Payee Says They Never Received Our Cheque

Oblivion

A couple of years ago my wife enrolled with one of these chocolate box delivery companies that sends you a box each month and a bill to settle. She sends them a cheque within days of receiving it and so far all has worked well.

Now, she has received a letter from them saying they never received last month's payment but our cheque is showing as cleared on our HSBC bank statement. She's been in contact with them and they've asked for a copy of our bank statement, which we've sent off, but in my opinion I can't see that this proves anything as it obviously doesn't show the payee details or indeed who might have got their sticky mits on it and cashed it.

We haven't heard back yet but I'm just wondering what my rights are here. It's only £20 but out of sheer principle I'm loath to pay it again. I've not spoken to our bank yet but I wonder if they are able and allowed to provide details of where the cheque was cashed, and what they might charge me for this service.

bengal-stripe

It might be just a clerical error and the company comes back with an apology for having inconvenienced you (and hopefully with a complimentary box of chocolates).

If they still claim the cheque wasn't received by them, go to your bank and ask for a copy of the cheque in question. That will show the account the money was credited to.

Somerset

Happened at a company I worked for - cheque intercepted and payee altered. Once reported, the company paid the supplier again and the bank (Barclays) refunded us pretty quickly. But we had our own contacts at the bank and it involved a very large number. Can't see it being worthwhile for £20, more likely an accounting error at the suppliers end.

anna42hmr

Oblivion wrote: »

A couple of years ago my wife enrolled with one of these chocolate box delivery companies that sends you a box each month and a bill to settle. She sends them a cheque within days of receiving it and so far all has worked well.

Now, she has received a letter from them saying they never received last month's payment but our cheque is showing as cleared on our HSBC bank statement. She's been in contact with them and they've asked for a copy of our bank statement, which we've sent off, but in my opinion I can't see that this proves anything as it obviously doesn't show the payee details or indeed who might have got their sticky mits on it and cashed it.

We haven't heard back yet but I'm just wondering what my rights are here. It's only £20 but out of sheer principle I'm loath to pay it again. I've not spoken to our bank yet but I wonder if they are able and allowed to provide details of where the cheque was cashed, and what they might charge me for this service.

Ask your bank to do a beneficiary trace of the cheque, they can then arrange for clearings systems to be checked and confirm name of account paid into and often the acc number and sort code, if it apparent paid into someone elses account and not same account name as the cheque they can then liaise with the beneficiary bank. It can take a little while for a beneficiary trace to come back but its worth doing if they state not received it.

Your bank will need the cheque number, date paid, amount and name of who cheque was paid out too. (a lot of it is electronic now so they may not be able to get the original cheque, but may be able to see a scanned copy if not)

System

Hope you get it sorted - remember if your bank charges you (and it is the error of the company) then ask for to refund you and something to cover your time.

In future, you might wish to consider paying them via internet banking as it is often more reliable than cheques and the postal system.

Aquamania

Oblivion wrote: »

A couple of years ago my wife enrolled with one of these chocolate box delivery companies that sends you a box each month and a bill to settle. She sends them a cheque within days of receiving it and so far all has worked well.

Now, she has received a letter from them saying they never received last month's payment but our cheque is showing as cleared on our HSBC bank statement. She's been in contact with them and they've asked for a copy of our bank statement, which we've sent off, but in my opinion I can't see that this proves anything as it obviously doesn't show the payee details or indeed who might have got their sticky mits on it and cashed it.

We haven't heard back yet but I'm just wondering what my rights are here. It's only £20 but out of sheer principle I'm loath to pay it again. I've not spoken to our bank yet but I wonder if they are able and allowed to provide details of where the cheque was cashed, and what they might charge me for this service.

This happens sometimes, but I wouldn't ever send the payee a copy of my own bank account statement. (I wonder if they would be prepared to send you a copy of their bank account statement???. I have asked this in the past to companies that adopt this approach, and the answer I have always been given was a definite NO!)

I would simply confirm that you have records showing the cheque, which was crossed and made out in their name (so in theory should not have been deposited in anyone elses account) has been banked.

Get them to check their suspense accounts for the lost payment and if necessary reconcile their accounts with their bank account. Usually they come back (hopefully apologetically) confirming they have actually got the money.

If not, you can ask the bank to trace the cheque. This may get you the original cheque back showing which bank account it was paid into, but sometimes the bank just confirms this.

However, as it's only £20, you may find the bank would prefer to cut their losses and just pay the money again themselves to the receipient (I've had this before too, but that was slightly different as I paid a business via cheque, but it was a bill and I paid it using a BGC slip. Despite the money being debited from my account, the recipient denied receiving it. The bank never bothered to trace it, although they did identify the teller who processed it. Because it was a small amount, about £25 iirc, the bank just paid again from their own funds.)

Dobbibill

sending them a copy of your bank statement will not achieve anything as all this will show is the cheque number (which you have told them and they said they haven't received) and date and amount etc. It will not prove that the cheque in question was written to or receive by the company in question. A copy of the cheque would show this and may be available free of charge hopefully.

I would......

* get a copy of the cheque from the bank

* send them a copy of this by post, email or fax

* if they still say they have not received it then ask bank to trace

* make alternative arrangements to pay by direct transfer either on internet banking or telephone banking

Good luck