CLink mailed payment issue - looking for advice 0

[Spidey 62]

I mailed a money order (regular mail,  regular envelope,  several pieces of paper)  payment for 2 slabs to CLink over a week ago.   I emailed them yesterday to try to confirm they received the payment.  They responded that they have yet to receive.   My question is - what would be my recourse?  It is certainly not CLink fault,  and I didn't have any tracking on a regular mail envelope.   If it doesn't show up,  am I screwed?  Pretty much,  right? 

[lizards2]

Clink is a behemoth - give it few days to work out.  The m.o. Is a deal between whoever you bought it from.

[mysterio]

I have been sending checks to Clink for about two years now as the slabs I buy are generally keepers so I'd rather save the 3% over speeding up delivery. Whenever I've bothered to check I've found it always takes a bit over a week for a check to hit my bank with them. We've gotten used to super fast results with just about anything, so a week seems like a long time, but I assure you it's pretty standard in this case. 

[Guardian Comics]

Why would you be screwed?  If it doesn't arrive, you would just cancel the money order and get your money back from the bank or the post office, wherever you got it from.  It might take some time, but they'd run a trace, make sure it wasn't cashed and give you your money bank.  All would not be lost.

 

Jim

[Spidey 62]

1 hour ago, Guardian Comics said:

Why would you be screwed?  If it doesn't arrive, you would just cancel the money order and get your money back from the bank or the post office, wherever you got it from.  It might take some time, but they'd run a trace, make sure it wasn't cashed and give you your money bank.  All would not be lost.

 

Jim

I wasn't sure how the money order thing worked.  I have never had a problem with them.   

 

Thanks for the replies, maybe I am just jumping the gun.  Alot of you guy spend big money on books.  I am treading lightly into the "higher value" (which is subjective to each person) comics and $350 still means something to me.  In that regard, I am a newb.

[lizards2]

Mysterio's post jogged my memory a bit - the two times I have sent checks, it took 10-14 days for payment to register in clink's online system.

[Bomber-Bob]

14 hours ago, Spidey 62 said:

I mailed a money order (regular mail,  regular envelope,  several pieces of paper)  payment for 2 slabs to CLink over a week ago.   I emailed them yesterday to try to confirm they received the payment.  They responded that they have yet to receive.   My question is - what would be my recourse?  It is certainly not CLink fault,  and I didn't have any tracking on a regular mail envelope.   If it doesn't show up,  am I screwed?  Pretty much,  right? 

Where did you mail the Money Order to, what address ? I believe it should have gone to the PO BOX in Chicago, where it would be deposited into CLink's Bank account. If you mailed it to the main address, I'm not sure what happens. 

[Bomber-Bob]

25 minutes ago, lizards2 said:

Mysterio's post jogged my memory a bit - the two times I have sent checks, it took 10-14 days for payment to register in clink's online system.

That's because they wait for something like 10 - 14 days to make sure the funds have cleared. Remember, you can stop payment on a check. In this case, a Money Order should clear immediately but I'm not sure. I'm already in Chicago so when I mail a check, it is usually deposited and cleared on my side in 2 -3 days = I can see it posting on my checking account. 

[Spidey 62]

59 minutes ago, Bomber-Bob said:

Where did you mail the Money Order to, what address ? I believe it should have gone to the PO BOX in Chicago, where it would be deposited into CLink's Bank account. If you mailed it to the main address, I'm not sure what happens. 

I mailed it to the po box.  I put the order number on the  money order also.  I don't think they have a step by step system, where it would show payment received and such, which would be nice. 

Edited July 13, 2017 by Spidey 62
Additional comments

[Bomber-Bob]

1 hour ago, Spidey 62 said:

I mailed it to the po box.  I put the order number on the  money order also.  I don't think they have a step by step system, where it would show payment received and such, which would be nice. 

The PO Box you are mailing your check to is really a Bank Lockbox = no Clink employees are in Chicao. Definition of a Lockbox.... A lockbox is a post-office box (PO box) that is accessible by a bank. A company may set up a lockbox service with its bank for receiving customers' payments. The company's customers send their payments to the PO box. Then the bank collects and processes these payments directly and deposits them to the company's account. 

So, the order number on the M.O. doesn't help because they don't see it. On the Clink side, this is what was explained to me. Clink gets a list of the deposits and they match up the deposits to the orders by dollar amounts. One time I had a problem because they read my check as  XX and 01/100 dollars or an extra penny = the wrong amount throws off their system.

