My bank has lost a cheque

[Carlotta]

Recently I went into Halifax to submit a cheque from a client to my business bank, the bank of Scotland. They Halifax have lost the cheque. This has happened to me before, the first time with Lloyds who did eventually find it. Both banks said get the cheque cancelled and reissued. Has anyone else had this problem and has the bank ever given them a good service in resolving it? For me one way of assessing a bank is how well they have done when there is a problem. Halifax needed more chasing than Lloyds but I was not happy with either.

 

[StevensOnln1]

What more are you expecting the bank to do if the cheque has been lost?

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Quite a lot, they have scanned the cheque i imagine and entered all the details into the account so the problem is their's between to senders bank and your bank

If you put it into a envelope and it was not there when the bank opened it later that day then it is your problem

 

[Carlotta]

I personally gave them the cheque along with my bank slip and have my credit book stamped. No evidence at their end. I have had to ask my client to cancel cheque and then pay me again. I have offered him the option to pay by BACS if he prefers. If I lost an important document of someone's I would feel really embarrassed and would want to compensate them in some way. Here they seem to think an apology is sufficient. It is not.

 

[john1989]

Mistakes happen. An apology should be enough.

 

[talkinpeace]

They stamped your book.
They should have scanned the cheque numbers in front of you
THEIR problem.
I find the word "theft" very useful at getting banks to find where they put bits of paper

 

[PipeTen-Carl]

It costs a bank over £ 500 per FSA complaint / creates a shit tonne of paper-work and permanent records for everyone involved (valid complaint or spurious, makes no difference!)...

If you are calm, polite, explain clearly both situation and impact to you, say you want to resolve it amicably directly rather than raise a third party FSA complaint; the escalation, apology and compensation (beer money levels) will follow very swiftly.

 

[talkinpeace]

When I got compensation from Santander, my cut was £150 but as they had to pay all the Ombudsman's costs and had a black mark against them for losing data, it cost them much, much more

if they stamped receipt, it is THEIR problem

 

[Carlotta]

Talkinpeace - very interesting.
One of the clerks at the bank has stated that they would refund the cheque in full if my client did not send a new cheque. I have just received an email from the customer stating that he has sent me a new cheque. Would you ask for compensation from the bank to cover time and effort?

 

[Chris Ashdown]

I would grab the money whilst you can and if the new cheque arrives tear it in two and send it back

 

[talkinpeace]

I ALWAYS ask the bank for compensation and a written apology.
It is the ONLY way to make the beggars up their game

 

[Carlotta]

After much hassle bank of Scotland first offered me £25 which I refused. They then upped it to £50 which I accepted.

 

[Thermodynamic Man]

I had the situation once whereby a cheque I banked was credited twice to my account. Whilst this was good for my bank account the person who had issued the cheque ( my mate and business colleague) was not too happy once it was discovered a couple of months later by his bookmaker. The words theft and fraud rose their ugly head ( jokingly I have to add ) but raised all the same so I had it out with Lloyds. My friend approached his bank. They refunded the £70 back into his account and Lloyds thought that was the end of the matter. I informed them that their mistake had actually caused bad feeling between myself and this person, a business colleague as far as they were to know and I demanded compensation. Lloyds decided not to take the extra £70 from my account therefore giving me £70 and they then asked me what was needed for me to placate my mate. I said at least a meal and a good bottle of wine. They had no idea how much that would be so I said well I wouldn't get much change out of £100. To my surprise they credited my account with £100 and gave me a letter of apology to show my friend so as to prove this was not my error. Needless to say we never went for a meal but did have a major session down the pub the following Saturday...hic!!

 

[Carlotta]

Wow. I need to practice asking for more.

 

[Karimbo]

What more are you expecting the bank to do if the cheque has been lost?

Quite a bit actually, how does a cheque get lost inside a bank? Are the clerks incompetent / butter fingered. Are they not filing paperwork correctly. If there's one thing a bank needs it's accuracy and organised filing of the currency.

Out of interest, hjow would a bank respond if someone at their branch misplaced a £50 note. I bet all staff would need to stay behind and account for the missing £50.