Anybody taking checks by phone like a credit card? Opinions

[system]

Im thinking of taking checks by phone. But not sure if its worth the trouble. You key in all numbers at the bottom of the check and there drivers license number to get and approval over the phone. This guarantees you get you money but heres the catch. Theres a .18 cent per check fee and 1.7% of the face value,which is about .50 on a 20$ check. Do you think its worth it ,and do you feel customers will get upset or not order do to the hastle. We currently get about 20 to 25 bad checks a month which is 400 - 500 dollars. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated

 

[system]

Re: Anybody taking checks by phone like a credit card? Opini

doesn’t everybody have a credit card these days…why put up with that hassle instead of swiping? it sis not like their is a drastic price savings, if any so I do not think it is worth it…i have not lost i customer when we informed them we dont take checks, but do take credit cards.

 

[system]

Re: Anybody taking checks by phone like a credit card? Opini

just by doing the math you must do the verification,

 

[PizzaCity]

Re: Anybody taking checks by phone like a credit card? Opini

When we opened about 6 months ago, we made the decision not to accept checks except from churches and schools. We’ve probably lost 2 sales the entire time - most people have no problem with it and we don’t have any bad check loss. If you’re in a position to stop taking checks and have it not impact your business, boy, that’s the way to go.

 

[ADpizzaguy]

Re: Anybody taking checks by phone like a credit card? Opini

Personally, if it were up to me I would not accept checks. THey are a pain in the arse. You’ve gotta get all the info and then worry about it clearing. Most everyone with a checking account these days has a debit card. I’d rather deal with that.

 

[NicksPizza]

Re: Anybody taking checks by phone like a credit card? Opini

ADpizzaguy:

Personally, if it were up to me I would not accept checks. THey are a pain in the arse. You’ve gotta get all the info and then worry about it clearing. Most everyone with a checking account these days has a debit card. I’d rather deal with that.

Can be a definite pain, but for a business with large delivery percentage, it does make a little more sense. We have very few . . . like 1 or 2 a quarter . . . come back NSF. We are a smaller oeration than many of you, though. Since we do so much delivery versus in store, we take checks and throw the dice. We’ve had to file warrants on only about 6 people in 3 years, and only one went to jail rather than pay . . . and his was a closed account check.

We only deposit around 100 checks a week, so our percentage with higher number of checks could get tedious. Our in-store checks went wayyyy down when we got the CC machine and took debit/credit.

 

[Gpizza92]

Re: Anybody taking checks by phone like a credit card? Opini

We looked into going check free. But in the end anything we would have saved from NSF, we were giving right back and then some to the CC companies. Between 2 stores the bad months will see 1k in bad checks. Out of 200k in sales thats not bad.

 

[ADpizzaguy]

Re: Anybody taking checks by phone like a credit card? Opini

we use a company called security check, they do an excellent job of getting bad checks taken care of for us. I would say about 25 percent of my business is deliveries, and that is where the problem is I think because it’s hard for drivers to remember to get the requred info. My take on it is that if you have a checking account with a debit card, we take those over the phone.

 

[RBSLynkman]

Re: Anybody taking checks by phone like a credit card? Opini

If they have a checking account there’s a 99% chance they have a Check Card aka Debit Card. My suggestion, based upon the rates you quoted, process the Check Card and forget about the ACHed checks.

 

[snowman]

Re: Anybody taking checks by phone like a credit card? Opini
Still Learning:

Im thinking of taking checks by phone. But not sure if its worth the trouble. You key in all numbers at the bottom of the check and there drivers license number to get and approval over the phone.

I hate to rain on the parade, but I’m looking at this from the customer’s point of view. I’m calling to order a pizza, not read my bank routing number, acct number, and drivers license numbers to you. You just took a “convenience item” (pizza delivered) and took the convenience right out of it.