“I need you to deliver a cheque” Kit’s client said as Kit answered the phone. Simple enough thought Kit. Nothing out of the ordinary here. Over the years Kit had delivered dozens of cheques for his client, a major bank.
If a bank has a customer who starts to threaten or intimidate staff, the banks are very quick to close that customer’s account and deliver any remaining funds to the customer via a third party, hence the call to Kit. More often than not, the account is overdrawn or has a few dollars in it at most. Kit always found it funny delivering a cheque for $2.37 or similar. It was always accompanied by a trespass notice.
They use private investigators as they’re good at finding people, identifying them, and generally keeping things calm. The ability to defuse a volatile situation is absolutely crucial to a P.I.
All Kit Bradley stories are adapted from real P.I. cases, to show you the many ways a private investigator can help. Some details have been changed to protect privacy.
Kit jumped in his car to pick up the cheque from the nearest branch and deliver it. A quick handover from the bank manager and Kit was on his way. Usually the address to go to was a small flat or apartment. This was quite a nice house Kit thought as he drove up the expansive driveway.
Always doing a risk assessment, Kit parked his car facing away from the house, in case he needed to quickly jump in and drive away. He’d done that before. Kit checked the windows and exterior of the property as he strode up to the front door.
After ringing the doorbell, a well presented man came to the door. Kit identified him as the subject in question. Kit explained that after the subject’s last visit to the bank, where things got a little heated, the bank had decided to close his account.
“Here is your cheque for the remaining funds” Kit explained as he handed the man an envelope.
“But there’s five million dollars in that account!” shouted the man.
Slightly taken aback, Kit took a look at the cheque after the man opened the envelope. So there was. It turns out the banks play no favourites. If you yell at their staff, whether you have $2.37 or $5M in your account, they’ll close it down.
Normally this is where Kit would politely excuse himself and be on his way. But, intrigued, he struck up a polite conversation with the man. It turns out that there had been some communication breakdown between the man and his bank, which led to him to shout at some of the staff in frustration.
Kit told him that with that amount of money, the man probably didn’t need to be waiting in line at a normal branch along with the rest of us! He’d probably be much better served with a private banking service. The fees are higher, but with $5M to your name, you shouldn’t have to get frustrated at a bank branch.
Kit and the man left on good terms, the man even shaking Kit’s hand and thanking him for being so professional and helpful. From that time on, Kit always asked the bank how much the cheque was for, before handing it over.
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