By Henry Lamb
Monday, April 2, 2007
The very word Wal-Mart evokes an emotional response; people either hate it, or are grateful for it. Whatever the response, the reality is that Wal-Mart is the most successful retail business the world has ever known. Wal-Mart's success is due to Sam Walton's unshakable respect for, and appreciation of, every customer who walked into his stores.
Sam insisted that his philosophy be reflected in every facet of the company's operations, from offering quality merchandise at the lowest possible price, to a smile and pleasant personality offered by every employee.
Today, Sam Walton is spinning in his grave; the new management team abandoned Sam's fundamental philosophy when it turned over its check approval responsibility to TeleCheck.
A small business in a small town in the Midwest, was happy when Wal-Mart came, more than ten years ago. The business, with only a handful of employees, used Wal-Mart for nearly all its local purchases, and was completely satisfied to spend more than $15,000 a year with Wal-Mart.
On a recent Saturday afternoon, an officer of the small business shopped in Wal-Mart to pick up a few supplies, and, much to his amazement, his company check was declined. The clerk was extremely apologetic, and said there was nothing she could do, and gave the officer a print-out that said the check had been declined for "reason 8," and to call 800-697-9255/code 4.
The officer knew that the account on which the check was drawn had a five-figure balance, and that no check from his company had ever been returned to Wal-Mart. There was simply no apparent reason for the check to be declined. Furious, but rather than make a scene, the officer simply paid the clerk, and took the merchandise - and the print-out.
The call to the 800 number was answered by a TeleCheck computer which provided a near- endless series of options for the caller to punch one number after another, including entering the route and transit number, and the account number of the declined check. After nearly 10 minutes of dealing with the computer, a real person answered the phone, and asked for the same information again. Before she would answer the basic question "Why was the check declined," she insisted on answers to another series of questions.
"Who has authority to sign on this account?" she asked. "What is the account number of any other account you have?" "I'm sorry, I cannot answer your questions, until you answer mine," she insisted.
Finally, she said the check had been declined because an employee who has authority to sign on the company's account, had a check returned on his personal account, in a different bank, in a different city, and when the employee's check was paid, the "decline" flag on the employer's account would be lifted.
Even more furious, the Wal-Mart customer called the store manager, who apologized profusely, agreed that the TeleCheck policy was unfair, and said that he would "look into it."
The employee's check was paid, the day he discovered that it had been returned.
The following week, the Wal-Mart customer returned to Wal-Mart, and asked an assistant manager if his check would be approved, before any shopping was done. He was assured that there would be no problem at the check-out register.
Wrong! Once again, the check was declined, and the clerk could only give the customer another print-out with "reason 8," and advice to call the TeleCheck 800 number to see why the check was declined.
Steaming now, the customer confronted the manager, who apologized profusely, and then admitted that he was powerless to override TeleCheck's decision, regardless of whether the declination was a mistake, right or wrong. The only option remaining for the customer, according to the store manager, was to call 800-Wal-Mart - another computer.
The customer called 800-Wal-Mart, and, sure enough, a computer answered, and required a series of numbers to be punched, and then delivered three-minutes of instructions about what to do if you bought pet food from Wal-Mart. None of the numbers punched produced a real human.
The customer found the Wal-Mart home office number (479-273-4000) - with no help from the local store, incidentally, and spoke to a pleasant gentleman named Kevin Gardner in the "Check Verification" office. Kevin agreed that the TeleCheck policy was unfair, and said he would take care of it, if the customer would "hold on." After a few minutes, Kevin returned to the customer to say that TeleCheck would not remove the decline flag on the customer's account, even though the account had never had a returned check, because the employee whose check had been returned was authorized to sign on the customer's account.
Kevin, in the Check Verification department of Wal-Mart, was powerless to override TeleCheck's decision. Were Sam Walton still alive, he would have TeleCheck thrown out of every Wal-Mart Store in a New York minute. The very idea that a third-party service provider to Wal-Mart can abuse Wal-Mart customers, and neither a store manager, nor the Check Verification Department of the Wal-Mart's home office can do anything about it, is a situation that Sam would never tolerate.
Perhaps if enough Wal-Mart customers who have been abused by Tele-Check will register their complaints with the home office, the new management team may be persuaded to remember Sam Walton's philosophy. If not, the strategic decision to turn over check verification to TeleCheck may be a fatal decision that drives former Wal-Mart customers to other stores, which still respect and appreciate their customers.
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