I had a unique “payment” experience shortly before Christmas that I’d like to discuss. The customer lived in the U.S., and paid for her LofaBed by mailing me a certified check.  I know this because she emailed me the proof.  Now the way this is supposed to work is that before we ship, the customer pays.  But I’m trusting enough…some say naïve…to allow people to simply TELL ME they’ve mailed the check, and I’ll release the order.  This has never backfired…..until now.  This time the sofa-bed arrived before the check!  The customer was happy, I was nervous, but everything seemed OK…considering the time of year (pre-Christmas).

Two weeks later, and the check had still not arrived!  So I called the woman and explained the situation.  She responded immediately by paying the invoice via PayPal, and everything was cool.  Except for this check, which was now wandering around somewhere within the American or Canadian postal system.  And y’know what?  I’m STILL waiting for it!

Even though things worked out in the end, this incident reminded me of the reason I ask for the kind of payment that I do.  I deal with the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), which is known to be Canada’s largest bank. They’ve advised me to only accept money orders, bank drafts, or certified checks (in addition to credit cards and wire transfers), because they represent secure methods of payment that can be cleared quickly. Personal checks, on the other hand, cannot.  According to the RBC, personal checks are manually processed, and sometimes take ninety days or more to clear the system!  Pretty good reason not to accept personal checks, eh?

But I still prefer this method of payment over PayPal or wire transfer, because at least this way, there’re no receiving costs.

She told me the check was in the mail,
Weighed it herself on the postal scale.
I believe what she said,
Though I’m still out the bread…
‘Cause this time of year, the mail’s a snail!

Mitch Wapen
www.lofasofa.com
lofasofa@videotron.ca
877-424-1431

Comments are closed