Lost money order

[Handloader109]

The PO lost a box of parts for me in the last hub before it got sent to my PO. Had them search, they know where it went missing tracking wise, but there website wouldn't let me download the form and their phone system put me on hold for a few hours before I gave up. Gotta go to the local PO and get the form to fill out. This is with insured priority shipping. Believe me I know how you feel...

Wrong, you can fill out form on line for lost priority mail. I did one last year and received check in about 10 days....

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

[Plate plinker]

I went through this myself. You have your papers you will get your money. The PO employees are nearly useless. Now I don't recall the timeline as far as when you can file the claim but you will receive a phone call from somebody and will be paid. File ASAP and then jump through the hoops ASAP. My local postmaster was great but they can do very little for you. Just be patient and when its all done you will also have learned a valuable lesson don't trust the PO.

[megasupermagnum]

Yep, nothing to do but send the money again.

There is a lesson to be learned here, but I'm not sure what it is yet. Bank money orders are worse, they are a 90 day wait! Again, tracking has no bearing on this, unless you have the check in hand, there is nothing you can do for 60 days (or 90 for the bank). Screw that. I'm using the credit card in the future, the fee is barely more than shipping.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Mega,
Thanks for sharing this experience. It will surely be in my mind, the next time I consider sending a large payment via snail mail.

[Smoke4320]

yes First Always send via a trackable manner .. Priority mail when possible.
Second Contact dealer immediately .. send whatever documentation you can to prove you tried to send payment. you want him on your side too.
like Outpost I had PO loose a Classic handgun (actually sold to a member here) .. PO said there was nothing they could do for 30 days. As a FFL I HAVE to notify ATF of a lost handgun .
Told the Postmaster that and she blew me off
So I immediately called the Local Police AND the ATF.... Funny thing. the next day (Saturday) the handgun was located and somehow magically made it thru (tracking entered at each PO) 3 *** and 3 states and was delivered to the customer
Sometimes pressure is required

[georgerkahn]

This thread has been an "eye opener" to me. I have had, on two occasions, personal cheques I posted not received in a timely period. One was for less than ten dollars for a piece of sheet music eBayed from a seller in New Hampshire -- this before eBay bought and start mandating PayPal as only payment means -- so I wrote and posted a second cheque. Bion, about eight weeks later, I got an eMail from seller that she had just received my initial cheque, inquiring if (my choice) I wished her to mail it back to me, or, destroy it. I elected the latter. The second lost cheque was in the several hundred dollar range, which I put a (cost me ~$20.00) stop payment on, before again writing/posting a replacement cheque -- this one going across CONUS to Washington State. Must be more than ten years, and I reckon this cheque is STILL missing. (Perhaps it was mis-delivered to someone who threw it out?)
Regardless, I had few worries re the small cheque, BUT WAS ABLE TO PLACE A STOP PAYMENT on the several-hundred-dollar one, for a firearm. MOST troubling to me is you cannot STOP your payment -- and, no mention has been made re the hopeful recipient? In my case, the gunshop owner who made the sale to me was quite firm, and NOT unpleasant, in that he had a business to run and will continue to hold the Remington for me for fifteen more days, before either receiving my payment or returning it to the sales rack. (I had no ill feelings -- he just had rhetoric from a stranger 3,000+ miles away that a FFL copy and a cheque was sent.)
I wish I might think of something you can do, but it surely sounds like you're both in limbo -- I include the seller -- and can only wish your resolution is similar to mine with the sheet music, and recipient gets it in a few extra days. BEST wishes!
geo

[megasupermagnum]

yes First Always send via a trackable manner .. Priority mail when possible.
Second Contact dealer immediately .. send whatever documentation you can to prove you tried to send payment. you want him on your side too.
like Outpost I had PO loose a Classic handgun (actually sold to a member here) .. PO said there was nothing they could do for 30 days. As a FFL I HAVE to notify ATF of a lost handgun .
Told the Postmaster that and she blew me off
So I immediately called the Local Police AND the ATF.... Funny thing. the next day (Saturday) the handgun was located and somehow magically made it thru (tracking entered at each PO) 3 *** and 3 states and was delivered to the customer
Sometimes pressure is required

A handgun is one thing. When it comes to a money order, from my perspective you are paying for NOTHING with a tracked package. Even with proof the money order was lost somewhere, there is nothing that can be done. It's 60 days until they will look into it. No compromise. I couldn't even get them to go in back and check the floor if it got dropped.

That is not a safe form of payment if you ask me. A personal check might do, but it's credit card or online payment in the future for me.

[megasupermagnum]

I have talked to the gun shop, they are more than happy to hold the gun for me. I did try to source the gun locally, but it is a Lew Horton exclusive, and has not been in stock for a long time now. Thankfully I am in a position that I can dish out the price a second time, and not have to resort to ramen noodles, so no worries there.

