OT- Post Office lost my bill payments!!

[toystory1130]

So I go in today to mail a few things and the guy in front of me is complaining his bills hadn't cleared his bank. I thought that was wierd cause 4of mine hadn't either and they should have made it there by now. After talking to the clerk I found out mail from at least 10 people that mailed Jan. 2 had been lost. What am I to do now?? 4 bills due within days, it's $30 for each check to be stopped and $16.50 each for them to be overnighted. Shouldn't they be held responsible for this? I will be out almost $200 for their mistake. And who know's where my account info is sitting...

 

[MagiKitty]

I had the same thing happen to me a few months ago. I noticed that my previous bill payments had not been received. All of them. I'm pretty good about my calendar and mark when and how much I send. I went to the post office to inquire about what happened and what can be done and essentially I was told there was no way to determine what happened and who was at fault.

I guess its the signal to switch to paperless billing. For your bills that are due, go to their websites and see if you can make a payment that way.

Please let me know if your post office offers any solutions!

 

[LovinPooh]

I had my post office lose my credit card payment. 2 months later they called and told me that they found it on the floor That was after I paid the late fees and argued over it with the cc company. Alll they could offer was an apology.

Then a few months ago I got a letter in the mail from someone about 10 miles away. Inside was my card payment in its original envelope, opened of course. I guess atleast the guy mailed it back to me??? Wondering why he didnt throw it in the mail since the stamp hadnt even been canceled or anything.

 

[Cruise]

Then a few months ago I got a letter in the mail from someone about 10 miles away. Inside was my card payment in its original envelope, opened of course. I guess atleast the guy mailed it back to me??? Wondering why he didnt throw it in the mail since the stamp hadnt even been canceled or anything.

Funny you said this because just a few days ago, I found a stamped envelope in the Target parking lot that was addressed to Bank of America. It was one of the window envelopes that was obviously a bill payment. The envelope itself was dirty and folded once... I'm guessing it had been run over by cars quite a few times.

I debated what to do with it since the person who lost it might have already discovered it was missing and canceled the check inside. Also, the envelope wasn't torn, but it was certainly roughed up and dirty so who knows what the postal sorting machines would make of it. Also, if the check had been canceled, the CC company gets it and tries to cash it, but it's returned to them as canceled, will the payer get hit with a returned check fee?

In the end, I went ahead and stuck it in a mailbox. Maybe the person thought they'd already mailed it and would never know the difference until they got hit with a late payment fee. Oh well. I'll never know

 

[Mom loves Disney]

My house payment was lost last month. Thankfully they called before a late fee was assesed. I did have to put a stop payment on the check though. I hope this never happens again it's a PAIN and costs you money!!!

 

[POOHDRMR]

I had this happen 4 months ago too-luckily it was my cable and energy bill so it wasn't too bad-no late fee or anything but I kept wondering where it went and if someone got hold of my checking account numbers.I didn't cancel the checks and they just never turned up.

 

[Green Tea]

My DOCTOR called me once because he was going through his mail and my payment to a bank had been stuck in his stack of mail that got delivered to his office. I hadn't mailed anything to the doctor, the post office just stuck it there incorrectly. I doubt you'll have any luck with the post office paying or the billers having any sympathy; if they were credit card type of payments. I would likely just go online and pay the minimum of any credit card. Then you'll just have a credit.

 

[luvdzne]

I pay all my bills online so I don't have this problem. However while paying my bills I noticed my water bill had not come yet and it is due in a few days. I called the city to see what was up and the girl said that the post office seems to have lost over half the cities water bills. How on earth does that happen?

 

[LovinPooh]

good grief! It would be nice if the post office would atleast refund the stamp
Everytime I put something in the mail now, I look into the slot to make sure its sitting right there on top and not on their floor.
They keep jumping the price of stamps, and losing mail.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

And my husband wonders why I am obsessive about mailing payment way before they are do. You just never know. There is a post office in town that is notorious for losing mail. My SIL mailed her wedding invitations from this post office and half of them were not received. She then called people she did not get RSVP from and found out that they never got the invitation.

