The underbelly of any society is filled with individuals who have no desire to contribute to the better good of the people in that society and think only of themselves as they put their efforts into criminal activity. It is apparent in our daily lives through reading newspapers and magazines or listening to the news that these people are amongst us in large numbers slowly destroying the very culture that the rest of us try so hard to uphold.
In my blog today I want to give you three examples of how my life was adversely impacted this last year by such scoundrels. The first occurred when some friends and I were having an enjoyable time dinning out at Hodson Bar & Grill in the Streets of Southglenn. The check came and we split the bill amongst us, each paying their share with a credit card. No big deal until my credit card statement came the next month and I saw that there were two charges made at Hodson’s on the same day for the same amount. I called Hodson to talk to the manager but he wasn’t there and my message went unreturned. After a few days I called Chase Visa, the credit card company, and told them of my problem. I was instructed to pay the bill in full and that they would mail me out paperwork to fill out so that I could contest the payment. Wait a minute, I’m charged twice and I have to pay the second charge? Yes Chase told me it was their policy and once they received the paperwork it would go to their fraud department. The paperwork came and went … another statement came and went … nothing. Finally I receive in the mail a copy of the two charges, the one with my signature and another with a signature that was obviously not mine. The letter stated their investigation showed no wrongdoing and that I’d made two charges. I called Chase to voice my concern and they finally capitulated, gave me a credit for the amount and informed me they would have to cancel the card and send me a new one. Great, not that I haven’t already been inconvenienced enough I must now contact everyone who does a monthly charge on the account that the card has changed. Thank you Hodson Bar & Grill for employing dishonest people and thank you Chase for protecting the retailer rather than the consumer.
The second incident occurred when I received my company’s checking account statement from Wells Fargo only to discover a series of very larges checks were cashed on the account that we a number sequence far beyond the current checks sequence I had. I immediately called Wells Fargo as the total of these checks were in the 10s of thousands and could really hurt the cash flow of the company. Wells Fargo put a block on any checks falling
outside the sequence I currently had but told me they could do nothing about the checks that had already been cashed without an investigation. Excuse me, Wells Fargo cash fraudulent checks and now my company’s funds have to be tied up until they finish their investigation. Wait a minute, isn’t this the same Wells Fargo who called me before cashing one of my employee’s payroll checks because my signature didn’t look quite right. Again more paper work and more waiting … months go by. I finally get copies of the checks, all were for large amounts but the numbers seem quite odd and they were all cashed at banks in Atlanta Georgia. It was obvious that the signature wasn’t mine and when I asked Wells Fargo why they had cashed the checks as the amounts seemed highly unusual, the signature was obviously not mine and they were cashed in Atlanta. Wells Fargo had no reply but did want to
investigate further before releasing the company’s funds. Wait a minute … you’ve had months and you still want to tie my funds up longer. Wells Fargo did release the funds but not until they insulted me by inferring that
somehow I might be involved. Thanks Wells Fargo for making a customer for some forty years feel wanted.
The third incident occurred this last week when I purchased Visa gift cards from the Lakewood King Sooper. These cards were given to the employees at our holiday lunch last Thursday with the intent that they would have the funds to buy presents or food for the holiday. Over the weekend I started receiving calls from the employees informing me that the cards were fraudulent. This was not only an embarrassment for the employee trying to use the card at the grocery store but also for me and my company. King Sooper was contacted to see if new cards could be issued and I was informed that King Sooper had sold 1,000s of fraudulent cards and wouldn’t be reissuing cards
until there fraud department has completed an investigation. This investigation would take a minimum of 15 days but could be delayed longer. Okay, so King Sooper sold me fraudulent cards … haven’t they committed a crime? Why are I and 1,000s of other customers being treated as criminals, delaying the reissue of good card and stealing their
Christmas?
What can we learn from all of this? For starters, that there are a lot of people who have learned how to steal without fear of reprisal. Also that businesses are not interested in providing customer service and are willing to let a customer take a loss rather than themselves take responsibility for their action or the actions of their employees and absorb the loss.
What can we do to change this type of treatment? Don’t do business with companies like Hodson Bar & Grill, Chase Visa, Wells Fargo and King Sooper who put their own interests above the customers. Also, when a company treats you similar to the incidents mentioned above that you use social media to inform others so that they also have the opportunity to avoid doing business with such firms.
Edward Boyle
CEO, Employing Broker
Katchen Company
Katchen Company, founded in 1962, is an integrated real estate company with its corporate headquarters in Lakewood, Colorado. The company offers real estate development, redevelopment, property management, brokerage, consulting services, construction oversight and maintenance services to individual and institutional real estate investors throughout the greater Denver metropolitan area in Denver with satellite offices in Chicago, Las Vegas
and Miami market areas.
