Checks, Replacing or Accepting Back

In this day of sophisticated electronics, we cannot assume that a check has not yet been deposited or cashed, even if the physical check is in your hand.

Once a customer leaves our store with a check, whether for a buy, or a trade-in, or a refund, he or she can deposit it into their bank account electronically via a smart phone or mobile device. The banks are supposed to require the check to be endorsed on the back, but a banker told me that unendorsed checks could also be processed in error.

UNDOING A BUY OR TRADE-IN

A buy can only be undone on the same day it was made. After close of business on that first day, the buy is final and must be in police hold for 30 days. Due to these present day capabilities of depositing checks via mobile device, we cannot accept checks back once they have left the building. A customer who wants to cancel the buy must pay us for the amount of the buy in CASH ONLY. The following is required to be posted at each buy office to notify the customers of this policy.

DUE TO POLICE REGULATIONS, ALL TRANSACTIONS ARE FINAL AFTER CLOSE OF BUSINESS. TRANSACTIONS MAY ONLY BE CANCELED ON THE SAME DAY IF THE ITEM(S) IS REPURCHASED FOR CASH. WE CANNOT ACCEPT LEO HAMEL JEWELRY BUYERS CHECKS BACK IN EXCHANGE FOR CANCELED TRANSACTIONS.

We do not want to promote or encourage the customer to try to get the item(s) back after the 30-day hold. There may be circumstances where that might be possible. The COO will evaluate each case to make a determination. Do NOT promise any customer that he or she can get the item(s) back after the hold.

If the COO determines that the item(s) can be repurchased after the hold, there may be a processing fee, and the customer will have to pay sales tax just as they would for any sale.

REPLACING A LOST OR STOLEN CHECK

If a customer asks us to replace a lost or stolen check, there is a one-week waiting period for us to issue a new check. We will stop payment on the lost or stolen check immediately but must be certain that they did not take the check to a check-cashing place and cash it, then tell us that they lost it and get another one, planning to cash that one too. We could end up having to pay for both checks.

The customer pays the fee for stop payment, which is $15 per check, if the stop payment is placed by us via the bank’s website. If we call the bank to place the stop payment, then the fee is $30 per check, so we should always do it online ourselves.