TeleCheck Services review: Still no resolution 13

Which Wal-mart? Walmart check policy is if the check does not go through electronically they still take the check as it was done before the electronic system. The only reason not to accept the check is if there is a returned check that you have not paid or if your account has been flagged for fraud. You can bounce many checks and as long as you take care of it then you are fine to write others. I know this for fact(as all manager and csm's do) and I would really like to know which store and manager did this to you.

They won't tell you why your check was denied because if they made a habit of doing that, they'd be giving away their technique for evaluating checks, the knowledge of which crooks would use to beat the system.

Imperfect as guessing the validity of a check transaction is, it is the crooks who make it necessary and, moreover, profitable. Why aren't people complaining about the crooks?

As Aggravated shopper says, though, merchants always have the option at some level to override the opinion of a check verification service.

i will tell you one better i went to k mart to get a prescription and the check was declined. everyone there knows me and were shocked. i went to my bank and they told me you have plenty of money in your checking account. THEY called Telecheck and talked to someone and the people at telecheck told them that on july 31 and aug 4th i had written a total of 3 check t0o three different Walmart's in Hamplton Va. well you want to know how far Hampton is from where i lived. 7 hours. they told the bank that the only way tht this would get cleared up was by me paying the bad checks. the bank told them they were not my checks and that my account was not overdrawn.we wene to the fraud unit of the bank and they called the checks were on a bank in hampton Va. the bank told them they were not my checks and that was that. we had to fill out alot of paper work and fax it to them. i had to change my checking account, drivers liscense, and everything. got this Credit report from them in the mail yesterday they still had these checks showing i called again. told the girl the same thing over and over. now i have to fax all the fraud matieral to them again they seem not to have it and are not concerned in helping you out. have you tried telling these people that you did not write these checks.
FORGET IT THEY WILL NOT LISTEN. i told the girl either get it straight or my lawyer will be the next one they speak to AND SO DID MY BANK. THESE PEOPLE ARE DUMB

I work at a major grocery store and we recently adopted Telecheck a year or two ago. I'm familiar with the Code 3 denial (the out-of-guidelines code that telecheck can't give an answer to their own denial), as it has also happened to me when writing a check inside my own store. When this happens, it gives a prompt for a manager authorization, which means a manager can override the denial and the check will be deposited the old way. From numerous phone calls to telecheck over the past year, I've gathered that this code 3 means that a manager CAN override the denial, and accept the check, and it has nothing to do with outstanding bad checks, but rather a verification procedure, because something has fallen out of the normalcy (writing too many checks, out of sequence checks, etc). So the merchant has to check the identity of the person presenting the check and verify it's their check. Look, it is the merchants responsibility to verify the identity of checkwriters, so telecheck needs to lay off on these "fraud" excuses they give for their denials.
Lately, my store manager has created a policy that we cannot override any more checks, which is stupid, because I know this happens to me on occasion and my checks always clear the bank when it has needed an override. I honestly don't like Telecheck. I was able to write two checks yesterday, but today I tried to use a check and it gave a code 3 denial. I called telecheck and they said because I haven't written a check that was processed through them in a week prior to the two I wrote yesterday, my check writing has fallen out of my check writing history and I would have to rebuild my check writing history by writing more checks so they will be accepted. How can I build a history if they deny my check, and why is my check writing history only based on the past week, when I was out of town and didn't use my checks? And why waste my checks writing 2 a day trying to maintain a check writing history just so my check will be accepted when I really need to write one?
I don't like telecheck at all. I dont agree that they should be able to dictate how many checks you write, how often, and for how much. I understand they are hired by merchants to protect them from bad checks, but they deny so many checks for irrelevent reasons. I have the right to utilize my checks if my check writing is in good standing with the store and telecheck (ie no bounced checks).

So in WOMANBOSS's case, TeleCheck correctly identified fraud and prevented WOMANBOSS and her bank from sustaining greater losses. What they didn't do correctly was to clear her record.

telecheck is a fraudulent company. i've had to call them on several occasions with business checks for functions, and they've given false information about account funds inadequate or the account not being able to be verified. we found out that they're workers called wrong numbers, they had the wrong numbers in their computer system, and when they make mistakes, they penalize the customer. they don't have quality control to check the accuracy of their workers, and you have to go through hell and highwater to get to the root of the problem. we paid our several credit accounts because of the high business rates, and then all of a sudden we had problems writing checks at those stores. they were all credits handled by citibank, and we think that they've flagged our accounts, and are harasssing us to make things inconvenient so we'll go back to using the credit cards. i was only able to get some of this information because i told them that according to the fair credit reporting act, companies MUST disclose all information they have on a customer. i also threatened them with going to the federal government and reporting their company, and requesting they do an investigation into the company. i was able to run the exact same check, for the exact same amount, at the same store. it has been a nightmare! the only thing that changed was that we were not charging! these companies are crooks, and i'm still going to make a complaint to the federal government, and i would recommend everyone that has had a problem, to complain to your attorney general, and also the attorney general in the home office state (texas - good luck there..). until the feds see some complaints, they won't investigate. i have talked with countless people that once they had a problem with telechek, it took months and years to get things straightened out, if at all. we have rights, but until we start speaking up, we will continue to be treated this way. the goal people, is to get everyone tied up with credit, because they make their money on the interest rates - which they control, and increase at their will. of course they high interest makes paying things off impossible. speak up!

