The cheque - most annoying form of payment since cows?

Psycho Sonny said:
what if they pay using a stolen chequebook?

how are you going to chase that up?
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We keep all the customers details first when doing a repair for them (PC repair shop) and then check the cheque is made out from the right person, as well as checking they have the associated card.

You're right though, it's possible one could slip through the net. I guess it's a risk retailers have been happy to take as opposed to alienating customers by not accepting them. Times have since changed however.
 
I suppose the easiest way to do it, would be to just pay tradesmen via a normal bank transfer or credit payment. With the payment you can specify a date, and it is accepted then. The tradesman can receive some form of notification that the payment has gone through and everyone's happy. Would take about as long as writing the cheque, and would remove the time required to cash it and all that rubbish.
 
PMKeates said:
I suppose the easiest way to do it, would be to just pay tradesmen via a normal bank transfer or credit payment. With the payment you can specify a date, and it is accepted then. The tradesman can receive some form of notification that the payment has gone through and everyone's happy. Would take about as long as writing the cheque, and would remove the time required to cash it and all that rubbish.
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And if you're posting, eliminates the chance of it being 'lost in the post' whether that's true or not.
 
alexhull24 said:
We keep all the customers details first when doing a repair for them (PC repair shop) and then check the cheque is made out from the right person, as well as checking they have the associated card.

You're right though, it's possible one could slip through the net. I guess it's a risk retailers have been happy to take as opposed to alienating customers by not accepting them. Times have since changed however.
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retailers arent happy to take that risk though are they? as i mentioned above try using a cheque in asda, republic, primark, nando's, etc.

cheques are dead, the only people still accepting them are taking a huge risk on trust. especially with debit cards being easier and less likely to be stolen due to pin codes.

say if i come in with a pc into your shop, give my mates address (or a fake address) and a fake name off my stolen chequebook, give you my throw away mobile pay as you go number, come back 3 days later and pay using my stolen cheque book whose details i previously used, take my repaired pc away now with brand new parts in it for free and you never get your money because you accepted a cheque.

they are dead and in my opinion only accepted by people who dont have a clue. i refuse cheques in all my business's, unless the person is paying a deposit for something at least 2 week's in advance, so i can make sure it clears before handing anything over.
 
Well if you did that's a pretty hardcore scam. Such a thing has never happened, and the only issue with cheques has been business who've refused to pay up and insist it's been paid. They all got caught out eventually.

Also I'd find you and kick your ass if it was a lot of money. ;-)

More seriously though, that's why I said times have changed. As you said, lots of retailers don't want to take that risk anymore and can afford to turn away a few people every now and then. As a tiny business we haven't had that luxury until perhaps now, when cheques are so few and far between.
 
Cheques are annoying but at least they have the machines in banks to pay them in now (same as cash), although the OP's bank doesn't?
 
stockhausen said:
Nope, I don't have a problem with them.

Have you considered changing to a 21st Century bank where you can submit cheques via a machine?
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I'm with what was, last year, the world's largest company, and I did submit it via machine.

HSBC require that you also use a paying in slip. Awesome! What's the point?! It doesn't go any faster.
 
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Psycho Sonny said:
retailers arent happy to take that risk though are they? as i mentioned above try using a cheque in asda, republic, primark, nando's, etc.
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I work for a big (ish) shop and we still take cheques. I really fail to see the risk involved so long as the retailer limits the use of cheques to within the customers cheque guarantee limit and takes full details of the cheque guarantee card. My understanding is that the bank will then guarantee the amount on the cheque? So where is the risk?
 
alexhull24 said:
I'll bite; on what basis?
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Solid, tangible, cows are not subject to inflation (methane notwithstanding) you can feed them up and sell them on for more than the purchase price, you can potentially breed them or if all else fails there's always the barbeque option. :p

As for the original question - cheques are still useful in limited circumstances but I've not used one for a very long time, in fact I lost my chequebook years ago and still haven't found it.
 
PMKeates said:
Total time taken? Maybe 10 days in total, because of the weekend.

Yet I can make a BACS FPS transfer and put money in to most UK bank accounts within a minute. Craziness.
No wonder the cheque is going to disappear. It just seems like an excuse to delay payment as long as humanly possible. I think I'll point blank refuse to take cheque payments from now on!

I assume everyone else hates cheques?
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10 days Thats quick...

just wait till someone pays you by E-cheque through paypal :D
 
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