I'm generally a pretty easy-going guy. Short of driving (of which I become quite frustrated with other in-duh-viduals) not much really gets to me. It might be my somewhat elitist personality, but there are very few individuals whose opinion of me really counts in my book. Afterall, it's my face I see in the mirror in the morning, not theirs. Something this afternoon did get me a little worked up though. I entered the Office Depot in Texarkana with the intent to purchase a laptop from the great deal of "hard earned money" that I have acculmulated whilst serving the world as a commercial pilot/flight instructor. The purchase rang up, and despite having substantially more than enough money to cover the check I was writing, I was surprised to have my check declined, not by my bank, but by Certegy Check Services, of which Office Depot is apparently affiliated in some shape, form, or fashion.
I was informed that Certegy acts as a safety net for companies who, by their very nature, are subject to some degree of financial risk by means of bad checks. Certegy "certifies" checks and will compensate merchants if the check turns out to be bad. How does all of this affect little ol' me, you might or might not be asking yourself at this juncture? Apparently, my lack frequent check writing flagged something in "the computer" which will henceforth be referred to as "Skynet" that a large check written by the likes of me must be fraudulent, and Skynet in all its electronic wisdom spat out a great denial upon my promissory note. Alas, the company even admitted that they have no information at all on me, and therefore could not authorize a check of such an amount. I was told that if I wrote checks more often, then they would stand a better chance of not being denied. And thus, the classic Catch-22. In order to be able to write checks, I must write checks, but how can I write checks when they will get declined?
Why then, after having my check returned to me, did I not whip out the debit card and complete the transaction in spite of Skynet? I'm vindictive, plain and simple. No agent of Skynet could authorize a check, and this was repeated numerous times to me while I sat on hold waiting for my chance to vent my frustration upon some unsuspecting customer service representative. The manager at Office Depot insisted that they were not allowed to accept a denied check even with a call to the bank to verify the availability of funds. I thanked the manager and informed him that me, and my debit card would be going to the competition to sort out my computing needs. As for Skynet, I informed them that, pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, I wanted a consumer report mailed immediately simply because it would cost the company time and resources... admittedly, not even a drop in the proverbial bucket, but sometimes small victories are righteous nonetheless.
I'm ordering a Dell tomorrow... Now I will politely tell the middle man where to go.
Jeff C.