[Smoke4320]

megasupermagnum Cant disagree with CC payment. Both you and the seller know its made.
its done quickly and efficiently .. nothing to loose in the mail.
Also have to agree the PO sucks for lost mail and even worse on claims

[RED BEAR]

I will say don't give up hope it may still get there. The area postal hub around here was rated one of the worst in country. For some things i will send with tracking but for others it doesn't make since to spend 7+ dollars for envelope with small payment. Postal money orders are safe you can get your money back it just won't be quick.

[TCLouis]

I think you will also be out 10 bucks to get your money back!

[Petrol & Powder]

There's a good chance that MO will actually be delivered to the intended recipient, just not quickly.

[nawagner]

Hope you get it sorted out. I agree with others as well. We had an issue with a bank ordered cashiers check once, over $100k just "lost" by the USPS!! They didn't even get as far as to having a tracking number. The number the PO gave him was "not a valid number." Same thing, we could wait 60 days and hope, or pay $3000 for a stop and re-issue. Worst part is, they could have transferred it electronically but my guy thought the cashiers check via USPS with tracking was "safer."

In today's world I see no reason to send any type of payment via mail. There are at least 5 different ways of reliable, safe and efficient transfer of money I can think of off the top of my head, and that doesn't include credit cards. PayPal, Venmo, Popmoney, Zelle, Square, etc.

[kingstrider]

I had the same thing happen in November for a gun part I bought on another forum. It never showed up so I had to go through all the hoops to get a refund which took nearly 2 months. In the interim I also paid for the part a second time because I wanted it but eventually got my money back. Now I won't even send a money order unless it is certified or priority mail but prefer using PayPal or a cashier's check from my bank if I have to send it snail mail.

[megasupermagnum]

I'm sure in time it will eventually be returned, until then, there is nothing left to do but wait. PO was closed today, but will fill out the form tomorrow. What I want to know is what happens to a money order when shipped priority. That's the thing everybody keeps telling me, and yet is it just a feel good? At that point you have proof the money is lost, but it's still 60 days before anything is done. nawagner's story pretty well confirms that.

In the grand scheme of things it's not a big deal. It's not even the most expensive mistake to happen to me in the last year. Hopefully people will reconsider mailing any kind of payment now, there are just too many better options. I think any notion of a money order being safer is out the window at this point.

[nawagner]

My understanding is that the money order and the priority shipped are two separate things. Sending by priority means they get it there faster and can track the package/envelope. It doesn't protect the MO. Although I wonder what would happen if you insured it for the amount of the MO?

[Wag]

Paper payments are the least secure of all payments. Even you hand a check to a guy and he puts it in his wallet, there is a long list of problems that can happen with it before payment is made on the item.

Debit card payments are just about as bad.

Always use credit cards to make payments. If you're using PayPal, link to a credit card to initiate payment, not your bank account.

In a Face to Face transaction where the recipient can't take credit cards, use good old fashioned cash to make payment. Write a Bill of Sale with serial numbers if it makes you more comfortable but at the end of the day, he walks away paid and you walk away with product, end of transaction, no matter what.

--Wag--

[megasupermagnum]

Absolutely. Every single gun I have purchased private sale, or gun dealer, I paid in cash. There is no good reason to do it any other way. As for online sales, unfortunately people are divided on Paypal. There is a large group that has boycotted them for their anti-gun stance. They still haven't changed, probably never will. I still use them, I wish more people would. I don't put anything in the comments, I could care less what Paypal thinks. I'm not sure what could go wrong with a debit card, unless you are talking about giving out the info to some random guy over the phone. It should be as secure as a credit card, but I'm wrong most of the time it seems.

[nawagner]

As I mentioned previously, PayPal is not the only game in town for electronic transactions. Debit card issue is that the protection is on the card owner, not the card company like it is with credit. Thus if someone gets your debit number the account can be wiped out then you have to fight for your money back from the bank. With a credit card the company fights to get the money, not you. Most of the time credit is better for online purchases.

[Wag]

nawagner is right about debit cards. Further to that point, with debit cards, it is YOUR money at risk. With credit cards, it is the bank's money at risk. Even worse are those Visa or M/C "check" cards. So much easier to steal your money if your debit card has a credit card number on it.

Many times, if your debit card is compromised and you lose all your money, the bank can take a couple of months to get your money back to you, if they agree to get it back to you at all. In the mean time, your auto pay is failing, any paper checks you use (did I mention how bad THOSE are?) are bouncing all over the place, fees are stacking up from all of these problems and your credit score is going to pot.

Ugh.

Just don't use plastic linked to your bank accounts, please.

Over the years, as a finance guy, my career has been focused on minimizing and managing risk. In terms of payments, in order of most risky to least risky:

paper checks
money orders
debit cards, esp the m/c and visa check cards
cash
ACH payments
PayPal, depending on how you set it up and use it
FedWire payments
credit cards

Depending on how you use of some of those payment methods, the list can change. And you could be corralled into one payment method or another depending on your circumstances. For example, you're not likely to be able to use a credit card or a personal check to buy a house. (But who knows?)

I'm still debating on how to squeeze your bank's online bill pay into that list but I've never had any problems with mine over 20 years or so with two different banks.

So, keep a couple of credit cards and watch those statements and never ever let a company auto debit your checking account.

--Wag--