Returned cheque...

gemmalouanna

Hello, probably a silly question but never happened before:

Received a cheque for £5.55 from someone buying one of my items off E-bay, put into bank and said cheque would be available 22/08, however on 19/08 £5.55 has been paid out of account with 'Returned cheque' appearing next to it.

The woman did contact me saying she no longer wants the item due to the fact that she won't recieve in time as I won't post until cheque cleared (she said this wasn't acceptable but nevermind!) - but I had already put the cheque in my bank so I agreed that I would send her a cheque to refund the amount.

What does this 'returned cheque' mean? Has she cancelled the cheque? (I think my bank charges £7.50 for cancelling a cheque so seems strange), I have e-mailled her but would just like to know what I am talking about first, thanks.

lufcgirl

It looks to me like she's cancelled the cheque or there wasn't enough funds in her account to pay the cheque.

gemmalouanna

Cheers...thought that but just trying to find out from someone who knows

Annoying thing is my boyfriend has posted her refund cheque that I had written out and placed in envelope with her address as he is on auto-pilot when it comes to my E-Bay posting my own fault for not saying 'don't post please until I final bank account check online'.

Just hope she is a decent person and will rip up my cheque as not worth me paying the £7.50

Lokolo

gemmalouanna wrote: »

Cheers...thought that but just trying to find out from someone who knows

Annoying thing is my boyfriend has posted her refund cheque that I had written out and placed in envelope with her address as he is on auto-pilot when it comes to my E-Bay posting my own fault for not saying 'don't post please until I final bank account check online'.

Just hope she is a decent person and will rip up my cheque as not worth me paying the £7.50

I think you can canel cheques online and its free (not sure though!)

jonesMUFCforever

If you say the cheque has been lost in the post then you can stop a cheque for free.
It is unusual for a bank to charge a customer for having a cheque returned unpaid to it from a third party.

Mikeyorks

It's fairly certain she has put a Stop on the cheque - claiming it is lost. That way she is not charged for the cancellation.

Suggest you do the same - as having entered into a contract with you she's not entitled to countermand payment. So, at least, you will ensure she doesn't profit from it.

gemmalouanna

Thanks for the advice, I will phone my bank on Tue first thing and say the cheque is lost in the post. My first bad E-Bay payer so guess I have been quite lucky before this