Of Seizures and Scammers

[notalwaysright]

At the fabric store they (I rung for weeks and only got like two checks so I don't remember how it worked) put the check through the register and it instantly pulled the funds. The check got validated (??) and it was stapled to the receipt and given right back to the customer.

Maybe... 10+ years ago my debit card number got stolen and I didn't have a credit card at that point. So I did write a check, unhappily, for groceries. I write a check for rent, since my property manager lives on site, but I could set up for my bank to send out a check automatically, like at my previous apartments. Anyway, checks still get written, but it's situations just like this that make businesses suspicious of them.

[workerbee222]

It's been a while since I cashiered (2005) and I don't recall being briefed on anything about refusing checks. Like notalwaysright, we put them through and validated them immediately.

I write a check for property taxes, because the town would charge me 3% to use a debit or credit card. My tax preparer doesn't take cards, either, because he'd have to do the same. I've written checks to the man who painted my house, and the man who cut down my tree. Oh, and the company that re-roofed the house. All told, about eight or ten checks in the last three years, maybe. I sort of hesitated to even buy new ones last year. The last time I purchased checks my bank had a different name. Most of the time, I pay online from my checking account, or use a debit card.

[Slave to the Phone]

60*cough* here. We used to write 1 check a month because we would be charged 3 bucks to pay online. Now that we have moved, we have a different water company who likes automatic payments and gives a 5% discount for using that service.

BUT...even if we were still using checks, if I was having a medical emergency and my partner chose to return groceries instead of helping to see that I was getting the help that I needed...well, that person would stop being my partner as soon as I was able to deal with the issue.

Their story sounds highly questionable to me.

[Racket_Man]

I don't think I have EVER seen anyone under the age of mid-fifties write a check in this day and age, and many of those will use debit/credit instead. Amazes me people still do that.

Even me in my late 50's have little use for checks BUT

There are certain circumstances that I am forced to write one. The company that services my furnance wants a check. The company that cut down my front yard tree wants a check. Before I closed on my house, my insurance agent needed a check or money order for the full amount of my yearly homeowners insurance.

Unfortuenately I had not usedor written a check for SO long (over 10 years or so and the set I had still had my Ex Wife's name on them) I had my bank order some new ones and specified the number start at 3000. what do I see when I check my paper checks????? Beginning check numer

101

Too late and I do not want to spend more $$'s for new new checks.

I personally do not like checks anymore as straight up cash or my debt card or my CC will do just fine in most circumstances these days.

NOPE in the instance I am NOT a "Get off my lawn ya youngins" type of person.

[Kit-Ginevra]

69,67,60something...sheesh it's getting like the old folks'home here...

I SAID...IT'S GETTING LIKE THE OLD FOLKS'HOME HERE...

[Mental_Mouse]

Racket Man: The bank will almost certainly be willing to replace those checks for free, as they do not match your order. Banks are big on having the paperwork match up.

These days, I basically write checks for rent, medical bills, and recently for taxes, sometimes for charitable contributions.

[ladyjaneinmd]

58 here. I write one check a month, and that's only so I'll have something to put in the church plate. Otherwise, I deal with cash or card. For all of my bills, I go into my bank website, log in, and plug in numbers for each company, then let the bank deal with it. Electronic transfers are common, but for those that don't, the bank actually prints a check and mails it out for me. Easy peasy. (The only reason I didn't do this sooner is because my old bank charged for that service. Hogwash!).

There was a time when I didn't have any credit cards AT ALL, and my bank at the time suggested that I open a 2nd checking account. That was my 'online spending' account, so whenever I bought anything online, I'd put in the debit card numbers for that account, after I went online and moved the money into that account, of course. It was perfect, because when it got hacked, they didn't empty my whole bank account, just the $50 I keep in that account. (And I got that back later anyway). It's the perfect set up.

[dalesys]

...I SAID...IT'S GETTING LIKE THE OLD FOLKS'HOME HERE...

Speak up and stop whispering, sonny. (where's the old coot/cootess in a walker smiley?)

[taxguykarl]

53 here. Two or three checks a month for at least the last couple of years. The cleaning lady, water bill (they charge an extra fee for online payments), payment on a credit card account and a furnace repair last month.
Back to the OP, this has plenty of red flags. That cashier should have been better trained.

[Smapti]

It's been a while since I cashiered (2005) and I don't recall being briefed on anything about refusing checks. Like notalwaysright, we put them through and validated them immediately.

The chain I work for never got on the e-checking bandwagon, unfortunately. We still send the physical check to the bank to get it processed.

[mjr]

Every month, I pay my water bill with a check. They don't have an online payment system, I don't think, so every month they get a check from me.

[LadyofArc]

Over the four years I worked retail, I only ever had one customer pay by cheque and she was a regular. Thankfully she understood she had to go through the service desk for those.

[Kit-Ginevra]

(where's the old coot/cootess in a walker smiley?)

Well where did you leave it last? Did you have it with you when you came in? It's so sad that first they start forgetting where they put things,then what they're doing in the room,then just wandering about asking 'Who am I?Where am I?What am I doing here?'

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Crap like this is why most places don’t even take checks anymore.

[Monterey Jack]

Every month, I pay my water bill with a check. They don't have an online payment system, I don't think, so every month they get a check from me.

I pay my electric bill every month with a money order I purchase at work for a buck. Other than that, all of my monthly bills are handed via my checking account.