That's why I pay almost all my bills online now. Much easier that way.

I will say though that it may be the fault of the post office and not the phone company.

Schoolhouse, first I'm sorry that you are having issues like this. I bet that those people hear that type of story a dozen times a day, so don't take it personally. And I would also hazard a guess that the people are not phone company employees, most likely they are at a third party call center. Not an excuse for being rude.

If all the other checks you mailed on the same day cleared, the check either got lost in the mail, stuck in a bag, or sitting on someone's desk. If they charged you a late charge, just call them back, talk to a supervisor, and tell them you will send another check and if you have been with them for so many months/years, tell them to please look around on the area that the checks are posted and you feel you should not have to pay the late charge. Be polite, but firm. Again, if they get rude, ask for another his/her supervisor and then write the CEO of the company. It works!!!Good luck.
By the way, even on online banking that can happen if i forget to hit submit. Like one of the posters said, you are probably not even talking to the company, but to a company that does the phone calling. Look on your phone bill for a customer phone number and call that number.

Definitely call them back, ask to speak to a supervisor and tell them about the rude agent.
They can look at your bills and see that you've always paid on time. There's no need for the agent to be rude.

That happened to me too, and they said they never received it. So I cancelled the check and mailed a new one. Well, then my phone was cut off. I called, and they said my check that they received bounced. Not quite. It seems you received my 2nd check, cashed it, and then finally located the first check, and deposited that one too. When it did not go through, you did not check your records but just turned off my phone!!!

On-line bill pay... easy peasy & you know it's done. And they can email you a reminder if you forget.

I just had a check returned by the USPS with the form envelope apology for it being damaged & undeliverable.. Looked like it had been dropped & a cart or something had rolled over it... scuffed up the address so that it was illegible.. so stuff does happen -- but that is no excuse for being treated rudely and then there's the cost of stopping a check -- not cheap as I recall...

You are right cate52. I just called my bank a few minutes ago, and she told me it would cost me $30 to stop payment on a check(!). I had no idea. Her advice was to just wait a couple months to see if the phone company finally receives or finds the check and credits my account, altho her thought is that more than likely the check was lost by them or the postal service. If after a couple months I don't receive any info about the lost check, then I can credit my checking account with the amount.

When I asked her if she thought someone could steal and cash a company check, she said not likely. Plus, she bets I remember using the phone company's pay envelope because returning pay stubs have to fit just right for the company address to show up in that little window in the upper left corner of the envelope(new way they are doing it now). Makes sense to me. So, I'll just not freak out about it for now. Thanks all for the feedback.

Another case for not using the USPS.
We pay all our bills on-line. our bank guarantees payment by the date noted on the bill-pay request.
Been using it for at least 5 years, with not a single problem on any payment or check delivered to a company or person.

I'm with those who pay their bills on-line. I don't think that either of us have written a check in five years or more, other than when the volunteer fire department is collecting donations or school kids come by to sell stuff.

I remember VIVIDLY going through the kind of frustration that schoolhouse has experienced. I found the 'lost' check when I was cleaning my car one day....it had fallen down behind the passenger-side seat.

Where did you think the conversation would go? They said they didn't get your check-- there are all sorts of reasons that could've happened -- and to send them another one. They're not going to have somebody go through the mailroom or return to the P.O. where they have their mail drop to see if there happens to be an envelope (or 20!) on the ground nearby. Things happen -- the P.O. loses something, something gets lost in the car, etc. It's not like they're out to get you for a late fee (I've never had that happen on anything but a credit-card payment; the mortgage company will charge you a late fee if you're more than a week late, but that's not happened to me-- yet.)

If this is the first time it's happened to you, be grateful. I clearly wasn't listening to your phone conversation, but it doesn't sound like anybody was rude. I'm sorry, but it just sounds like you didn't get the response you wanted to hear. She just told you what you needed to do. You can talk to them until you're blue, but they hold the cards.

Hopefully that first check will never show up. If it does and they deposit it, then you're ahead one payment. If you're worried that perhaps your checking account is on the low side and it could bounce, you could transfer in a little bit from your savings account to give you a cushion there.

But you know something else? Sometimes even the online payment system can mess up. I used to do my electric bill online, until I learned that they didn't have an automatic email system that confirmed the payment (I couldn't believe it didn't have that confirmation service! My other online payment systems all do!). One time a payment didn't go through. Now I pay that by check. (And they didn't turn off my service; one payment issue shouldn't make you worry about that.)

Online or phone banking is also a quick way to keep track of which checks have cleared and which have not. I have never had a security issue doing that.

I do most of my bill paying on line, but last winter the fellow that does my plowing called and asked about a job that had not been paid. According to my register, I had sent it, but it was never received, so I know the PO does lose things occasionally. Check has never gone through, so who knows where it is.

I write few checks now. I remember once a long time ago my mom gve me a check she received to depoit in her account, I worked in a bank at that time. I dont remember all the circumstances but it wasn't deposited. I lost it. I found it about a month later when I was clening out under my desk at the bank and there it was stuck against the wall above the woodwork. so you never know what can happen.
agree the person at the bank was rude. Also be careful if you pay online.

My decimal point was off on a payment a few months ago and I paid an $18 water bill by sending them $1,800.00
Took a couple of months to get it fixed and returned forunately I had a cushion in the account. Always double check before you hit that ok button

Hey, pammyfay - you're right. You weren't there and didn't hear the conversation. I know when company reps are being understanding and when they are being pissy. I wanted them to know I was not late on my payment on purpose, I felt I needed to talk to them and I did. And my bank account is just fine, no worries there. I put my out going mail into a mailbox that sits on the road about 15ft. from my front door for the mail truck to pick up. Hey, maybe it blew out of my hands and into the hedges.

I never put any important outgoing mail into our mailbox. *Anyone* can take mail out of your home mailbox -- including people interested in stealing your identity.

I now pay ALL my bills online. The only time I'll write and mail a check is if it's a one-time thing, like ordering from a catalog or a donation to a charity. Years ago I had trouble with a lost check, I had to to pay double the next month, and it never showed up after that. Chalk it up to one of life's lessons. Murphy's Law-If it can go wrong, it will. Sorry the rep was sassy to you. If you want to complain, do it here.

don't know what dreamland the one lady was in but guess she's never heard of check "washing"...

my mother had put her bills out in the box in her mobile home park...same as you got a sorry no check..then, low and behold the check turns up, made out to "john doe". and cashed at one of the check cashing stores in vegas...

the crazy thing? the bank didn't pursue it other than credited to her acct...and what was real crazy? had the thief's thumb print on it!!! needless to say it was the last time she used her box...

I just paid my phone and power bills at the bank: bills were stamped and initialled - and I got a nice smile from the teller, too!

(No fee for seniors).

ole joyful

The people who claim the post office never loses anything, delivers late, screws up, etc, notwithstanding, I've had this happen. What I do is go ahead and pay what I owe, but not any late charges if they put it on there. I call and talk to them and ask them to waive that off. When you've been with them a while they usually will, especially if you are proactive and pay what you owe.

Stopping payment on a check is expensive. Often not worth it. In this case if it shows up and gets credited you'll have a credit as suggested already.

In the grand scheme of life, it's an irritation but really not worth letting it rile you too much. Did they lose it? Possibly. Did you lose it, forget to mail it, put it in the wrong envelope or otherwise? Possibly. Did the post office lose it? Most like scenario AFAIC but who knows. There's no smoking gun so you might never really know what happened.