Man! a Bounced Cheque! Long, Sorry

[kcjodih]

It's only my second in my almost 4 years of business but man I hate this! I just went online to make sure a host had deposited the last money owing into my bank account (she lives 1/2 hour away and didn't have a credit card when we closed her show on the phone) and saw an Insufficient Fund Returned Cheque withdrawal on my account.

The good news is that my host HAD deposited the money she said she was going to on the 31st. The bad news is this bounced cheque. The total of the cheque was $132.49 so the amount taken back out of my account was $142.49 including bank fees.

The thing is this has been a wierd show since the beginning. The show was my only July show and was on the 13th. My host knew I was leaving on the 18th for a week's holiday and agreed to close on or before the 17th. Emails me on the 15th saying she only had one more order and was still $45 away from $700 so she'd like to leave it open until I get back. I explained that that would be a delay for her guests receiving their products and she said they were okay with that. So I agreed to call her on the 25th to close her show.

I got an email while camping with another small order and said congrats you're now only $30 away from $700 and more FREE blah blah, talk to you when I get home.

I get home and she emails me with a $22 order on the 25th and I say congrats only $8 away and she says what? I thought I was only $20 away before? I said no, my email stated ... and I cut and pasted. So I said I'd call her that evening.

I call and she's out getting her nose pierced (!) and her daughter said she'd have her call me when she gets back. No call. Then the next day Saturday she emails saying okay, I'll figure out how to get one more small order....Nothing Sunday, nothing Monday the 28th. I email her that evening saying are you finally ready to close, I can call to help, you have this much free etc and I also state we MUST close by Thursday the 31st with ALL payments to me in order to qualify for the July specials (little white lie :blushing she finally emails me Tuesday night saying call me Wed night. I'll call, we close and she says she'll put the $ in my account at her local branch Thursday. I thought okay, but I'm waiting to make sure it's in before sending....

So since I wasn't in a hurry and nothing had shown up on Thursday night or Friday morning (which is typical - the bank insists the deposit must be couriered to my branch) I wait until tonight. No hurry at this point since they will be swamped with shows and what's one more day (and it's a civic holiday here today so HO is closed for 3 days instead of 2).

Now I see a returned cheque! And it's from one of the two bookings on this show. I'm praying it will turn out positive but am prepared for the worst. I'm just thankful that I haven't sent it in yet. I feel bad for the guests but the main delay has been hers (18 days to close) and it's not being delivered to me (1/2 hour away) AND the guest who's cheque bounced and the host are good friends but I'm not confident the host could stand up to her about not delivering her products until I got money if it had already been sent in.

So, now that this is so long my question is what would you do and how long would you wait? I just emailed the guest (since we were emailing back and forth about a show date) and explained that I had a cheque from her returned and now needed XXx amount including the $10 fee either deposited in CASH to my account at her local branch, a credit card number given to me, or I would have to cancel her order. I also stated that I'd call her tomorrow since it was midnight here now.

I also emailed the host saying there was a problem with an order (but not what or why) and that hopefully it would be cleared up by Wednesday but if not then the products would not be arriving by the end of the week as we had hoped.

If I reach her or a machine how long should I give her to repay or cancel her order? Is 24 hours reasonable? And was I wrong in deposited all the cash and cheques I had on the 25th when I got home even though the show wasn't sent in? I deposited it on the 25th and it shows as returned on the 29th. I usually do it immediately after the show (which would have been right after the 13th) since we always close close in but when she wanted to wait I didn't rush. I just don't want to hear the guest tell me it's my fault I waited too long/or cashed it too early etc. Also wouldn't she know by now that she'd bounced a cheque to me? Arrgg!