 

[minnie1928]

And that's one of the reasons I pay all my bills online or have them on auto-pay, the other reason is that I HATE to buy stamps.

 

[tchrchgo]

my post office is infamous for losing everything except their own paychecks! so I try to have as many bills as possible emailed to me, and pay almost everything online. chase has a motto- if you pay online, it's paid on time. they guarantee if you schedule a payment prior to it's due date, it will be paid on time, and they also will do a trace to find out what happened to a payment if it's not received. knock wood so far I've had no problems with their online bill pay, I use it for my mortgage every month

 

[bigfish2215]

Just last week I got a Christmas card in the mail. With Oops were sorry, We try to be careful.... Needless to say I don't know who's it from b/c their machine ate most of the card. I had no left side of the card and no middle either. All I can say is I hope there was no money in it. Half the time our mailman doesn't even pick up our mail. So when I do mail its always from work where I see him get it.

 

[pixiewings71]

Just last week I got a Christmas card in the mail. With Oops were sorry, We try to be careful.... Needless to say I don't know who's it from b/c their machine ate most of the card. I had no left side of the card and no middle either. All I can say is I hope there was no money in it. Half the time our mailman doesn't even pick up our mail. So when I do mail its always from work where I see him get it.

I get this at work all the time. I enter the warranty cards that are sent in and every couple months I get one like this. Can't do anything with it because normally it's totally destroyed.

OP, can you put a hold on the checks instead of a stop payment? Our bank allows to put a hold, basically we pay $5 or $10 and they flag the check number, when it tries to come thru they contact us and ask us what to do. If we have the money to clear it we let them do it, otherwise we tell them we need a couple of days. So far they've been very accomodating and given us a few days to get the $$ in before they actually clear it.

 

[CajunDixie]

At work our phone bill seems to be MIA. Nothing like getting a notice that our one check for phones in 3 buildings has not been received. Even worse...2 of the buildings are our fire dept. and ems dept. The check itself has the address, the 8 invoices inside each have the address. After reading these posts maybe I should stop in and ask them to search the floor and all the nooks and crannies at the post office.

 

[rcraw45425]

I have also stopped mailing any payments. I have one payment that I cannot pay online unless I have a bank account with that bank ( no way no how, they forgot to move my money once and resulted in a lot of letters of apology and refunded overdraft payments), I pay it at the bank, all others are online. Our mail carrier in our neighborhood (before we moved in years back) went bonkers once and left all of his tubs of mail at the end of a cul de sac and quit!

 

[heartsy77]

My DEC mortgage payment never made in the mail either. Sadly the postmaster herself took my bills and placed them in the box! So now the mortgage company wants me to send a new check and stop payment. This whole mess is going cost me at least 30.00$! This is why I pay all other bills online; this crappy mortgage company charges me 8.00 to pay it online!

 

[lilrooster]

my post office is infamous for losing everything except their own paychecks!

That's because they ship them via Fed Ex

 

[Chicago526]

Wow! Makes me glad that I pay all my bills online and also that I have really good mail service! I'd be livid if any of these things happened to me.

 

[jfoofj]

I've had stuff lost in the mail... luckily not bills, though. I pay everything I can online at their site or through my banks Easypay system online. You can sit down one day a month and pay everything, and set up automatic payments. I never have had a problem. I know people who are afraid to pay bills "on that internet" because they think it isn't secure and "people's identities get stolen" but frankly, if someone wants to get your info, they will. And with the post office losing so many bills with checks in them where do you think THAT info is... floating around out there somewhere. I have one bill that I HAVE to mail in each month, and I have to set a reminder in my phone to let me know "mail boat payment". I hate it, but the bank that financed me gave such a great interest rate I don't want to change the loan to another bank.