I had some plumbing work done in early March, by end of March id still not had an invoice so wanting to get the bill paid off I sent a text requesting it, which was duly sent out a few days later.
I then sent a cheque on the day I got the invoice but by 17th April it had still not left my account so thinking it hadn't arrived I contacted the plumber who said yes, received with thanks and he didn't know why his office person hadn't cashed it, he would get onto it.
Two weeks on it still hasn't gone so I text him again tonight asking if there was a payment issue of some sort.
Never had such trouble paying a bill, esp since they apparently received the payment, nor dealt with someone that seems so uninterested in getting paid - just wondering how hard I should try to get it paid off? Ive never had to chase someone to pay them money before.
All the more annoying because on the day he did the job I also had an electrician in who sent a bill the next day and within a week payment had cleared - this whole casual thing is a bit perplexing, unless he won the lottery or something.
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Cheques last for 6 months don't they? So make sure your bank account is prepared for it if it shows up at the last minute.
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I wouldn't worry too much, some people are just disorganised. I'm sure they'll cash it.
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>> Cheques last for 6 months don't they? So make sure your bank account is prepared
>> for it if it shows up at the last minute.
>>
6 years I think, but it is standard banking practice to hold payment pending confirmation at 6 months.
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When I worked in a bank we returned them "out of date" at more than 6 months.
Now they don't get checked, so they just get paid.
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Far easier to pay by bank transfers. Takes just a few minutes.
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True, but cheque is in his hands now so that ship has sailed. I am loath to re-send payment in case it gets taken twice and I have to ask for money back - if it is this hard to pay him, imagine getting money back!
No probs on money in account, I could pay it 50 times over, just don't like outstanding bills going unpaid, esp on a 30 days invoice. Wish id not chased for the invoice now but assumed it may have been lost in the post during the snow or something.
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If the amount is unimportant and won't cause you difficulties, then I'd just let it run if I was you.
You've been responsible and anything else is bound to result in you paying it twice!
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I have got a text from him saying he received it and one from me asking if there was a payment problem, so hopefully hanging onto them will cover me a little.
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He's got the cheque. If it takes him six months to cash it that's not your problem. Only issue for you is that if your finances are tight you need to be clear he could present it at any time and you need to keep enough slack in your 'available balance'.
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>> He's got the cheque. If it takes him six months to cash it that's not
>> your problem.
>>
That's my view too. You've done your part, what he does or doesn't do is up to him.
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>>That's my view too. You've done your part, what he does or doesn't do is up to him.<<
That is true to an extent, but I believe legally a cheque isn't payment as I understand it, so I still owe him technically until such time as it is cashed and funds change hands.
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>> That is true to an extent, but I believe legally a cheque isn't payment as
>> I understand it, so I still owe him technically until such time as it is
>> cashed and funds change hands.
Unless/until he claims non payment none of that is at issue.
If he sues on the debt and you offer a defence of tender before action it might be more complex but that's miles away.
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You can always hope you croak before it’s cleared. Account frozen and more brass in your estate for the beneficiaries.
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The cheque is not legal tender, but once accept then the debt is paid. He cannot subsequently change his mind.
But really, like it'll ever come to that!
Perhaps he'll cash the cheque at the last minute, perhaps he'll come back and ask for another. It'd only ever become a problem if you then refused him.
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He's a plumber. Your cheque won't fuel one of his Bentleys for a week.
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Might be something like he wants to defer recordable company income till his next financial year. Probably a lot of his jobs are cash.
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"Might be something like he wants to defer recordable company income till his next financial year. Probably a lot of his jobs are cash."
That's what I thought, too.
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>> "Might be something like he wants to defer recordable company income till his next financial
>> year. Probably a lot of his jobs are cash."
>>
Irrelevant. The tax point is when the work was completed, not when you choose to bank the cheque.
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You are, of course, correct. Assuming that everybody is a) honest and b) smart enough to work that out.
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>> You are, of course, correct. Assuming that everybody is a) honest and b) smart enough
>> to work that out.
>>
If the revenue suss you’ve moved the ‘earnt’ date period they are generally unhappy.
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Trouble with a cheque is that it has a date on it.
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Maybe not but what's the chances of that?
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>> Probably a lot of his jobs are cash.
>>
You could have paid cash yourself of course - might have been cheaper :)
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I've run a business for the last 35 years - when most people paid by cheque I banked them once a week. Now 98% of people pay electronically (and I have to travel further to the branch) I bank cheques once a month and if I've only got one smallish cheque I might think - that can wait until next month.
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What Paul says. Cheques are things of the past. Some banks don't even give customers cheque books any more. He's probably waiting to bank it with loads of others.
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I can understand the end of year thing although that would have only meant delaying a week or so from when he received the cheque.
When I go into the bank every week to pay my earnings in it is still full of small business people paying their money in, so it is far from rare - they are usually the ones holding up the line!
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Joiner did a significant amount of work here in July. It was February when he called with a bill (paid by bank transfer) - I sometimes think that small businesses use private customers as small bank accounts.