 

[byrd1956]

Giving her 24 hours is generous. If you reach a machine tell her you will call if you do not hear from her a certain time. Tell her that her the show cannot be transmitted/shipped until all the payment have been recieved. Actually, I think you should have deposited all the payments within 2 days of the actual show. I don't know if that would have helped you find out about this sooner or not. I just like knowing all the payments are in my account and I will only keep them out if someone has asked me to hold the check for them until a certain date.
A customer of mine had made an individual order and recieved her product before I found out her check bounced. The fee was $25 and of course it was a negative mark on my account. She was so embarrassed when I told her about it. She sent a cashier's check for the amount including the fee and put a little extra in for my troubles.

 

[smspamperedchef]

Well, when a customer or anyone writes a check unless she told you to hold it or told you to cash it right away it should clear anytime. Don't allow her to tell you you were wrong at all. Just be nice about it all and ask her for a different form of payment. She may have written it off the wrong account or maybe had an unexpected bill they had to pay not realizing the check hadn't been deposited yet. Just give her a chance to correct it. You may end up canceling the lady's order though if you don't hear from her in say within 48 hours. Try the host a second time if you don't hear from the guest and let her know the situation and if she could get a hold of her friend as her FPV will change and you would have to adjust her show accordingly.

 

[vwpamperedchef]

At this point if she cannot get the show together, I would give her 24 hours and let her know if its not taken care of by then, you do not want the other guests to wait one minute longer, so you will send each order as an individual order (you'll have to eat the add'l direct shippping charges) but explain that you do not run your business this way. Once you tell her this and when you decide to send each order as an individual I would call each guest personally and apologize and let them know you've directly shipped their items.

This host and her friend are ridiculous!

 

[kcjodih]

Thanks for your opinions ladies, much appreciated.

So I emailed her last night, spoke with my bank today to confirm it was her cheque and then called her at 4 when I got home from my day job and left a message on her machine stating we needed to get this straightened out before 5pm tomorrow with either cash in my account, a money order or a credit card or I would be forced to cancel her order. I called again at 8:45 after the host (her neighbour) called me asking if all was a go for the show arriving by weeks end and I explained that no, there was a problem with an order and I needed to speak with Xxxx. I didn't state what the problem was so as not to embarrass the guest. She said call her right now, I can see her in her window.

So I called the second time as mentioned at 8:45 and got the machine. Left a message just saying I was hoping to speak to a live person and hopefully she got my previous message and email and that again we only have until tomorrow at 5.

Called the host back to say unfortunately I couldn't reach her but if I didn't get her order straightened out and had to cancel it that the host would lose out on $75 in free products (from a $700.54 show to a now $560 show) and one half price item.

Host is now really angry and was marching over there to say 'I don't know what's going on but there's a problem with your order and you NEED to call Jodi ASAP as it's holding up my entire show'.

Hopefully she'll feel forced to call and can tell me herself if she wants to cancel but I'm NOT holding my breath at this point...

Lesson learned...I will cash cheques immediately and not wait until all orders and payments are gathered and deposit just before show closed like I usually do. I just always felt bad if a show stayed open too long (which only happens rarely though) and then they paid weeks in advance for nothing. My bad and lesson learned!

 

[Kitchen Diva]

Want Rae to go and kick her shins? Let me see if she's free!

 

[kcjodih]

Want Rae to go and kick her shins? Let me see if she's free!

Sure do! Rae, oh Rae where ARE you:sing::sing:

Well it's been an hour since I left a message with the guest and spoke with the host who was marching over there...almost 10pm here so I'm thinking no call tonight! I also stated I'm out from 8:30 until 4:30 tomorrow for my day job so that only leaves 1/2 hour at the end of the day unless she puts it in my account (host has info) while I'm AT work....ya right!

 

[JAE]

I hope it all works out for you. Yucky situation.

I've started telling my guests that "I take credit and debit cards which don't get charged until I send in the show, or cash, and if you write a check, I'll deposit it into the bank tomorrow morning." If it's Saturday, I'll say Monday morning, etc. I have considered giving out dollar bills to people who pay with a card. I don't want to go to the bank or keep track of who paid with cash or check.

 

[pampered.chris]

I am sorry that this is happening to you...Your hostess must be even more mad!!