A&L have lost my cheques - any advice?

Seaxwyn

On Saturday I paid 3 cheques into my Alliance & Leicester current account at the local post office - which I have often done before with no problem.

The cheques have not appeared in my account and I have rung A&L who say there's no trace of them in their system. They have told me to ring the 3 companies that wrote the cheques and ask if they have been paid, and if so for their sort code, account number and cheque number.

I'm embarrassed to do this as the three companies are all clients that I value and I don't want to cause them any hassle.

Has anyone any experience of anything like this and any advice or suggestions?

jonesMUFCforever

My first port of call would be the post office in case there was a problem there. I take it that you got a receipt for your deposit.

If they are truly lost then you will have to ask for new cheques. The drawer of the cheques will have to check that they have not gone through their accounts and then stop them.
No bank should charge a customer for a lost cheque.

Unfortunately from time to time things do go wrong but they have given you the only solution.

Seaxwyn

Yes, I checked at the post office, and I have receipts - however these are merely receipts for the envelope and mean nothing in A&L's eyes.

anniecave

Likely scenario here is that the cheques have gotten lost (or delayed) in the post.

I agree it is not ideal to have to ask your clients, but they will understand. I would ask them to check whether the cheques have cleared their account - it's likely they haven't. You should have the other details mentioned with regards to the cheques (sort codes and cheque numbers) - I would always take photocopies of any cheques I receive - but get these details again if not.

It sometimes costs £12 or so to put a stop on a cheque, sometimes its free, I think it depends on the type of account you have and who it's with.

You may want to just ask them to put a stop on the cheques and re-issue them, or you may want to wait a few days and see if the cheques arrive at A&L yet.

Cheques can be altered and paid into a different account (fraudulently), but in my experience that's quite unlikely, it's more likely they'll turn up after a few days or never turn up at all.

I avoid sending cheques thorough the post, and would avoid having a system such as yours where cheques do go through the normal post for processing, but I know for some people it is very useful. On the other side I know occasionally cheques go astray even after being paid in to a normal bank over the counter, so you can't win either way!

I hope you get your money eventually!

Seaxwyn

Thanks Annie. Thank goodness the cheques are showing in my account today. It's never taken this long before. Unfortunately there is not an Alliance & Leicester account anywhere near me, so I have to use the post office to pay in cheques. I'm now going to ask all my clients if they can pay me by BACS in future.