[Dick Pontoon]

1 hour ago, Spidey 62 said:

2 hours ago, Bomber-Bob said:

Where did you mail the Money Order to, what address ? I believe it should have gone to the PO BOX in Chicago, where it would be deposited into CLink's Bank account. If you mailed it to the main address, I'm not sure what happens. 

I mailed it to the po box.  I put the order number on the  money order also.  I don't think they have a step by step system, where it would show payment received and such, which would be nice. 

I usually include a copy of the invoice when I mail a check to them.

 

[Spidey 62]

1 hour ago, Bomber-Bob said:

The PO Box you are mailing your check to is really a Bank Lockbox = no Clink employees are in Chicao. Definition of a Lockbox.... A lockbox is a post-office box (PO box) that is accessible by a bank. A company may set up a lockbox service with its bank for receiving customers' payments. The company's customers send their payments to the PO box. Then the bank collects and processes these payments directly and deposits them to the company's account. 

So, the order number on the M.O. doesn't help because they don't see it. On the Clink side, this is what was explained to me. Clink gets a list of the deposits and they match up the deposits to the orders by dollar amounts. One time I had a problem because they read my check as  XX and 01/100 dollars or an extra penny = the wrong amount throws off their system.

I am assuming they do  what they do very well, but that seems like a flawed system. There would have to be more than just amount matching to confirm payment from a specific buyer. 

Edited July 13, 2017 by Spidey 62

[Bomber-Bob]

30 minutes ago, Pontoon said:

I usually include a copy of the invoice when I mail a check to them.

 

I used to include a copy also. When I once had a problem with them not getting my check I mentioned this. They said don't bother because they don't see the mailing, doesn't help, again it goes to a Lockbox.

[Bomber-Bob]

8 minutes ago, Spidey 62 said:

I am assuming they did what they do very well, but that seems like a flawed system. There would have to be more than just amount matching to confirm payment from a specific buyer. 

Well, they probably also have an image of the check so if the amount does not match they can look at the image to determine a specific customer.

[JohnFranklin]

I use to do delivery confirmation, rolling the dice so to speak, but have not the last two three times and not had any problems....the upshot is I have had instances in which it took 10 days for Portland to get payment confirmation......with a postal MO no less.  Seems it's not yet time to worry......

[Bomber-Bob]

On 7/13/2017 at 8:02 PM, JohnFranklin said:

I use to do delivery confirmation, rolling the dice so to speak, but have not the last two three times and not had any problems....the upshot is I have had instances in which it took 10 days for Portland to get payment confirmation......with a postal MO no less.  Seems it's not yet time to worry......

I wonder, when dropping off payment to a lockbox, if the clearing for a Postal MO simply takes longer ? If Clink is reading this, maybe they can shed some light on the subject. Hey ComicLink, you out there  

[lizards2]

54 minutes ago, Bomber-Bob said:

On 7/13/2017 at 6:02 PM, JohnFranklin said:

I use to do delivery confirmation, rolling the dice so to speak, but have not the last two three times and not had any problems....the upshot is I have had instances in which it took 10 days for Portland to get payment confirmation......with a postal MO no less.  Seems it's not yet time to worry......

I wonder, when dropping off payment to a lockbox, if the clearing for a Postal MO simply takes longer ? If Clink is reading this, maybe they can shed some light on the subject. Hey ComicLink, you out there  

Mailing checks and money orders is getting old school fairly quickly, so it probably puts you in the slow lane while they attend to all the modern folks who use credit cards.

[Bomber-Bob]

26 minutes ago, lizards2 said:

Mailing checks and money orders is getting old school fairly quickly, so it probably puts you in the slow lane while they attend to all the modern folks who use credit cards.

Actually, it seems they do process the credit card transactions first, as they should. I was just commenting on the check vs M.O. processing with the Banking Lockbox. Hey, after all this discussion I hope the OP gives us status updates. 

[lizards2]

5 hours ago, Bomber-Bob said:

Actually, it seems they do process the credit card transactions first, as they should. I was just commenting on the check vs M.O. processing with the Banking Lockbox. Hey, after all this discussion I hope the OP gives us status updates. 

What are the odds?

[Spidey 62]

On 7/15/2017 at 2:23 PM, Bomber-Bob said:

 Hey, after all this discussion I hope the OP gives us status updates. 

I will, as soon as I have something solid to report.  I am wondering how long I should wait before contacting them again.