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Refusal to accept a check

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iknowmywrites

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? PA
My husband and I went to a retail store to purchase a suit for our son to be buried in. The clerk said my check was rejected. I asked her for the reason, she said none was given. My husband wrote a check on his separate account she said that was no good, either, possibly because telecheck doesn't accept checks under the sequence 200. I called Telecheck they said no checks were presented for with those check numbers at all and there is no such rule for a checks under 200 unless it is a starter check, which it was not. We then paid for the items with our debit card. I believe she looked at us, saw we were Black and decided she wouldn't accept our checks for $339.00. We spent a total of $400 in that store. I confronted hber about what Telecheck told me (I called from the parking lot). She had no explanation. Do I have a case?
 


Antigone*

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? PA
My husband and I went to a retail store to purchase a suit for our son to be buried in. The clerk said my check was rejected. I asked her for the reason, she said none was given. My husband wrote a check on his separate account she said that was no good, either, possibly because telecheck doesn't accept checks under the sequence 200. I called Telecheck they said no checks were presented for with those check numbers at all and there is no such rule for a checks under 200 unless it is a starter check, which it was not. We then paid for the items with our debit card. I believe she looked at us, saw we were Black and decided she wouldn't accept our checks for $339.00. We spent a total of $400 in that store. I confronted hber about what Telecheck told me (I called from the parking lot). She had no explanation. Do I have a case?
Black/White/Yellow/Purple ~ you did not hit the law-suit lotto.
 

quincy

Senior Member
I am sorry about the death of your son. What a sad shopping trip that was for you to make.

As for the checks, you would not have any defamation action against the store for refusing to accept the check. There can be all sorts of reasons for a store not to accept a check that have nothing to do with the color of the presenter's skin. Store policy may dictate what checks can be accepted - and in what amounts, from what banks, from only customers known to the store, and so on.

I have had a store refuse to accept a check before, and I am white. Of course the check (and my driver's license) had been tucked into the back pocket of a pair of well-worn jeans, and had made a trip through the washing machine, and I probably hadn't shaved. . . . but the refusal was probably not because I was white. And it may have had nothing to do with the condition of the check or the condition of me. It was just one of life's little irritants.

You could contact the store manager about store policy in accepting checks, if you feel you were somehow discriminated against. But I think this is something that just needs to be shrugged off.

Again, I am really sorry for the loss of your son.
 
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