In a country where technology is at its best, life is very comfortable and fast. Tasks, which used to take a lot of time and energy, can now be done in just a press of a button or a click of the mouse. It is a heaven for people who are always on the go, and treat time sacredly. It is an advantage to a company to cut overhead costs in a long-term perspective. Everything is wired. How far can this go? If we think of it, it is pretty scary. I, myself, experienced a drawback of this electronic world yesterday.
It started when I wrote a bank check to a local company here in our city late last year. The check was presented to our bank and was successfully cleared as scheduled, as an electronic transfer. Last night, while reconciling our bank account, I discovered that the same check was deposited and cleared again. The amount, more than $300.00, was debited on our account. I was fuming. How can one good check be deposited and be cleared twice? The worst part is – the original transaction was completed three months ago. Since I know that, the said company uses the services of Telecheck to convert paper checks to electronic transfer, I called Telecheck. They are behind this mistake. The lady on the other line was polite, and said that, it could only be a system failure on their part. Sad to say, she could not help me anymore but to give the fax number of their company’s research team who will investigate the matter. According to her, it will take about 8-10 business days for my case to be resolve. It is frustrating to know that, they can just take away money that easy, but it will take a lot of time to give it back, especially when it’s really yours.
Honestly, the incident is hard to fathom. Am I only one with the same issue? It’s crazy. What if months from now, this problem happens again? Seriously, Telecheck has to make sure that their system is functioning well. Also, why is it that – if we use our bank account info as our source of (electronic) payment, they can just draw the money right then and there? Is there anyway that, the bank can verify first if the transaction is legitimate? I know, credit card companies do this.
This is bullcrap!
