Money Order Mess

[mike_v_s]

I negotiated an online purchase from some higher-end audio equipment for my main contractor yesterday. We (me and the seller) decided to use a money order as the method of payment. Due to the amount, the USPS required that I purchase more than one until the total was met. I overnighted them and waited this afternoon for the call from the seller so I could arrange pickup with a shipping service.

When he called, he informed me that his local post office had identified the money orders as fake and confiscated them. He was sent on his merry way with only photocopies. So then I called, whereupon she accused me of trying to pass fake USPS money orders. I told her where they were purchased and offered to fax her copies of the m.o. stubs, the overnight label copy and the receipt. She informed me that none of that would help and that the matter had been turned over to the Inspector.

So I got a little pissed and asked when he/she would contact me and straighten out this lapse in judgement. No idea, I was told. So at that point my contractor was out a not small sum of money, had no equipment to show for it and was on a undertermined timetable to get either his money or the product.

I had to drive to the local post office where I bought the money orders, explain the situation, and have her call the other post office to walk them through the process to verify a money order. So clear there, except that they say they can't call the seller to come get his money because they didn't get his number. They just took his money orders and sent him home.

Meanwhile, the seller is at the point of assuming I am trying to rip him off and backing out of the sale. The Post Office of Stupidity calls the seller, tells him the money orders cleared and then informed him that they can't even cash them all.

I swear. If this deal ever goes through it'll be through the patience of an extremely trusting individual. That wouldn't be me. I threw the phone across my office during part of this.

Mike

[MJ5150]

-Mike

[MakiSupaStar]

You threw the phone? GTFO! You're totally badass!

[mike_v_s]

Originally Posted by MakiSupaStar

You threw the phone? GTFO! You're totally badass!

I assumed it was common knowledge but felt it needed to be included, just in case. You have to act like a petulant child every so often to keep people on their toes.

Mike

[hover]

only badass if he then reached through the phone to smack the recipient of his vitriol. Hey, it works in cartoonz.

[Simo98]

Originally Posted by hover

only badass if he then reached through the phone to smack the recipient of his vitriol. Hey, it works in cartoonz.

Brown-note via phone?

[Staredge]

Uhhhhh........................why would they go to the post office to cash them??? Furthermore......they have the recipients address on the MO themselves, assuming you filled them all out. Don't know how they could call them fake if they weren't.....they have more security features than money does.

[PSPookie]

Originally Posted by Staredge

Uhhhhh........................why would they go to the post office to cash them??? Furthermore......they have the recipients address on the MO themselves, assuming you filled them all out. Don't know how they could call them fake if they weren't.....they have more security features than money does.

Did you miss the part about them being United States Postal Service money orders?

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by Staredge

Uhhhhh........................why would they go to the post office to cash them??? Furthermore......they have the recipients address on the MO themselves, assuming you filled them all out. Don't know how they could call them fake if they weren't.....they have more security features than money does.

Over here (so it could very well be different), you don't have to fill out the details. You can send postal money orders as "uncrossed". Don't know why you would tho, because then it's no safer than sending money in an envelope.

[Yerf Dog]

But what does this have to do with Nigeria?

[Strat-Mangler]

Why, oh why would you ever use money orders in 2010? It's such an unprotected way of doing transactions.

Good luck with that situation, though.

[Jim Campbell]

Originally Posted by mike_v_s

I negotiated an online purchase from some higher-end audio equipment for my main contractor yesterday. We (me and the seller) decided to use a money order as the method of payment. Due to the amount, the USPS required that I purchase more than one until the total was met. I overnighted them and waited this afternoon for the call from the seller so I could arrange pickup with a shipping service.

When he called, he informed me that his local post office had identified the money orders as fake and confiscated them. He was sent on his merry way with only photocopies. So then I called, whereupon she accused me of trying to pass fake USPS money orders. I told her where they were purchased and offered to fax her copies of the m.o. stubs, the overnight label copy and the receipt. She informed me that none of that would help and that the matter had been turned over to the Inspector.

So I got a little pissed and asked when he/she would contact me and straighten out this lapse in judgement. No idea, I was told. So at that point my contractor was out a not small sum of money, had no equipment to show for it and was on a undertermined timetable to get either his money or the product.

I had to drive to the local post office where I bought the money orders, explain the situation, and have her call the other post office to walk them through the process to verify a money order. So clear there, except that they say they can't call the seller to come get his money because they didn't get his number. They just took his money orders and sent him home.

Meanwhile, the seller is at the point of assuming I am trying to rip him off and backing out of the sale. The Post Office of Stupidity calls the seller, tells him the money orders cleared and then informed him that they can't even cash them all.

I swear. If this deal ever goes through it'll be through the patience of an extremely trusting individual. That wouldn't be me. I threw the phone across my office during part of this.

Mike

is it possible that the seller got a better offer for her goods and is using the money order as a way to back out of the deal and blame you.....

[mike_v_s]

Originally Posted by Jim Campbell

is it possible that the seller got a better offer for her goods and is using the money order as a way to back out of the deal and blame you.....

I had initially thought he was trying to back out (or rip me off), but a call to the post office that confiscated the money orders verified everyhting. Supposedly, they have no "cleared" them and are waiting for him to come back.

Mike

[Marco A. Mayer]

I'm subscribing to this thread so I can read it when I've got nothing else to do.

[MakiSupaStar]

No that I've got my jab in, is this a dude you have a working relationship with? Because that kind of sucks. Should I throw my phone across the room in solidarity?

[Unrepresented]

Originally Posted by mike_v_s

You have to act like a petulant child every so often to keep people on their toes.

This is advice that I have abused on a near daily basis. "Company policies" will rarely hold up to a willful grown man beginning to tear up and stamping his foot loudly.

That's why some of us enjoy the breakfast menu during whatever hours we want.

[mike_v_s]

Originally Posted by MakiSupaStar

No that I've got my jab in, is this a dude you have a working relationship with? Because that kind of sucks. Should I throw my phone across the room in solidarity?

Which dude? The contractor or the seller?

Mike

[L-A]

Originally Posted by MakiSupaStar

No that I've got my jab in, is this a dude you have a working relationship with? Because that kind of sucks. Should I throw my phone across the room in solidarity?

Didn't he say his wife was a RD?

A Ripped Dude?

No?

[boing]

Originally Posted by Staredge

Uhhhhh........................why would they go to the post office to cash them???

Originally Posted by PSPookie

Did you miss the part about them being United States Postal Service money orders?

If I want to give the money, I go to the Post Office.
If I want to take the money, I go to the bank.

Maybe the seller needed cash, and the bank wouldn't cash right away? From the USPS M.O. page:

Domestic Money Orders

Purchase with cash, debit card, or traveler's check
Valid for an unlimited period
Can be cashed at any Post Office or can be deposited or negotiated at your financial institution
Replace damaged, lost, or stolen money orders

I'm sick and don't have anything better to do.

[EBodious]

i am still hoping for a reasonable conclusion from this mess. it really sux that this involves an important business connection. i guess that is why they say not to mix business with personal. i hope the contractor is patient and understanding. i prefer a world where people don't have to be too uptight about those boundaries.

my guess is that the USPS worker on the receiving end was just being uptight/paranoid and didn't want to get busted for accepting a forged doc. businesses that change cash seem to be very strict since 9/11. no one wants to get caught money laundering for a terrorist org.

cause i work in retail, i go to my store's bank (3 whole blocks away) pretty regularly on saturday mornings to turn large bills into ones and fives. i have been for about 5 years now. i never had a teller say anything but politeness-es till a few weeks ago. maybe she was new, but she gave me the third degree and looked at me funny the whole time.