i suggest that you learn to use your shift key if you expect to be taken seriously. thinking check approval companies hassle customers to drive them to use credit is a foolish notion. questionable credit transactions are turned down too, the same as check transactions are. there is no universal truth here. check authorization companies are just trying to sift the questionable transactions from the legitimate ones for their customers, the merchants. It is an inexact process, the same as it would be if whether to take your check or not were solely up to an individual proprietor or a minimum-wage clerk. you do have rights, by all means use them, but be nice to the low-wage workers on the other end of the conversation because they are no more evil-doers than you are at your job.

i don't think it's a personal attack (because this is a business), but i do see a pattern of "inconvenience", which seems to be a design to encourage us to use our "credit cards", instead of checks. it's not only telecheck i have a problem with, but also the crediting agency that handles our accounts as well (citi----). we've had accounts with the companies in question for over twenty years, and never had a problem writing checks (we have used checks and credit cards equally over this period of time, without any problems), until citi---- took over their crediting department.

citi---- is in business to make money, and they don't make money unless you use credit. they control interest rates (and increase them at their discretion) as well as late fees (which for businesses is a percentage of your balance, not a flat rate). and for the record, we've never had a check to bounce and only paid late fees once (when the company president's wife passed).

we've had one instance where someone cashed a check that should not have been cashed, but I called the company myself, and directed them to check the account. i don't have a problem with them checking, i do however have a problem when there is incompetence on the company's end, and they never make a point of correcting the problem.

the topic here was that telechek made a mistake, and did not correct it (i.e. the flagged account). it's not necessarily the workers fault, but management because they are over quality control, and if they are doing their job, when there is an error in an employee's work, it should be identified and corrected. i had to call the home office, and speak to a supervisor before i finally found out that one problem they had was the wrong number for the bank in THEIR computer. she even gave me the number, and since my banker is a close friend, i had her check the company record, and found out the number was incorrect. i then informed the supervisor, and she ultimately changed it in the system. how many other people had checks returned because of this? probably many, many, many customers.

i also found out about the flagging of accounts from this supervisor (i'm sure she didn't mean to, but because i threatened to go to the attorney general's office, and send in a complaint to the FTC, she was much more compliant).

my issue here is that, companies work in tandem so they all can make money, regardless of whether their business practices are legitimate or ethical. they want to increase their bottom line, regardless of how it hurts or inconveniences the consumer. this unethical behavior is one of the reason's this country is in such a mess right now (i.e., derivatives, sub-prime loans, etc.).

as consumers we do have rights, and unless we speak up and file complaints, nothing will change, and we will continue to be penalized for a companies' incompetence or fraudulence.
i will continue to utilize my rights, and certainly not at the expense of these workers. but i will speak up. I STAND BY THAT!

i wrote this note because i wanted the person writing to know they were not alone, and that these problems with this company seem systemic, as opposed to "random" acts of incompetence.

(i hope using my shift key was helpful in keeping this serious)

I have a small business banking account, and have utilized my business debit card and checks for years. On 5/11/11 telecheck processing denied my debit card, and a check (both methods of payment). I phoned my bank to for shock of identity theft. They confirmed the correct good standing account balance. The bank also informed me to look for contact information on the denied receipts and to contact the third party processing company. I phoned telecheck, they "updated my information". The operator informed me that the information would be updated in their system in 5-7 business days, do not try to process again, it will still be denied. I then utilized a personal account to pay the vendor. I was on a business trip, the debit card was denied 3 additional times by different vendors. I phoned telecheck today to speak with supervision/manager to try to get this mistake made on their behalf more quickly remedied (because freezing my ability to pay vendors does not work & is nuts), and also to request a letter stating why my account was denied and could not be processed and the length of time this error is to occur. (This letter is needed to put with my receipts, in event I need to justify IRS records for co-mingling personal and business expenses, while my account remains frozen by this inefficient third party company that has complete power to block your funds, and no way to correct mistakes. ) The only way I have found to place complaint with Telecheck is to write a letter to a snail mail address. The fact that a processing company that is not my bank has the complete ability to block all types of funds and render your money useless for 1 week is outrageous. If anyone has suggestions on how to stop this company, please advise.

I don't know what to tell you about stopping the company. To try to have them stop blocking your purchases, continue to escalate your concerns with them aggressively but professionally by any means offered. Make notes about the people you talk to, about promised deadlines and follow up when deadlines pass without results. Individuals you deal with probably mean well, but company processes for making this right may be inefficient or slow, preventing them from accomplishing what is necessary in a timely fashion. Perhaps you could open a credit account at your bank until the checking account problem has been cleared up. Perhaps you can deal with vendors who do not use TeleCheck or appeal to the businesses themselves to make an exception for you due to the unfair treatment you are experiencing that is inhibiting you from making purchases with them. Business usually have the final say about whether or not to take a payment, although they use the service for a reason and making an exception may have its own associated hurdles.

This is serious. Telecheck should be shut down. Any complaints about Telecheck call The FTC complaint line at [protected]. They recently had to pay a 3.5 million fine for not following FTC laws. It is a dangerous company, as it is very easy for crooks or anyone that wants to ruin someone else's life to lie with missinformation and Telecheck does not verify if that information given to them is true or not.

ANY TELECHECK COMPLAINT - CALL THE FTC COMPLAINT LINE AT
[protected].

I tried to write a check at Walgreens and Telecheck declined it. When I called to find out why, they said it was because I have written too many checks to Walgreen’s, even though they have always approved them up until now and they admitted they could see that I had never written a bad check. The person I talked to said that now since I have been declined, I may be declined again…..even though I have money in the bank to cover my purchases and I’ve never been declined before. Their only reason is because I’ve written too many (all approved) checks …and now I will have THIS in my Telecheck “history”. Even though it may be difficult, I will only shop places who DO NOT employ Telecheck. Ridiculous.