Bouncing Cheques

[Medoc]

Has any tournament organiser had any experience of someone bouncing a cheque (dumb question I guess, its seems likely to have occurred).

How should we proceed if no replies are forthcoming to emails, phonecalls etc,
archery is a small enough community without upsetting the apple cart, should a club ban be imposed for future events or will this penalise too many people, or maybe an individual ban?

A sticky situation, without a simple answer I think, any suggestions?

[English Bowman]

If the cheque was sent in advance then ask them to pay in cash when they turn up. If they don't then they don't shoot?

If they paid on the day, if it's a local club then I'd visit them and ask to see the secretary and discuss the matter face to face. I assume that it's a club entry from you talking about banning the club. I also assume that the individuals concerned paid the money to the person sending in the entry.

If it's an individual then I would ban them until they paid, and then only accept pre-paid entries that the cheque clears before the closing date, and not put their name down until the cheque clears.

I feel that's fair

Daniel

[Thunk]

Originally Posted by English Bowman

If it's an individual then I would ban them until they paid, and then only accept pre-paid entries that the cheque clears before the closing date, and not put their name down until the cheque clears.

I feel that's fair

Daniel

I assume the last part of this post refers to a general principle for accepting entry fees - if I've got that wrong, forgive me.

If I understand correctly, you are then treating everybody as though they have the same standards as the particular culprit you are talking about. The archery community is small, friendly and well-mannered on the whole and I think it would be a great shame if you started to regard every archer with a cheque book as a potential fraudster because of one or two rotten apples.

Assuming this to be a club cheque, get in touch with another official of the club; its chairman, secretary or such. Failing that, ask their county association to intervene - they would know who to talk to. It may be an oversight, or it may be that the club treasurer has been misusing club funds - who knows? By bringing it to the attention of someone other than the issuer of the cheque you give the opportunity to have it sorted out without having to penalise the many for the few.

[Jenny]

Originally Posted by thunk

I assume the last part of this post refers to a general principle for accepting entry fees - if I've got that wrong, forgive me.

I read it as just meaning the person whose cheque had already bounced...

If it is a club entry, then banning the club would quickly get it sorted, but of course that may upset a few people too


~Jenny~

[TJ Mason]

A club ban would be an over-reaction, IMHO. My own club has had a problem with a person who was entering tournaments and saying he was a member of Phoenix Bowmen when he wasn't. We had a couple of requests for the return of trophies.

Chase up the other club's secretary by all means, but ban the individual rather than the club. And perhaps advise other tournament organisers of the problems with this person.

[tel]

...but before imposing any penalties on anyone be absolutely sure there isn't a genuine reason for the problem. It wouldn't be the first time a cheque has been returned unpaid in error.

[Trunkles]

I notice that a lot of my cheques are not actually cashed until after the event. I certainly have the money when I write them but there is always the chance that in 2 months time I won't.

[Rik]

Originally Posted by Trunkles

I notice that a lot of my cheques are not actually cashed until after the event. I certainly have the money when I write them but there is always the chance that in 2 months time I won't.

Well... the organiser has to pass the cheques to the treasurer. He then has to deposit them. Given that you don't normally want to do it in dribs and drabs, I guess most organisers would hold onto the cheques until after the event (this also would simplify things in the case of cancellation). But if the treasurer waits (for whatever reason) to deposit the cheques, as well, it could be some time before the funds go out of someone's account.

We recently had an occurrence where our treasurer unearthed a couple of cheques from a tournament, which hadn't been deposited within 6 months of the date on the cheque. Faced with a question of whether to ask for fresh cheques, or to just take the hit, we decided that it would be better (from a customer relations point of view) to leave it be. I believe we did notify the clubs in question that the cheques would not be cashed, though. As an ex-treasurer, I remember how it used to add difficulties to the book-keeping when "extra" money turned up in the account, with no readily apparent explanation.

[Frommy]

As an ex-bank manager I am aware that embarrasing things occur from time-to-time, and have since seen that as Club Secretary/Treasurer for nearly 14 years, also as RGB Treasurer for 2 years.

The one occassion it happened at State level, I approached the matter very carefully, as it involved a popular archery family, and the problem was rectified within a week by the person involved without anyone else finding out. Had it not been, a few chosen words to their club Secretary would have been effective.

Another occassion in my club the member was unaware that his wife had paid a stack of bills, and when I presented his cheque after 3 weeks, it embarrased the hell out of him when it bounced.

Repeat offenders, I would think would be very rare, as previously said, because of the small size of our archery community, and I would only apply a ban on a person after either failure to rectify in a short time, or repeat offender who would not be prepared to pay in advance by money order/Bank cheque..

Brian

[Little Miss Purple]

As a culprit of 'bouncing cheques', I had a problem with my bursary when I changed bank accounts. I had one cheque represented by request which has been paid, the other I am still trying to pay as I have not seen anyone from the club in person. I have explained that womble has been ill and it has meant archery not existing!! I'm gibbering now....my point is I asked for my cheques to be represented, had both clubs done this the money would be in their bank and not mine!!