During my November 15, 2010, visit to the vision center of your Wal-Mart store in York County, Va. (Phone No. 757-867-8004 -- where I'd gone to purchase a pair of prescription glasses), my personal check for $204.00, made payable to Wal-Mart, failed to pass acceptance by the store's TeleCheck process.

Before leaving the store, I opted to pay for the ordered glasses in cash (Order No. 1059847). Then, fearing that my BB&T Bank checking account had been drained by an identity thief, I visited a local branch in Newport News to determine the current status and security of my account. The branch's "relationship banker" confirmed that my account contains ample resources to have covered the purchase in question. A few days ago, I learned, from examination of my latest monthly bank-account statement, that this confirmation (in the form of an "image research fee") has resulted in a Nov. 16, 2010, service charge to my account in the amount of $16.00. This fee acts as an unjust penalty for my daring to resolve a matter traceable to no fault of my own. I therefore ask that your company reimburse me for this unnecessary expenditure.

This highly stressful encounter with such an inherently flawed automated system as TeleCheck raises questions about your company's end-justifies-the-means approach to customer relations. I therefore suggest that you abandon the TeleCheck system and post a storewide notice that Wal-Mart no longer honors any customer's proposed payment by personal check. That way, we would know, upon our arrival, whether it's worth bothering to proceed further into the store. In the meantime, because of this negative, costly experience, I'm weighing the merits of ever again shopping for any big-ticket item within the Wal-Mart complex.