UPS/Cashier's check question

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I was asked by a friend how to approach a problem that has been going on for 10 days. I have no idea, so I thought I would see if any of you have had any experiences like this and if you have any suggestions.
My friend has a son in Oregon who needed some money as a deposit on a logging contract. On May 8, he went to his bank and purchased a 7,000 dollar cashiers check. He then went to the UPS store and paid 36 dollars to send the check overnight mail for guaranteed Monday, May 10, delivery. This was in Missouri and going to Oregon. On May 11, his son called and the package had not arrived. He called the UPS and using the tracking number, it was last recorded in Louisville, Ky.
The UPS had gotten nothing done about finding it, so my friend went to the bank and asked to cancel the check and get another one, due to it being lost, so that he could send it to his son. The money was due May 15, or lose the logging contract. The bank told him it was not possible to cancel the check. It could not be canceled for 90 days. There was nothing they could do.
Both he and his son have been on the phone constantly with UPS. The only responses they get is the constant repeating "it is being investigated". He drove up to the UPS store various time with no results. Finally, today, the UPS store called and told him every time they call the UPS offices, they get the runaround and today they were told that there will be no news of anything until at least May 29.
This seems incredible to me on two counts. From the bank, is that the check is lost or stolen and could be cashed by someone and I do not understand why the bank would not want to immediately cancel the check so it can't be cashed. Also, the bank can just keep his money and use it for free for 90 days without having to let him have it. From UPS, that they do not have to give him any kind of compensation or even a reason as to why they have lost his valuable check. All they do is stonewall and apparently they have no other legal obligation. The UPS store did give him his 36 dollars back.
The whole thing is beyond belief that both the bank and UPS can do this to him and his son loses a huge logging contract.
My advice had been to wire the money from his bank to his son's bank, but he decided to go with the cashiers check.
Does anyone have any experience with something like this or thoughts or ideas of what might be possible to do?
Thanks in advance
 
Wow! Cashier's checks are like next best to send it direct to the bank account. Was it sent insured? Or just sent out in a UPS envelope for $5.95 or something like that? Maybe . . . Hook up Oregon son's bank via the son . . . . to the next place -- can it be converted to a wire transfer now? No clue . . . just thinking out loud.
 
Yes, was insured. He paid 36 dollars for overnight delivery, next business day guaranteed. Bank says nothing they can do, 90 days before they will cancel check. No, it can't be converted to wire and nothing else done until 90 day period is over. They are very angry and have threatened legal action, but I am sure UPS and banks are threatened every day with legal action, so they seem to just ignore it.
 
Legal action?? It sucks but that is their policy. Ever try dealing with the postal service? It is much rarer to have a problem with ups or fedex than postal. Should have used the immigration supporting b@stsrds at western union I guess.

Honestly it ain't their problem he lost some contract.
 
they lose crap all the time.. if you use their service its a risk you take. if you sue they will laugh because all you are due is your fees back. The bank will return fees and investigate that's all they are liable for. The bottom line is for something like that the smart thing to do was a bank to bank transfer or heck a PayPal transfer.
 
It is rather unusual that the bank will not cancel the check for 90 days. 10-20 days for a cashiers check is more typical in my experience, and they charge a rather hefty fee for cancelling it.

Has it been verified that the check is, indeed, in limbo, and has not been presented for funds?

Cashiers checks are different than a standard check. It is almost akin to a cash withdrawal, and there have been a lot of scams pop up with phony cashiers checks, so the banks have changed a lot of their rules in the past few years. Have your friend read through the banks user agreements. Get a lawyer to help if need be, looking for a loophole. If theres nothing to be found there, he can contact the state banking regulators office to look for help, as well as the state attorney generals office.

Continue to pester UPS for action. Skip the local store and go straight to the corporate level. If it was insured for the full amount, file the insurance claim immediately.
Threat of lawsuits means nothing to the bank nor UPS, government regulators, on the other hand, are generally something nobody wants to deal with. Yes they can continue to hold his funds and make money on them for the duration of the problem.

If the bank says the check has been presented and paid, then he needs to go straight to the attorney generals office and report the theft. Because it crossed state lines, it would also likely become a federal crime.

