Proof ?

cuggie

Can anyone help ?
bank with woolwich,
gave a £75 cheque to school for school trip, due to error adding up chq bounced, school sent note home saying chq. was returned etc. and they needed new cheque, really embarrising
so sent new cheque but they said they would wait a week first to see if it was re presented, it wasnt so they banked chq. no 2

3 weeks later get statement, chq. no 1 cashed at beginning of march, chq. no 2 cashed at end march
ok so i call school etc etc, they say never got money from chq. 1 - funny as on my statement,
they wont do anything without 'proof' from bank
so spend hours in bank, pay £5 for copy of cheque, 4 weeks later get copy of cheque, bank not helpful, just say been paid to the school, nothing else they can do - school still saying not got it

please does anyone have any ideas - am going to photocopy statement and copy of cheque and fax to school, but how can i make the school check with their bank ??

Quintain_2

I had a problem with an ebay seller who said she had not received my cheque. My bank (HSBC) sent me the details of which bank and account no. had received the money, and when. No charge to me by the way. I had no need to confront the ebay seller though ....... by then she had 'found' my money - but lost my name & address whilst unexpectedly moving house.
If Woolich have given you the account no which has the money, it should be enough proof for the school to refund you.

April2

Tell them you're going to the Small Claims Court and that you will be telling the local press too - so that they can be embarrassed, not you.

Then get a bank with which you can check your account online - so you know immediately cheques have been presented.

Bossyboots

I worked in a school cashier's office and if they are doing their job properly, they will know that they have received the money from your cheque. They should have done a bank reconciliation long before now.

I agree with April2 in relation to the small claims court.

Turning_into_scrooge

Years ago my sons school secretary was filtering money away into her own bank as she had debts piling up. She took somewhere in the region of 20-30 k She did go to prison for it but as far as i know the money was never recovered and allot of it came from cheques from parents and school fairs where cash would be lying around. Came to light when an audit was requested as there were discrepancies in the books.

dunstonh

The copy of the cheque will show the dated crossing stamp of the bank it was paid in at. It will also have a reference number typed on it which acts as an audit trail. This allows the bank it was paid in at to find it on their audit trails and locate the sort code and account number of the bank it was paid into.

First thing you should do is show the cheque to the school and ask them if that is where they pay the cheques into. The date on the crossing stamp should corrospond with the paying in slip so it should be easy for them to check. Schools are required to fill out their paying in books in detail.

If you still get no response from the school, inform them that you will have to contact the police to report a potential fraud. I'm guessing the school will suddenly take an interest at that point. Especially if the crossing stamp matches the branch they pay in at.

Just make sure first that the first cheque entry doesnt have a contra entry within a day or two. Most banks will show a bounced cheque on the bank statement but follow it up with a contra entry for the same amount. This shows it being debited and bounced. In my banking days I recall that being a common enquiry for those who hadnt had a bounced cheque before. They saw the debit but missed the credit to balance it out.

Debt_Free_Chick

I think a claim to Small Claims Court it a little premature at the moment. That would be appropriate if there were an embroiled dispute, but at the moment there just seems to be confusion.

I don't think it's entirely reasonable for the school to want proof. Think of it this way - you wouldn't want the school to be paying money to anyone who claimed they'd overpaid.

There may have been a genuine mistake - so eliminate that and be sure of all the facts before you start any formal action.

As dunstonh says, look at the cheque carefully as it will show to which account the cheque was presented & cleared through. You can either ask the school to confirm the sort code & account number for their accounts (they may have more than one and your cheque may have gone into the wrong account) or you can simply tell them the details from the cheque and ask them to confirm whether it's their account.

You'd look a bit silly in the Small Claims Court if the cheque had cleared through an account that was nothing to do with the school! Of course, that shouldn't happen ... but mistakes are not unheard of

cuggie

Thanks everyone

The school 'financial' lady is posting a cheque back to us !
apparently she paid it in as a bulk payment, got the letter saying its not been paid etc.
after hours on phone talking her through her statements (i do the cash books for an accountancy firm so i know how to trace the bulk payments in/out etc on bank statements) she finally realised that one of the bulk payments she had put in a few days after was ....
£75 more than what was paid in ....................gggggrrrrrrr

I didnt ask for the £5 charge for a copy of the cheque to be added to the £75, her mumbling was worth the £5 !

Paul_Varjak

I'm always pleased when there is a succsssful outcome.