Last week I experienced something new in terms of receiving payment for services rendered. The first of the month arrived and as usual the pile of bills that go with it. So when sending current invoices I offered clients a discount for fast payment in order to rest assured I could get everything paid up quickly for the month.
To start an interesting chain of events, one customer submitted payment online via PayPal. Trouble is, it was to the wrong email address. It was one of my email addresses, but not the email address connected to my PayPal account.
This no doubt brings a question to my mind: "Why is PayPal accepting payments to non existing accounts?". I was offered the opportunity to add that email address to my existing PayPal account. But that is beside the point. What if it had NOT been to one of my email addresses? Could the recipient have claimed my funds? I had to email my customer and have them pull the payment, which I assume was just sitting in CyberSpace waiting for someone to take it.
I was on the road that day on a field trip to Oklahoma to meet a client, and it was then I discovered that when using my Blackberry to send email an advertisement was being included with my outgoing mail just after my sig file. One in particular that caught my eye was "Pay me through PayPal" with my email address included in the ad. Clearly it was that which created the confusion in the days PayPal transaction going to the wrong account, and something I need to take up with my provider.
My customer then decided to send payment overnight, and rather than write a check they sent a money order to save me any problems getting it cashed. Often banks will hold out of state checks for several days, and almost every check cashing service has some sort of verification process. I - as well as my customer - thought that a money order was just as good as cash.
We were wrong.
My first stop was my local Cash Express. I like the place because for a small fee - much less than banks charge me - I can cash my checks quickly and easily, along with reloading my credit card if necessary. I can also pay many utility bills there all in one stop. I was told that they couldn't cash the money order without verifying it with the issuing bank, which was closed due to the time difference. I then took it to my local bank which informed me they won't cash a money order unless it is issued from a branch of their bank. Two more banks gave the the same answer.
On to the grocery stores. Same thing. You can buy money orders all day, however they will not cash any unless you bought the money order from them. I've never felt so poor with that much money in my pocket before. The feeling is quite disturbing actually.
Later that day I received a check in the mail and returned to Cash Express. While they were cashing my check I explained my afternoon adventure in Money Order Chaos and was told that Money Orders are likely about to be a thing of the past. Apparently they have become very easy to create and/or have become popular in cases of fraud. I was told that every establishment has these strict policies due to that, and it would be in my best interest to stick to online payments and receiving checks.
Just passing along that experience. I am no longer going to accept Money Orders, and having learned that little lesson in finance I'd suggest everyone review their own policies before any hassles arrive in your mail box.
