Submitted by: Janet
Tafoya Gilchrist
Being
a business owner, I always felt
that I have experienced it.
That is until I experience the next
thing. Over the years, like
each of you, we experienced an occasional
bad check. Perhaps, the customer
could not afford the product or
service, but wanted it anyway, they
would write the check, it would
be returned for insufficient funds
and they would either eventually
pay or disappear into oblivion.
Con artists are either becoming
smarter or maybe it’s because the
technology is better but owner beware,
cheating merchants for product or
service is becoming a national sport
for them and a serious problem for
us. Don’t be fooled this can
ffect your bottom line. I thought
I would share some of my most recent
experiences and perhaps you will
only share in my thoughts and not
share the losses I have endured.
I don’t have a way of stopping this
from happening to you, but sometimes
just being aware will help.
CONTERFIET
MONEY- This hasn’t been a major
problem but we have had a few bad
twenties pass through our store.
We always mark them with a counterfeit
detection pen and they always turn
out good, but, guess what?
If they are sprayed with hair spray,
the pen does not work. The bill
will look just as it did before
you marked it with the pen. I recently
had one of our cashiers turn away
a $ 300.00 sale because the money
just did not look right. The
customer insisted that a manager
call him back. I did call
his cell, he said he couldn’t speak
to me at that time and would call
me back. He never did. I do think
we did the right thing.
CHECKS-Beware
of the customer who comes into your
store and buys one item one day,
pays with a check and comes in the
next couple days purchasing either
the matching appliance or accessories,
all on the same account. The
turn around time for checks is more
than a few days and by the time
your checks are returned, you are
out the money and the product. Oh,
and did I mention that we have a
secure payment service. The
checks are usually stolen from someone
with no history of bad credit, their
checks will clear. Most of the time
the victim doesn’t even realize
their checks had been stolen until
they start getting notification
from the bank and they then stop
payment.
MONEY
ORDERS-We recently had a grandfatherly
type disabled gentleman come into
the store and purchased a washer
and dryer. He was very friendly
to the staff and took his time picking
out the appliances that best suited
his needs. When it came time
to pay, he said he could not find
his check book. He then said
he would go home and get cash.
About an hour later he called the
store and said he still could not
find his checkbook and he was feeling
ill, but he would send his grandson
to the store to pick up the appliances.
This time however; he would send
him with money orders not cash because
his grandson has had problems taking
money in the past. His grandson
came, gave us the money orders,
we loaded the appliances and later
found out the money orders had been
stolen.
CREDIT
CARDS-Perhaps it’s because you know
where they live, but it was my experience
that there was generally not too
much of a problem with fake cards
when we did in home service, but
if you have a service center, the
rule of thumb is “if it doesn’t
swipe, do not accept”. If
a card has been forged, it will
not swipe. Once you manually input
numbers, even though you might receive
authorization, the credit card companies
will chargeback your account if
it is questioned. They will
not guarantee any card that has
not been swiped. Also, just
in case you don’t know this…a customer
can question charges for up to two
years from the date of purchase.
SPLIT
PAYMENTS- One of my customers came
into our store and purchased a high
end dishwasher. Since the
appliance was a special order, the
customer gave us a credit card payment
for half of the item. When
the dishwasher was picked up, they
paid the balance with a check.
About a week later, the bank notified
me that a stop payment was put on
the check. After many failed
attempts to contact the customer,
I decided to take them to small
claims court for the value of the
check. I was concerned why
there was not a chargeback on the
credit card. What I later
found out was, if I sued the
customer for the value of the check,
whether I won or lost in court,
the customer would later on (remember
they have up to two years to dispute
it) question the charges on his
credit card. If that went
to court I could not refute the
charges because double jeopardy
would come into play and I could
not pursue it.. This is a
gamble for the customer because
the worst scenario for them is that
they lose in court and do not get
their chargeback on the credit card
and thus have to pay for their dishwasher.
The best scenario is that they either
win in court or their chargeback
and they pay half for their appliance.
I was advised that even though the
customer only stopped payment on
the check, I had to sue for the
whole amount to avoid further problems
with this account.
Most
of the time, as merchants, we will
prevail, but we are busy and sometimes
let it slide. The criminal
is usually sitting at home figuring
out how to cheat his/her next victim.
They have all the time in the world.
We all are working too hard to make
a buck to let these people get away
with taking our hard earned money.
The best suggestions I can offer
are: Be aware, be careful
of the customer who comes in 5 minutes
before closing and rushes you through
a sale and sometimes you have to
go with your gut feelings. If however,
you still become a victim, pursue
whatever avenues are available to
you to get your money or your products
back. Until the thugs realize
we aren’t going to take it anymore,
they are willing to give us all
we will take.
