I recently made a cake for a women just a small last minute cake. she writes me a check for the amount loves the cake all is good. well the check was returned so i call my bank and ask why it was returned my first thought was maybe she did not like the cake and put a stop on the check. my bank says it is due to insufficient funds i have tried numerous times to contact her left several messages and she will not return my calls so as of right now i am out the money my bank charged me for her returned check + the money she owes me + the money it cost me to make the cake not to mention the time i took away form my family to make the cake which i can not put a price on. I am just so mad and needed to vent thanks for listening.

I would just keep trying to contact her. maybe her bank has already told her that the cheque did not clear, and she may be having some financal difficultys and therefor may be embarrased to return your calls and to talk about it. i hope you can get it sorted! x x

How well do you know this woman, is she a friend or a cake client? Have you done cakes for her before?

Good luck with this.

you can take it directly to her bank and they will cash it it there are funds available.

You can call her bank every day and see when funds are available. As soon as they are take it in to her bank and cash it.

thanks everyone but i deposited into my business account and my bank will not resubmit it for a second time they said that the check is destroyed and i will get only a copy if it i just started my business so everything is very knew to me i have not had to deal with this issue yet i guess it is a good learning experience i usually ask for half of payment to even consider an order but since this was such a short notice cake like literally the day before i told her she could pay for it when she picked it up my mistake i don't think i will expect checks anymore so i don't have to deal with this anymore.

I never heard of a bank destroying a bounced check and I worked at a bank. I'd be at my bank first thing Monday morning and getting answers from someone (and it wouldn't be a teller).

OK This happened to me. Made numerous attempts to get the woman to pay without success. I finally contacted the sherriff's department and got all the necessary forms from them and started the process of the sherriff's dept collecting the money for me. I have everything documented and every email she ever sent me to show her intent. The Deputy said they could and would get the money for me. It is against the law.

I hate to have to resort to doing this but I can not afford not too.

Good Luck

I had a bounced check once. My bank gave me a copy, not the original, which was still good at her bank to cash. And just for the record, I NEVER take checks the day before. Not even two weeks before. This was a looong time friend of the family. Now I don't take them from them either.

maybe i will wait for the copy and take it to her bank and see what they can do. definitely learned my lesson. i am just a really trusting person and try to see the best in people but i guess if i am going to run a business i need to quite that

I hope you get this sorted out and she contacts you. My guess is she is embarassed about the bounced cheque. Either that, or she's a cow and knew the cheque would bounce... unfortunately those people do exist.

I know here if I phoned a bank regarding someone else's account they would not give me any information what so ever - certainly not whether there is funds available or not, because of the Privacy Act that we have in Alberta (or is it across Canada? I don't know) anyhow, I really do wish you the best of luck and I hope you get all your money back, and soon.

If you take that copy into the her bank they will tell you if it will clear. They won't give you any other information about her account but they will tell you that. I worked in customer service and we answered those calls every day.

And jsut to reiterate, never take a check less than a few weeks before the cake is due. Cash only! Sometimes the bank will cash the check and then take a week or more to let you know that it didn't clear, so even if you deposited it you might not find out about it being bad for quite a while after that.

when I do take a check, it's at least 2 weeks before the order is due, and I NEVER deposit them into my bank account. I go and cash them, then deposit the cash. This has always worked for me because all of the baks ehre are pretty close by so it's not even a hassle. A few of them may charge me $4-$6 to cash teh check, but I would rather pay that than risk the check bouncing in my account and causing all kinds of fees to happen!

that is a great idea. I never thought of that either.

Were you able to collect your money?

-Debbie B.

Couldn't you if you get a check close to the due date cash their check at their bank. It has been awhile since I have done that but if their account doesn't have the money you don't make the cake and aren't out the money.

Same thing here.. if the check is made to me personally fine. I can go cash it at their bank. But when its made out with my business name it has to be deposited/cashed at my bank.

Yep, same thing here.. if its payable to the business, it has to be deposited.

Since you said you are new, take this opportunity to make friends with your bank. Work with them to sort this situation out and then bring them a batch of cupcakes or something as a quick thank-you. We did this with my local branch and they have been amazingly helpful. Especially when our business account got hacked (twice!!!) They also are great when/if I need to get any research done and usually don't charge for those types of things.

for next time you can always get these late orders to pay through paypal. its worth the small fee they charge to be paid instantly.

I'm with CakesDevine here. I was reading through this getting ready to say send the certified letter. That way you have proof she got it and is ignoring you.

Maybe she is embaressed or maybe she knew she didn't have the money in the bank, either way, don't let it go until you get your money plus the charges.