Lucy! You got some 'splainin' to do!

I just visited with new prospects, a husband and wife who run a business. Each is very intelligent and articulate. Unfortunately when I asked to see their credit card month end statement. they were amazed when I told them how high their rates for nonqualified transactions were.

Why is this?

I believe the card industry as a whole does a poor job of providing a statement that is legible and understandable even to intelligent people. Statements should be, and in some isolated cases, are easy to read, not computer-generated data reports. After all, they ARE invoices that are paid by you automatically so you should be able to quickly understand what is being charged and why.

I am fortunate to be able to represent one such processor who has spent a lot of time making the statement understandable and clean.

If you need someone to translate your statement from jibberish to English, let me know. Just fax it to me at 203.549.0406 and I will walk you through it.

A little education can be helpful. That's what this blog is all about.

Often Wrong, Seldom in Doubt

Each credit card or e-check transaction depends on all systems being at "go" all the time. The fact is, errors and glitches sometimes happen.

When they do, merchants suddenly are aware of the mechanics they think are at work in a transaction. It can go on for a few days unless we are notified of a potential problem. Or in a few cases, they get mad at the messenger. Then we are the ultimate bad guys.

It takes a dedicated customer service team to monitor all systems, even if the systems are fully not under our control. The fact is, once the card transaction is released to the "system" many parties are involved that we are not in charge of. We coordinate with banks, data centers, "front ends", "back ends," gateways, shopping carts, web developers of varying expertise, the Federal Reserve Bank (yes, they have problems from time to time too) and so many others.

So if something goes wrong, as the first level of customer service, we take the heat. That's OK, that's what we do.

We also provide the solution. We know who to ask for assistance. We get it done. So if one transaction goes wrong in any way, it is remembered by the merchant for a long time. But it was fixed, according to the rules and regulations.

Once resolved, there is no doubt, at least in our mind, that we have provided the best level of support and customer care. We check back to be sure.

We want to rekindle that confidence again in our merchants' minds. We are responsible for your cash flow. We take that very seriously.

Now, being pragmatic, let's remember all the transactions that went right too.