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Quite familiar to me. I would have thought that it was only good business practice to pay in cheques soonest but that is the recipient's affair, not mine - except that it keeps my own bank balance looking good.
I have started using bank transfers even to pay the paper bill.
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>> I have started using bank transfers even to pay the paper bill.
>>
Follow on thought. how many people here still use cash on an everyday basis?
Since my latest contract move, to a large financial organisation, I have got into the habit, as many people here seem to do, of using a contactless card for all on site purchases in the canteen or shop, including coffees etc. I find I can go several days, maybe even weeks, without using cash at all.
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>> Follow on thought. how many people here still use cash on an everyday basis?
If you are a self employed sole trader you do. You pay enough into your account to cover outgoings and your weekly living expenses come out of the cash you have left. I haven't drawn money from a cash machine for over thirty years and only use cards for online purchases. Nearly everything else is paid for in folding.
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 1 May 18 at 12:46
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Rarely use cash now.
Stopped buying a paper when I left the Civil Service and gave up commuting by train. Gave up expensive London sandwich bar habit at same time. Both were cash as were a fair number of other sub £15 transactions like nipping into Boots for Nurofen or the odd Rail or Flying mag from Smiths. Never mind the pub...
£50 might just last a week.
Contactless was game changer. Still buy sarnies on a working day but it's Greggs not Pret. Wave the card and go. Same pretty much everywhere - even buying a round in the pub. Tend to use cash for under a tenner in village shop because I know they're stung for charges that eat their profit on low value items.
£50 lasts well over a month.
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I am treasurer of a small charity and am receiving donations and make payments by cheques and cash to the bank branch on a regular basis. If I had only one smallish cheque to bank I would hold it until next going into the bank.
I made a donation to one other charity we support and it took 6 weeks to clear ( over Christmas )for exactly that reason
It simply is a pain getting to the bank especially if you are a small businessman like your plumber.
Also on this day and age of instant transfer why does it still take 5 days for a cheque to clear?
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>> Also on this day and age of instant transfer why does it still take 5
>> days for a cheque to clear?
Because its not electronic instant transfer, its bits of paper that need to be shuffled around.
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Follow on thought. how many people here still use cash on an everyday basis?
You're right. We subscribe to a newspaper - so no cash required there. I bought something on behalf of a friend for 139 last month and he paid me cash - this pile of tenners now sits in a drawer (not in a "chester draw" ! :-) ) I peel off the occasional tenner now and again....may last some time.
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I'm going to buy 4 hens this afternoon from a farm. Obviously they don't have a card reader out in the barn. I could write a cheque I suppose, but it's easier to pay cash.
My daughter sold a horse a few weeks ago. Someone saw the advert, came to view, liked it, haggled a price, paid £2000 in cash, loaded it into the trailer, process done. It reminds me that when I bought a horse trailer a few years ago I paid cash - the seller wouldn't take anything else.
We sometimes buy produce, eggs etc from roadside stalls. Leave cash in the honesty box. What else would the seller do - leave their bank details on a board?
I'm often asked in supermarkets if I want cash-back. Why would they do that if no one uses cash any more? Or perhaps it's just a meaningless mantra, like Have a nice day?
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>> I'm going to buy 4 hens this afternoon from a farm. Obviously they don't have
>> a card reader out in the barn. I could write a cheque I suppose, but
>> it's easier to pay cash.
As might be expected the rural economy and less formal transactions are still more cash dependent than at other end of scale. Just had a Bosch engineer round to fettle my hob. Took a card payment using his tablet and receipt arrived seconds later by email.
OTOH local guy coming round to put cover over my chimney to stop birds falling down will be paid cash.
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>> I'm going to buy 4 hens this afternoon
Are they going cheap?
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My sister's window cleaner takes Paypal...! I agree, eggs (other side of the gate) are paid for in cash...I sold my X1 for cash - 17k in used notes (Scottish and BofE) ! Been out on the bikes today - there was a cash transaction at the biker's caff we go to...we just about (between us) managed to cough up the cash !
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>>
>>
>> I'm often asked in supermarkets if I want cash-back. Why would they do that if
>> no one uses cash any more? Or perhaps it's just a meaningless mantra, like Have
>> a nice day?
>>
Two reasons:-
1, They have to pay both to bank and transfer cash to bank.
2, If they have taken any dud notes the chances are they'll be passed back to a customer.
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And its instant cashflow, from the till electronically to their account via you.
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>> Follow on thought. how many people here still use cash on an everyday basis?
I almost never use cash these days.
My contactless debit card and Android Pay cover the daily stuff, and fuel and business expenses go on my cashback credit card. I don't buy newspapers, and a Readly subscription has replaced the magazine purchases I used to make (usually with cash at the local newsagent).
The kids pocket money (effectively "money for chores") gets transferred electronically into their own accounts. They have their own cashpoint/debit cards and do their own thing.
