It is the system's fault:an incident with banking transactions |
|
By Mario deSantis, December 10, 1999 |
|
I have a CIBC bank account in Kindersley and a Credit Union bank account in Nipawin where I live. I use the CIBC account for paying my ongoing bills through the Internet and I retained it because there is no CIBC branch here in Nipawin. I replenish my CIBC account by sending periodically by mail a cheque drawn on my Credit Union account. Last week, I mailed a cheque for $900.00 to the CIBC branch in Kindersley, I postdated this cheque as at December 10, 1999 and I explicitly wrote a memo on the cheque stating to be payable not before December 10. Yesterday, December 8, I received a call from the Credit Union, I was told that my account was overdrawn and that my cheque for $900.00 was cashed; I responded that the cheque be returned to the CIBC bank and that my balance account be reconciled accordingly. December 9, I go shopping and as I used my Credit Union convenience card I realized that something was wrong with my balance account; I took some money from my pocket and see if I could come up with the right amount to pay for the groceries, the cashier got my money, counted the change, then said "...ho you have the right amount...", and I responded "...how much money did you put out of your own pocket?..." and she replied "...about three dollars..." I was a bit surprised by this event, and I was just sorry for the people who were queuing up behind me. I went right away to the Credit Union and check what was wrong with my account. I was told that the $900.00 cheque was returned, that my outstanding balance was quite low, and that the computer system debited my account for $5.00 for the transaction affecting the returning of the cheque. I responded that the computer system can't take away our people responsibilities and therefore I asked that the $5.00 debit be taken away. The Credit Union cashier was extremely communicative and she immediately rectified the problem. In leaving I told her "...I always hear that when there is a business problem the fault is of the system procedures, why can't we have relationships as normal people I don't know... I wonder now what they are doing at the other end in Kinderlsey, possibly CIBC is going to charge me again without my knowing..." I returned to the grocery store, I gave back the three dollars I owed to the cashier and I thanked and congratulated her. There are good people around, but the incompetent assemble of system procedures is driving these same people insane, not to speak about me. |