On December 14, I went to the grocery store and bought groceries. I wrote a check for $55.72, and like others on here, it was declined 2 times. The girl never offered me any explanation, so humiliated, I used my debit card to pay for my purchase. The next morning I called my bank, everything on their end was great, so I called the grocery store back again. They then gave me a number to call, which I did and the automated response told me that there was no negative check writing on my account, just that my check did not meet their check acceptance model. Furious, I called the store back and told her what was said, she then called Certegy and they told her I had to call because of a code #2 and "set the account up".
I called Certegy and was told that it was just the process they were following for the store that night, that my check fit the pattern of fraud and so to protect the store, they declined my check. They apologized over and over and said that it wasn't my check, it was just the computer system and the way it read checks. However, she said that she would put a release on my account so that it should not happen again. I told the rep at Certegy to tell all the people in the store that were standing there that... Yeah right!!! The rep also told me this... Certegy can decline or accept your check whenever the computer ran it depending on what model they were running at that time, that declining your check was not always in regard to bad checks, that it had to do with the "pattern".
Today, December 19, I stopped at the same gas station I always stop at and filled up. Guess what... My check was again declined, and when I called, yeah, I was furious, I got the same reasoning. No one could give me an explanation as to what can be done to stop this, except to get their "Gold" card... I've heard a lot of negative things about that, and I, as a consumer do not feel that I should have to have their permission to write a check. Now I am waiting until Monday to speak with their home office, I am also sending letters to all the government agencies, state and federal to get some clarification on what rights I have as a consumer.
My feeling is this, from here on out, when I write a check and it is declined, I will simply tell the manager of the store that due to Certegy declining my check without sufficient reason, I don't need the merchandise that bad, and I will go elsewhere to purchase it. I will not again pay with other means, let the merchant figure out what is going on and what to do with the merchandise in the buggy. Maybe if enough people do that, the merchants will find another way to verify bad check writers
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