Businesses Blindly Blame Us
On March 16, my husband and I received a phone call from the Spokane County Sheriff’s Department. We were told a box of 200 checks had been stolen out of our rural mailbox.
How did they know? They had recovered a stolen vehicle in which they found one book of our checks with only the carbon stubs remaining. Did they have the rest of our checks? No. Did they have a suspect in custody? No.
An immediate call to our bank revealed that forged checks already had begun to deplete our account drastically. The account was closed after anxious days of waiting for valid checks to clear. Insurance since has restored our balance, but this is where our nightmare begins.
Each and every day, we receive up to 10 letters and phone calls from local businesses demanding we make good on the forged checks they cashed so casually. Collection agencies threaten and belittle us. Merchants imply we are not telling the truth.
We are told that our name no longer is welcome at some stores, and one angry manager even presented himself at our door.
Words such as “dishonorable,” “restricted services” and “criminal” are being used next to our once respectable names. We continually are cautioned that if we do not pay the amount owed, plus a $10 to $30 handling fee, court action may be taken. One business summed it up neatly:
“The bank returned the check to us reported stolen. It is our position that a person with a checkbook holds sole responsibility for that checkbook, much the same as a parent is responsible for a child.”
We would like the businesses of the area to know we are sorry this has happened. We are sorry we did not personally pick the checks up from the bank. If we could, we would grab the thief by the collar and demand he repay everyone.
We are not insensitive, irresponsible people. What we truly cannot understand is the merchants’ cruel treatment of us, the original victims. Why is the responsibility solely ours? Not one of them has said, “We’re sorry. We shouldn’t take it out on you or your good credit history. We should have asked for proper ID. It’s our fault, too.”
Every day when the phone rings, we cringe and our stomachs knot. Our mailbox has become an evil messenger. It’s not the thief we fear. It is the attitude and destructive power of business owners.
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