January 06, 2012 | Posted in Reflection/Real Stories & Personalities, Family Finances | Post a comment | Share Article |
by Tammy Harrison
Our personal and business banking adventures have been eventful, to say the least. I was raised in banking, as my uncle was (and still is) a banker. His daughter is now in the banking business. I've heard the good, the bad and the ugly that happens with financial institutions.Our business checking account was with a trusted institution in south Texas. Through mergers and buy-outs, it is now at a major bank that is accessible in practically every state in the union. The one thing I have enjoyed is that our bank offered online banking long before it was available to smaller banks.
We happen to have our personal accounts at the same bank. Again, we didn't choose this bank, but they bought out the local bank we started with when we moved here. The ease of leaving well enough alone outweighed the pain of moving all of our accounts.
But, nothing prepared me for a telephone call I received late this summer.
"Hello, is this Tammy Harrison?" the person on the other end of the phone stated.
"Yes, it is," I responded curtly - thinking it was yet another telemarketer.
The caller identified herself as a teller at the drive-thru of our bank. "You drove through the bank on August 11th," she continued "and I gave you $500 cash instead of the $200 you wrote your check for."
"Excuse me?" I exclaimed.
She went on to tell me how she did what she truly didn't do.
Now, it's one thing to be accused of something that you did - but it's a completely different thing to be accused of something you didn't do!
I told her that I had experienced incorrect transactions at banks before, and I never left the drive-thru without checking out the receipts and money thoroughly. I knew, without a doubt, that she did NOT give me $300 more than I requested!
Without letting me finish my sentence, she hastily said, "Let me have you talk to our manager," and she put me on hold.
The manager came onto the line and did the exact same thing! Not so much as a question as to whether I ran off with their money, he immediately accused me of taking more than I wrote my check for!
Once off the telephone, I found all of my receipts and checks, and called my banker uncle. I knew that there was no way I could PROVE that they didn't give me more money than I requested - at least not from a consumer's standpoint. The only way to know for sure is to look at the receipts at the bank, from the day in question.
I also knew that one way that bank tellers are able to skim money is to do exactly what they were accusing me of. For instance, the teller's drawer is short, so blame it on a customer instead of on the one who is in charge of that drawer! I was not going to stand for being treated the way I had been treated, and I was bound and determined to do something about it!
My uncle suggested I document the conversations, names, dates, etc. so that I would not forget anything. Then he said the best thing to do was to wait it all out, to see what the bank decided.
About three weeks later, the teller manager called me. She said "I thought you'd like to know that the teller made an error."
That was IT! No apology, no explanation, NOTHING!
I am slowly moving our accounts to a few different local institutions. It's an arduous process, and it takes a lot of time that I really don't have to give to it. But, the flip-side of this is that I really don't have the time to be treated like a criminal, without due process.
When all is said and done, I urge you to make sure that you are treating your customers right. It is the ONLY way you will have a successful home-based business.
About the AuthorTammy is the mother of four and the Independent Creative Representative for HBWM.com, Inc.
Photo credit: creativedoxfoto (http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=2272)