It could still easily take 30 days or more to get sorted out. There is no real recourse on the lost contract, or temporary loss of funds.
He;ll pretty much need to write that off as a painful learning experience. A bank initiated wire transfer is best or even just a check sent thru his banks billpay system would be pretty quick. Electronic transfers really are the safest and fastest way to move money around.
 
If it was sent insured then if they can't locate it they are liable and obligated to reimburse for the value it was insured at. I'm betting the reason for the run-around is they are in "oh crap!" mode trying to locate it knowing they are on the hook for it if it is not found.
 
i work at a bank.

a cashiers check is cash. there are different rules than for money orders or personal checks, so that other institutions and people can then treat a cashiers check differently that money orders or personal checks. if we cancelled cashiers checks at the drop of the hat, you could pay somebody with one, take possession of whatever you paid for, and then cancel the check before that person could get it deposited and cleared.

as to the UPS store, as was mentioned above, skip them and go directly to UPS claims center. the UPS store is just a privately owned and operated business partner of UPS. you just paid them to send an item via UPS for you. like it or not (and i don't like it either), they can't help you very much.

most of the time in these cases, a package gets shuffled behind something in a truck or a warehouse and it'll wash out soon. they have very good tracking on these packages, and i'd bet within 24 hours of you getting a claim opened at UPS some human will be looking for your package.

that's all easy for me to say, it ain't my $7k. but unfortunately that's about all you can do.

in the case of a man sending money to his son, i agree an electronic transfer would be better. but be very careful about wiring money to somebody you don't know.
 
SJB how the heck did you ever bet a job in a bank with that writing, punctuation, capitalization style?? About the only capital letter I see is UPS. :mrgreen:
 
Thanks for the replies, everyone. I now see why it is harder to cancel a cashiers check, thanks for each of you who made that clear. The UPS (United Parcel Service) has pretty much put up the big stonewall. The claims center was contacted by both my friend in Missouri and his son in Oregon 8 days ago. Even today, they refuse to talk about the situation with either of them. They all seem to have the same thing on their computer screen "Tell them it is under investigation, we will have no comment until at least the 29th, then hang up". The UPS store is the only one that will even talk to them, that is why my friend keeps going back to the store where he sent the letter. There is no doubt it was a huge mistake to send money the way they did. It sounds like there is nothing that can be done for 90 days unless the UPS miraculously finds the letter. If not, then I guess it is a matter of filing claims and waiting to see what is done. In all cases, the guy is plain out of luck trying to hold his logging contract and the bank gets to use my friends 7,000 dollars free of charge for more than 90 days. These are people who do not have extra money, much less 7,000 dollars to do without. I sure hope the UPS ends up finding the letter soon, but I believe there should be a way to make someone accountable for the treatment my friend and his son have received from the UPS. Thanks again for all your thoughts and replies, I will update if there is any change in the situation.
 
Tell him to keep watching the tracking info. It's pretty much updated real time, and I bet he'll see a new entry soon. It does happen, but I've sent and received hundreds of packages over the last 10 years and have never had one completely lost and never found. Knock on wood.
 
No progress. UPS has a time limit for action on a lost item. My friend and his son say it was last Friday, UPS says it was today. However, UPS refused to discuss it and would only say they would call back by the end of the day. However, as other times before, they never called back. My friend kept asking to speak to someone relevant and he was finally transferred to someone in South America, who knew nothing about the situation. His son was very persistent and was finally transferred to someone in South America who knew nothing about the situation. Also, the banker decided to get involved and try to help, but UPS refused to discuss the situation and transferred her to someone in South America who knew nothing. My friend went to the UPS store where he mailed the envelope and told them since the time was up, he was there to sign the paperwork for the claim. They told him that is not possible, it has to be processed and sent to him before he can sign the claim and that takes 2-3 weeks or longer just to get the paperwork to him. This is just an unbelievable situation that you would think there would be a way to force UPS to inform them of what is going on. However, UPS simply refuses to discuss it with them and refuses to show any progress. They act like if they do not acknowledge a problem, it doesn't exist. I do not know how a company can get away with doing business like this. So, there is the update, such as it is.
 

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