I have never had any personal dealings with Certegy Check Services until Friday, March 19th.in fact, I had never even heard of them. After my experience then, the only thing I want to hear about them is that they've filed for bankruptcy. It's what they deserve.
I was innocently shopping for groceries, as I had done for years since the store first opened, at my neighborhood Publix. I added a $100.00 store gift card, for my Mother-in-Law's birthday, to the total, and $25.00 for cash, bringing the amount to $170.00. I handed the cashier my check, on an account my husband opened many years ago and which we had used there more times than I could count, and my driver's license. I stood there and chatted, as the check took an unusually long time to go through the register.
It was declined. I called the store manager to come over, and asked for an explanation —knowing my husband's paycheck had been deposited the day before, and that —even if it hadn't— there were sufficient funds. During all this, I could see the people in the line behind me giving me the "deadbeat" or "Oh, sure..." look. I was mortified.
Then mortification became anger. The store manager, who knows me, said "Do you want me to call the number they give for information?" "Yes, " I replied, since I was beginning to feel the steam rising from my ears and nostrils.
He called. He got a robot. He got no reasonable answer. The decline was explained as being "outside their security parameters" (or similar corporate-speak) which was the same (also automated) answer I got when I called later from my residence. Neither of us ever got to speak to a human "customer service" (what an oxymoron!) representative.
Fortunately (and unusually, since I don't ordinarily carry one with me) I had a credit card with me, or that night's supper would have been left, with the birthday gift: melting, rotting or drying out in the shopping cart.
I left the store more than annoyed: I was flaming angry, and worried, too. I wondered if something bad had happened to the checking account, and thought immediately of identity theft. The bank (where customer service means what it's supposed to) reassured me that there had been no unusual activity, that the checks I had written were in sequence, and the my very own, messy, inimitable signature was on the bottom. The rep did venture, "You write a lot of checks, don't you? Don't you like debit cards?" I was polite (since she had helped me) and simply said "Yes, I do. And no, I don't."
Contacting Certegy via e-mail was an added annoyance, since when I input the information they asked for on their form, the (again automated) agency of fate replied it had "no record of the transaction."
I found the main corporate web site of which Certegy is a part and wrote another e-mail (who knows if it will get through?) and told them I would be filing complaints with their CEO, with Publix Supermarkets, with the FTC and the Better Business Bureau, and with this and other consumer-protection sites. I also mentioned that I will be contacting friends in the local media (two television stations) who might just be having slow news days. (Hmmm... I forgot the reporter friend...)
So there it is. I wonder what my next experience writing a check will be? I am almost afraid to shop for groceries again. I feel like the middle-aged caucasian woman pulled over for a full body search at an airport when Homeland Security is looking for Osama bin Laden.
I want justice, apology, restitution... And from a real human being, thank you very much. And I want Certegy to quit victimizing anybody again. Ever.
I will be interested to see if Certegy tells me I need to get their "Gold" service so I'll never have a problem with checks again... Doesn't this whole thing sound like a "phishing" (sp?) scam, or even like downright extortion? I can almost visualize an old movie villian biting into an apple an telling the shop owner he needs..."protection." Maybe not, Vinnie. Maybe you need to find another job.
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