I do need to get better at keeping an emergency tenner in the wallet though, as when the rare occasion arises that I do need cash, I very rarely have it.
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>> What Paul says. Cheques are things of the past. Some banks don't even give customers
>> cheque books any more.
I wouldn't say that, less popular but not gone by a long way. They stayed far more popular than the banks predicted. I think plans to get rid of cheques have now been abandoned.
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I still get paid almost exclusively by cash and occasionally cheque in my work and I don't see that changing any time soon, many of them are older and not tech savvy or are often not at home when I do the job, cash just works in that scenario with the good old brown envelope under the seat etc.
Cash is both portable and instant which is I guess why it has endured so long.
The cheque has allegedly now been paid in so hopefully payment made :-)
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I was in Portugal last week and we had a €70 meal in the local eatery. Turned out when we came to pay they didn't take cards. Lucky We were able to scrape together enough, but only just.
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Used to happen a lot in Brazil. For many years credit cards were illegal. When they were finally permitted most places didn't really know how to use them and any difficulty, lack of knowledge or failure was simply taken to mean that the charge was refused by the card issuer.
Many times I got stuck with sizeable group dinner bills and insufficient cash, resulting in an enforced whip-round, before I worked out that what you actually did was flatly refuse to accept their statement or offer any other means of payment.
This typically caused them to go in search of the one member of staff who did know how to process a credit card.
Another joy was that most places would not accept the R50 note maintaining they had no change, even when they quite clearly had. It took me a while to work out that what they couldn't do was work out the change for a note that big and so refused it rather than take responsibility for giving the right change.
Oh the joys...........
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A surprising number of smaller retailers round here(Including the newsagents where I work in the mornings) won't take cards at all, cash only.
Last edited by: Robin O'Reliant on Wed 2 May 18 at 11:05
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Same at our old place where we used to live. The greengrocers only took cash or cheque, I remember going in there once with not enough money as I'd forgotten they didn't take card. Ended up having to put stuff back. A few of the other shops in the village took cash only.
Last edited by: sooty123 on Wed 2 May 18 at 11:13
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>> A surprising number of smaller retailers round here... won't take cards at all, cash only.
>>
My local has been offered several fake £20 notes so they now do a check on every one offered by running a pen type device over each side of the note.
officemachines.net/s/Safescan-30-Counterfeit-Money-Detector-Pen-Pack-1.html?_source=googleshopping&gclid=CjwKCAjww6XXBRByEiwAM-ZUIJCjhBBUhi4eqG-kTIsWm1yh5HiKTxTQo9T1k9ASW73o7XoJlDWbhhoCkc8QAvD_BwEr
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My local chippy only takes cash, not even cheques.
At the other end of the scale my Toyota dealer is so new age these days, I am not sure they would know what cash looks like, although the service is superb.
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I bought a house plant last week from a concession in a local department store. They only accepted cards, no cash. First time I have come across this although I suspect it will be the norm in the not too distant future. The owner of the concession told me that every cutomer they had to date had no problem with this.
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Wed 2 May 18 at 19:45
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although I
>> suspect it will be the norm in the not too distant future. The owner of
>> the concession told me that every cutomer they had to date had no problem with
>> this.
>>
I think it'll be a while yet. Look how popular cheques remain, expectations were that they'd be pretty much gone by now. Yet they are still here and used above past estimates.
Some things move slowly.
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>> I think it'll be a while yet. Look how popular cheques remain, expectations were that
>> they'd be pretty much gone by now. Yet they are still here and used above
>> past estimates.
>> Some things move slowly.
No idea where you get" Look how popular cheques remain" from, a mere 292,000 were cashed last year, a drop of 15% over 2016. Cheques represent 0.004% of the movement of money in the UK
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I think you have lost a few noughts somewhere. 292,000,000 is the correct figure.
www.chequeandcredit.co.uk/information-hub/facts-and-figures/cheque-volumes-values
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Sorry I meant 292 million, a poor cut and paste
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I got it from here.
www.chequeandcredit.co.uk/information-hub/facts-and-figures/key-facts-and-figures-0
400 million seems quite a bit to me. Roughly 10 per adult per year, not mega popular but still a fair few. Enough that talk of getting rid of them was knocked on the head. Don't get me wrong, I'm not desperate to keep them, just saying they've stayed popular enough for the system to keep going.
Last edited by: sooty123 on Wed 2 May 18 at 21:30
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I make dozens of payments to people, organisations and shops/suppliers each month. I'm changing banks and happen to have my cheque book on the desk. Last cheque I wrote was March 2017... the one before that Sept 2015.
Both those to old fashioned organisations (like a Harbourmasters Office).
I hate getting cheques these days.
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My BMW dealer has no facility or process to take cash.
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Our local kebab shop only takes cash and it all gets syphoned to turkey. They spend naff all locally. The rev ignore them like plod ignores gypsies. Crap.
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Cash is king; and hard to trace!
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Cheque sent, received but not cashed - No FM2R
