I have a bride whose final payment is due today. MOB is paying for the cake. MOB told Bride to tell Wedding Planner that she was mailing the check on Thursday since she gets paid on Friday. The mail came and there is no check.

I spoke with the WP both Thursday and Friday. WP has sent several emails to Bride and MOB reminding them of what payments are due when. I told WP yesterday that if the check did not arrive in today's mail that MOB could bring a check to my house by the end of the day and I would just tear up the other check when it arrived in the mail.

I called WP to tell her check did not arrive. Told her MOB could bring check either before 2pm or after 4pm since I have a tasting appointment at 2:30. WP is dress shopping with a different bride and says she probably won't be able to call the Bride until after 4.

What should I do? Should I just let WP handle it? Do I call Bride and/or MOB? Advice anyone?

Hmmmmm, when is the wedding? If you have a few weeks, I'd wait til Monday's mail, if it's not there by Monday and the WP hasn't gotten back to you, than I'd call them myself.

I don't know about you guys but, we've been having some nasty weather and this COULD be the reason for the delay.

Yeah, I'd give her the benefit of the doubt if the time frame allows.

Good luck!
Let us know how it turns out.
Deb

An update:
After a not-so-pleasant phone conversation with MOB (which I don't want to even get into ), FOB dropped a check off at my house.

Normally I would have just waited until Monday's mail, too but there was a huge issue with getting the deposit check and apparently there has been problems with paying the other vendors.

Anyway, all's well that ends well

It hasn't ended until after the wedding - when there are no complaints about the cake or demands for a refund.

Good luck!

It can take over 4 weeks for a check to bounce If they have bveen having problems paying other vendors I'd take that check to *their* bank and cash it. That way you will know if it is o.k.

Yes, definetly go directly to their bank and cash it. If she is not paying other vendors,then this check probably doesnt have the funds to cover it. Make sure you get the money beforehand and if it does bounce send a letter telling them that unless secure funds are sent that their date is open for other brides.

I just noticed that they wrote the check out to my business name, not me personally. Do you think I will have a problem cashing it at their bank?

Take your business license with you, it should have both your name and the business name on it.

Take a copy of your business license, your name should be on it.

[quote="loriemoms"]

They eat the evidence.

[quote="myslady"]

So true!

I've never been able to "cash" a check made out to my business, no matter what bank I take it to. How does the bank know I"m authorized to "cash" a company check? How do they know that I haven't stolen a check from the till and I'm trying to pilfer money from the company? That I'm a "disgruntled employee" who is stealing from the company? How does the bank know I even work for this company? Too much liability here.

Heck with my own account, I can't make a check out to "cash" ... I have to make it out to me.

It's no big deal to have a company account. If you're going to run a business, then get a business account.

I do have a business checking account that is seperate from my personal account. And now that I think about it, I didn't have to show them any kind of business license or anything when I opened it (although I did give them a business card).

To cash a check at another bank (not where you have an account), you need to show photo id and a credit card. I've done this no problem when the check was made out to me personally. Never tried it with the check being made out to my business.

As far as waiting until the check clears - with my business checking account, the funds are available to me the next day after I deposit it, even though her check may have not technically "cleared" yet. So the money will be there for my although I guess it could come back to bite me later if there are not enough funds in their account.

Can't I call or go to her bank and verify the funds are there before I deposit it into my account?

Yes you can callher to bank to verify the funds are available however, if another check clears before yours you may still be out. I worked at a bank and check cashing companies would call daily to verify funds. You should be able to take the check to her bank and get a cashier's check made out to your business then deposit that into your business account.

When I had my clothing business, all checks made out to the business had to be totally deposited. There could be no "cash back" from the deposit slip. Any cash taken from the business account had to be in the form of a check made out to me, from me. I was allowed to call the bank that the check was drawn on to see if the funds were available, which I did do on some wholesale accounts with a sketchy payment history.

I don't accept personal checks for my cakes but I do at my Hair Salon all the time.

The checks are always made out to the name of my Salon, which I own. I did have a "shaky" client once and I took her check made out to my business name to her bank along with my Business license which has my name as owner of the business and business name on it and they cashed it. I also had to show my driver's license.

You can verify funds for a check over the phone. Call and tell them one of their customers wrote you a check in the amount of $? and you want to verify the funds are there to cover the check.

Caution on this scenerio: The funds may be there tomorrow but not by the time the check processes. Best thing to do is go to the clients bank with all of your I.D.'s~ Business license, photo I.D., Business card and anything else. Go loaded with identification and if they question it, tell them this person has had issues with paying you in the past.

Maybe you should think about changing your payment policy. Final payment must be in the form of cash or cashiers check, then you don't have these headaches at the last minute.

Good luck.

If you are concerned enough about this and are willing to spend $10 or so, and don't think you will be able to cash it at their bank, take it there and have it certified. The bank withdraws the funds from their account when they certify it so it can't bounce because in effect it has already cleared. At least you can do that in Canada.