ISOs Still
Get No Respect
They may have
bought you cocktails, but the bankcard associations are still dissing
the ISOs. The Green Sheet, Inc., received the following letters,
further proof that while you may have built this industry, the
respect you deserve is slow in coming.
January 25,
1999
Mr. Frank
Shemanksi
President
Southwest
Financial Services
590 West Central
Ave. Suite J
Brea, CA
92821
Dear Mr.
Shemanski:
MasterCard
International has received notification from National City Bank,
Kentucky that your MasterCard MSP relationship has been terminated.
As a result of this notification, Southwest Financial Services is no
longer authorized to provide any services in connection with National
City Bank, Kentucky's MasterCard program.
Please contact me
at (914) 249-5857 if you should have any questions.
Sincerely,
John
Dallesandro
Analyst, Third
Party Management
John Dallesandro,
Analyst
MasterCard
International
Franchise
Management
2000 Purchase
St.
Purchase, NY
10577-2509
914-219-2000
http://www.mastercard.com
Dear
John,
We received the
attached notice informing us that we have been "terminated" by
National City Bank and that we are "no longer authorized to provide
any services" for them.
My purpose in
writing you is to suggest that perhaps a little diplomacy could be
used in the letter. If someone was to show me a letter like this one,
my initial reaction would be to question why they were fired and
their authorization revoked.
We have been a
financial services company for many years and deal with numerous
banking institutions around the country. Our MSP division represents
only a small portion of our corporate activities. Yet someone reading
this letter (heaven forbid if one of our bankers saw it) would react
in a negative manner.
The truth of the
matter is that we have never been registered with National City Bank,
Kentucky. We were affiliated with Old Kent Bank years ago before they
sold out to NPC. In fact, we are still being paid today on the
portfolio we developed for Old Kent Bank, which is now owned by
NPC.
So you see, we
were not "terminated" which is defined "dismissed", "suspended",
"fired", etc.; but simply were an accounting entry. We did not need
to be told we are "no longer authorized" which has as synonyms;
"discredited", "decommissioned", "disabled", disqualified", etc.; all
negative terms.
Wouldn't it have
been nicer, kinder and more diplomatic to simply say that MasterCard
was sorry that we decided not to renew our registration with NPC,
thanked us for our past contributions and wished us good luck in our
current venture?
Sincerely,
Frank P.
Shemanski
President/CEO
Southwest
Financial Services, Inc.
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