Ok, so I live in Florida and shop at Publix Supermarket. I’ve shopped at the nearby Publix and written checks there for over 20 years. I’ve never bounced a check in all that time. You’d think that would count for something, right? WRONG!
Last week, there had been fraud on my debit card, so Bank of America canceled it. I went to Publix for my big Sunday shopping trip. I had to write a personal check because I didn’t have a working debit card. I wrote it out, gave the cashier my drivers’ license and she came back with her supervisor.
“Your check’s been declined,” she said, holding a slip of paper.
“What?” I asked, shocked. “I’ve never bounced a check with you guys, ever,” I said.
The manager offered me the slip of paper. “If you call this number, they’ll tell you why we couldn’t accept your check.”
I went home and called the number. A customer service agent named Demi who had a thick Asian accent answered the line. Unfailingly polite, she spelled out her name so I could understand what it was. I gave her my routing number and the reference code on the transaction. She asked if she could put me on hold.
“If we get disconnected, will you call me right back?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, we only handle inbound calls.”
“Great,” I said, and waited for her to look me up.
“I’m sorry, Ma’m,” she said when she came back on the line. “Your check didn’t meet Certegy’s “risk criteria.”
“Yes, but what IS THAT?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, we change our risk criteria quite often, so I’m unable to tell you exactly why your check wasn’t accepted.”
“How long has Certegy been in business?” I’m wondering aloud, why this big boogeyman that reminds me of Transunion or Equifax has invaded the consumer credit reporting space.
“Uh, three years,” Demi told me.
I hung up, thinking that my local Publix is going to hear about this. But you know how these things go, it’s like Corporate, so some suit up in Lakeland, Florida is never going to hear about what happened to me or be able to evaluate whether or not this shoddy treatment of loyal customers is acceptable or not. I guess personal checks are seen as huge risks. But I didn’t have a debit card. What else was I supposed to do? If I hadn’t had a credit card handy, I’d have gone hungry this week.
Slam.