The following article was taken from the Grand Valley Business Times, Volume 3, Issue 4, of August 1996
 

     When my brother and sister-in-law retired earlier this year, they had things planned down to a tee.

      When I found they would be moving from Illinois, and were looking at Tucson, Green Valley, Prescott, etc., as potential retirement havens, I started sending them information about Grand Junction, and they added this beautiful city to their list of possibilities.  And, after looking all these places over, it didn’t surprise me when they chose Grand Junction.

       As a banker, I’ve heard so many excuses about why businesses fail.  But, as my family prepared for their new home here, I observed first-hand at least a dozen solid reasons why a business might lose profits and fail.

        First, my brother and sister-in-law opened a local bank account, wire transferring close to $200,000 from their previous bank.  The local bank gave them eight temporary checks until their permanent checks were to arrive, in about two weeks.

        Eight temporary checks – and they needed to buy a new home, furniture, appliances, draperies, etc., as well as cover their daily living expenses.

        When they retired, they sold their home, furniture, appliances and decided to purchase all new stuff, from coffee pot to mixer-blender and toaster.

        When they went into a major furniture store and purchased close to $4,000 in new merchandise, which wasn’t scheduled for delivery until more than two weeks after the day they bought it, they were told that the store couldn’t accept temporary checks.

         My brother tried to explain in pretty basic terms that the check would have 14 days to clear the bank before the furniture was to be delivered, but the young woman had her instructions.  It was only because of a sharp salesman that the store didn’t lose the entire sale.

     I can understand why stores don’t accept temporary checks on purchases a person carries out of the store with them.  But not to take one that will clear the bank 10 days before the customer actually receives the goods is insane.  This is a good example of the too-rigid application of what is generally a reasonable policy.

         When they opened their bank account, the bank also gave my brother and sister-in-law a debit card – a card which, when you use it, acts like a check, taking the money directly from your checking account.  It looks and feels like a credit card, but it isn’t.

         When they purchased two new television sets, a refrigerator, washer and dryer, they gave the salesman their debit card.  After all, they had six figures in the bank.  Imagine their surprise when the bank denied the amount of sale, despite the fact that it was considerably less than the total in their account.  It turns out that the bank had forgotten to tell them that there was a $3,000 daily withdrawal limit on the card.

         I bank with the same institution and use my debit card all the time.  I also didn’t know about the daily withdrawal limit.  The bank had never bothered to inform me, either.

         Fortunately the branch manager was wonderful.  She called the appliance store and explained that it was an error on the bank’s part.  But it shouldn’t have happened.  It was embarrassing, of course, but more than that, it just isn’t a good way for a bank to tell a new customer that his/her money is in reliable hands.

         There has for years been an inexpensive software program that banks can use to imprint customers’ name on temporary checks.  When I moved to Grand Junction, I had the same problem.  Most merchants won’t take temporary checks except – bless their hearts, City Market – so long as I have appropriate ID.

        Banks like to talk about how hard they try to improve customer service.  They do expensive research. They do focus groups.  It might help if they merely used a little common sense.

       It doesn’t take a terribly bright person to figure out that one of the most basic needs people have when they establish a new checking account is access to the money in that account.  It also doesn’t take much research to find out that merchants frequently don’t accept unimprinted temporary checks.  And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that if merchants won’t take the checks a bank is giving its customer, that customer is going to be greatly inconvenienced until his or her permanent imprinted checks arrive in the mail approximately two weeks later!  This, by definition, is not providing quality customer service.   

        It’s not difficult to read ads in The American Banker, Bank Marketing Magazine and 25 other banking publications about software that can imprint names addresses and a check number on temporary checks.  And it isn’t a giant leap of imagination for a banker in a multi-bank holding company to say, ”Aha! An inexpensive solution to a big customer problem.”   

     The best research is personal experience.  I suggest that Grand Junction bankers take their banks’ temporary checks out into the community and try to spend money with some of the local merchants.  Then, complete a customer service research questionnaire.  It’s inexpensive and you won’t have troubled a lot of other people by asking them to take their valuable time to identify your institution’s problems.

        Unless banks receive some obscure benefit from making it hard for people to use the money in their accounts to buy things locally, they ought to find a solution to the temporary check problem.  And unless local merchants want to lose business to Denver and Silverthorne discount stores, where most merchants happily accept temporary checks with adequate identification, they need to establish less rigid policies regarding temporary checks.  Having more flexible policies can protect the merchant from loss without causing major inconvenience and undue embarrassment to the customer.

            It’s the old KISS rule:  Keep It Simple, Stupid.

            Marilyn J. Barnewall is a retired banker and bank consultant now living in Grand Junction.  She was the first female vice president in charge of a major bank portfolio at then United Bank of Denver, now Norwest and was called “the dean of private banking knowledge” by Forbes Magazine.

When you want profitability along with improved customer service, give us a call at:
1-800-229-0597