Cheque lost in the Post

[Coral]

Help!!  Can I cancel a cheque drawn on a French bank by fax ?  It was for a large amount and should have arrived in UK more than a week ago... and it wasn't sent by the Fench post.  I've got a tracer being put on it but I am panicking.

Any advice please.

Coral - nearly in the Ariege

[Teamedup]

We sent a birthday card from our post office so the right tarif was on it, mid February and it took nearly three weeks to get to the UK. The post seems to be very slow at the moment.

 

Yes you can cancel a cheque, but it usually quite expensive.

[Coral]

Thanks for the quick response.  It was for an amount more than my annual salary so if the registered post guys can't give me an answer by tomorrow (Friday) I think I 'll play it safe and cancel it.  I'm in Japan and post normally only takes 4 days - reason for the panic.

Fingers...and everything else....crossed.

Coral - nearly in the Ariege

[Teamedup]

All relative ofcourse. The last one we cancelled cost us around 12€. Our cheque was only for about 25€ and did turn up. Where as it sounds like 12-15 euros will be but a drop in the ocean compared to the value of your cheque.

[Coral]

12/15 euros? Right TU!

I think I can probably make up the cancellation expense by arranging an fx company transfer instead of the cheque

Thanks for your comments.

Coral  - nearly in the Ariege

 

[Ron Avery]

Coral

Just go your banks website and look at the charges, they vary from bank to bank, CA Midi Pyreness is 15€ but will only be stopped if lost or stolen.  Other CA banks have higher charges for this.

[Val_2]

I put a cheque in an envelope in the Tresor Public postbox one evening. The next day I rang to see if they had received it and no, it wasn't there. What followed was a pullava in trying to cancel this cheque as the local branch wouldn't get involved (CA) I had to contact head branch at Quimper, furnish all the details, sign a déclaration that I had written the cheque and it took two weeks to finally cancel it. Meanwhile I got charged 25€ for the pleasure and we never did discover where that cheque went to, it never showed up again on any statement. I was told that you cannot just cancel french cheques without going through all the hoops and my friends put this to the test when a new electric piano they bought wouldn't work properly. Their cheque still went through regardless after being told they must sort it out with the shop.

[Ron Avery]

Val

EDIT Read the post about CA charges in respect of your friends trying to stop a cheque that had not been lost or stolen.

You know more than most that the system in France is different than in the UK, here a cheque can only be stopped because of loss or theft, not because of dissatisfaction with goods bought.  In fact that is not a great reason to stop cheques in the UK either.

[Jc]

These answers seem to indicate that you should use direct debit wherever you can.

[Val_2]

[quote user="Ron Avery"]

Val

Read the post about charges.  You know more than most that the system in France is different than in the UK, here a cheque can only be stopped because of loss or theft, not because of dissatisfaction with goods bought.  In fact that is not a great reason to stop cheques in the UK either.

[/quote]Just found the statement, it was four years ago and it was for 25€ because they had to send a specially drafted letter with all the details to us to confirm before that cheque was cancelled on their system.

[Coral]

Thank you everyone for your comments.   Stomach is still doing flip-flops over the situation. The cheque is not small so I have to do something just in case a 'tealeaf' has helped himself.   I am looking at potential disaster.

I have the registered post tracer report from this end and am waiting for the one from UK , plus the letter from the solicitor it was sent to stating non arrival.  I am hoping those three bits might help.

Wish me luck!

Coral - nearly in Ariege

 

[Georgina]

I've had two letters gone missing recently, both from the same post box in France.  With cheques and passbooks and copies of personal documents.  Major headache for me. Trouble is with the internet and a little bit of information, it is really scary what people can find out about you and use it over the phone.  One bank in the UK only asked for date of birth and mother's maiden name, which with a little bit of knowhow, could easily be found from the documents I sent.  It is sad that you cannot trust post anywhere nowadays, although I did assume France was much better ie the postman don't tend to bury their postbags in the garden like they seem to do in the UK.

Georgina

[Coral]

[:D]

Whoopeee!!! Success! !!

 The payee was a solicitor in UK and he wrote a letter to the bank refusing the cheque and stating that it was lost in the post.  Faxed it to my estate agent in France who took it to the banque and explained the situation.  OK. No problem. Will refuse it if submitted.  I was just asked to send a fax cancelling the cheque.  All done and dusted.  I guess it helped having the cheque  refused by a solicitor and having the first fax sent by him.  The faxes were  were worded by my friendly estate agent so my generally garbled French did not confuse matters. 

If anyone needs a wonderful estate agent in Toulouse or the wording of the letters, PM me.

Coral - nearly in the Ariege