable lying on the counter next to my register. "Let me borrow this!" *snatches phone*
B*tch, that phone can ONLY make local calls. 1-800 is not in our area code, you now owe us more money! Not even a 'please, sir, may I borrow your phone?'
"More? More? Oh, wait... Phone? Phone?"
A few minutes later, she tosses the phone on the counter and just leaves. The phone was still on. No thanks, no I'll be back to get those tomorrow. Nothing.

And now, on to a happier time. West County, during it's final days, put up huge signs "No checks accepted! We take credit cards, debit cards, cash, and first born children." Oh how I loved it when people would come up to me with a stack of movies, and by the time I had finished ringing them, I'd see the checkbooks come out.
"I can't take checks."
"Where's it say that?"
I point over my shoulder first. "Ooo! There's one!" Then at the counter in front of them in big black letters on a neon yellow background. "Hey, there's another! And Waldo!"

[purplecat41877]

Where I work, if the register won't accept the check, we're not supposed to tell the customer that the check is bad or say that there isn't enough money in the account because we don't know that for sure. We're supposed to give them a card with information that they can use to call the check company.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

Our solution was to get a credit card system with check authorization built in. Was the neatest darn thing. IT would take the check, read it, call to verify the availability of the money, if the money was there it was taken out and the check was stamped VOID - PAYMENT MADE ELECTRONICLY in big bold letters, then given back to us to hand to the customers.

This way the check could never bounce, just not accepted which was no charge to us for having a bad check, nor did it cost the customer anything for bouncing the check themselves.

With this system we could take checks from anyone and not worry about it...irregardless if they're on a national bad check listing or not.

Mongo

[alphaboi]

Where I work, if the register won't accept the check, we're not supposed to tell the customer that the check is bad or say that there isn't enough money in the account because we don't know that for sure. We're supposed to give them a card with information that they can use to call the check company.

Our system prints out an 800 number and usually the date/number/amount of a check that "there was a problem with". We can't speculate why the check didn't go through; all we can do is say "We can't accept your check; you need to call this number to find out." People bitch, but I've noticed that we rarely have checks declinded anymore; the sammers must be going elsewhere.

[TeslaRecoil]

With regards to the $30 fee, that's pretty accurate. That's what we get charged for depositing a bad check, unless the check writer has overdraft protection. If the amount of overdraft protection covers the amount of the check, we don't get charged. If not, we pay $30. The check writer may or may not have to pay fees, depending on what their agreement with the bank is.

I know once, some deadbeat friend of my father's, was nice enough to give me a check at my college graduation party. Of course, the check bounced, and I got nailed for the $30. Nice gift, huh?

[Naaman]

This is a quick lesson in irony from my Brother after the bookstore he worked for had the tills changed...

Him: Ring up purchase and informs SC of total
SC: With pile of books: Pulls out cheque book, tears off cheque and hands to my brother
Him: I'm sorry, the new system doesn't print cheques
SC: Harrumph, that's a bit old fashioned isn't it?
Him:

Another thing to remember is that in the UK a cheque guarantee card is required for store purchase, 99% of the time the guarantee card is also the customers debit card