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I need to rant!

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phsvm
Posts: 81
Joined: 07 Jun 2020, 15:51
Location: Oxfordshire

I need to rant!

Post by phsvm »

Some weeks before lockdown and after jumping through numerous hoops to ensure I had everything absolutely correct and aaking question on the 'old' forum about including death certificates etcI sent off for two sets of WW2 military records.

This operation was hampered by the need to send a cheque. Having hunted high and low I eventualy found a very dog-eared and coffee stained cheque book in the back of a drawer which had ONE blank cheque left in it. I think the last cheque I wrote was in pounds, shillings and pence (I exagerate slighty, but not much :lol: ).

I sent everything off and waited... and waited ...... and waited until today when an envelope dropped through the letter box. Another rare event as we hardly ever get any snail mail. Whoopee. My records had arrived. No, they hadn't. It was a letter to say that because of lockdown the office has been closed and so they haven't dealt with any requests and as my cheque is now out of date I need to resubmit my application with a new cheque.

I am not happy :cry: :cry: :cry: Correct me if I'm wrong but if this had been the Inland Revenue they'd have demanded payment and cashed the cheque even before the ink was dry. They certainly wouldn't have sat on a cheque for over 6 weeks (up until lockdown) before taking the money. Even if they were slow getting the 'product' out you'd have thought they'd have wanted the money as soon as possible.

Rant over. I'll now go and seach more drawers for anoher buried cheque book (I know, I can always update the one I have and initial it but what a shambles).
Mick Loney
Posts: 371
Joined: 15 Jun 2020, 07:27

Re: I need to rant!

Post by Mick Loney »

I think I might have trouble finding a cheque too! I can’t believe in this day and age that a cheque is all they’d accept! I suggest you write to your MP, this situation is ludicrous, something ought to be changed!
Jethro Tull
Posts: 37
Joined: 13 Jun 2020, 21:14
Location: East Anglia

Re: I need to rant!

Post by Jethro Tull »

Hi phsvm,

I work in the financial industry and this is a common complaint to us.

Unless the cheque is a very, very old type that specifies the expiry on it, (normally 6 months but sometimes it can vary), there is no expiry times on cheques now. This was removed some time ago now. If it has been rejected and this expiry is not marked on the cheque it is possibly another reason or potentially someone in the office misinterpreting the rules.

Not that it helps you im afraid but might be worth double checking their understanding of the expiry of cheques if your one does not have an expiry noted on it.

Cheers

Dan
"So many ancestors; so little time"
phsvm
Posts: 81
Joined: 07 Jun 2020, 15:51
Location: Oxfordshire

Re: I need to rant!

Post by phsvm »

Hi Dan

Your 'understanding' of expiry is exactly the same as mine I remember some years ago talking to the woman in our local bank who I knew well about this and she said exctly the same. Cheques no longer expire - her reason was that because their handling is automated the date isn't read.

However, the letter I have from the Army Personnel Centre quite cleary states "I am afraid no action could be taken on your application while we were closed and due to this your payment has gone out of date"

Then they go on to thank me for my "continuing patience". Talk about rubbing one's nose in it!
Thunder
Posts: 436
Joined: 14 Jun 2020, 01:43

Re: I need to rant!

Post by Thunder »

Mick Loney wrote: 26 Aug 2020, 18:46 I think I might have trouble finding a cheque too! I can’t believe in this day and age that a cheque is all they’d accept! I suggest you write to your MP, this situation is ludicrous, something ought to be changed!
This does sound very old-fashioned but it may be a Government Accounting rule in case that (as there are) long delays that the cheque is not cashed before the work has been done, else refunds should be repayable. It may be that is just MOD practice!. But I agree that raising it with your local MP may be a good idea.
meekhcs
Posts: 468
Joined: 02 Jun 2020, 18:19
Location: Lincolnshire, but Hampshire born and bred!

Re: I need to rant!

Post by meekhcs »

How did they handle payments at Roots Tech last year when you could order records ob the day??
and.............
wasn't it all supposed to be going online?
Sally
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AdrianBruce
Posts: 358
Joined: 14 Jun 2020, 18:57
Location: South Cheshire

Re: I need to rant!

Post by AdrianBruce »

Thunder wrote: 27 Aug 2020, 18:27... it may be a Government Accounting rule in case that (as there are) long delays that the cheque is not cashed before the work has been done, else refunds should be repayable. ...
Though I remember chunnering* that the probate people (or was it the GRO?) took my money very quickly, so on discovering that they couldn't find the will / issue the certificate (whichever) they had to refund me. There's nothing like consistency and that's nothing like...

* Seems the same as "chuntering"....
Adrian Bruce
AntonyM
Posts: 66
Joined: 15 Jun 2020, 12:44
Location: Buckinghamshire, UK
Contact:

Re: I need to rant!

Post by AntonyM »

When the MoD bank your cheque it is usually a sign that the file is going to arrive shortly after.....they don't seem to cash them on receipt.

As a family history researcher I still find quite a few clients prefer to pay by cheque, they haven't disappeared completely (yet!).
Professional Researcher (retired) and former Deputy Registrar
phsvm
Posts: 81
Joined: 07 Jun 2020, 15:51
Location: Oxfordshire

Re: I need to rant!

Post by phsvm »

I'm not complaining at the cheque not being cancelled - although if they had done I would have assumed that they were actioning my request. As far as I'm concerned they could have cashed it now and fulfilled my order.

What has annoyed me is that they now say it's 'out of date' when that's not the case as by all accounts cheques no longer 'go out of date'.
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