Bank Transfer - Am I Too Suspicious?

[Citroënbender]

Not a regular “Have I just been scammed?” type scenario.

Long story short, a customer owes me quite a bit; their first invoice. They indicated yesterday morning, they’d transferred the sum, I received an email and barely glanced at it.

As no payment was credited overnight, I looked harder at the email to confirm my correct account details. Yes, tick. But the email wasn’t actually payment advice, but a copy of a bank email sent to them saying “Payee information updated”.

I’ve let it rest for today, but wondering if they have done this to buy time, so it looks like they sent payment the other day but in fact deferred restitution (presumably to fall in with their own finances) and will credit me today or over the weekend…

Anyone experienced something like that?

[aussiblue]

Sounds like a possible scam to me too.

[LG17]

Time to go for a "visit."

[arm79]

Yep..it's just a scumbag customer trying to rip you off.

Dad did an $800 job for someone and they paid $400 deposit by transfer which Dad cited. When it came for final payment they sent him a screenshot of the confirmation screen, the one where you press "yes, send now", but cropped out the button so it looked like a transfer.

Dad being the trusting idiot who didn't bother to check, provided the goods and only a week later wanted to know where the transfer was. When I saw the screenshot I immediately knew he was scammed.

We contacted the buyer who feigned ignorance, said they sent it. We toyed with reporting to the police as fraud, but didn't follow through. They sent another $100 or $200 some months later. But Dad decided to just move on.

[whitelion65]

Hmm
I delivered an invoice (and repaired machine ) to one of my clients this week.
I’ve dealt with her a few times….
If I get an instalment to cover the parts, I’ll be grateful.
At least she doesn’t pretend she’s paying!

[hawke]

There’s a lot to be said in using one of simple card reading systems like Square - I’m sure there’s others. Do the work, customer scans their card on your phone, problem solved. You’ll pay a fee of 1.8%, but that’s cheaper than not being paid, or following up.

[Citroënbender]

Yes, card payment or a transfer right in front of me - or even cash(!) - would have been better!

Have suspended work until it’s resolved. Plenty else to go on with, just less lucrative - might get stuck into pruning my hedge!

[whitelion65]

[QUOTE=Citroënbender;- might get stuck into pruning my hedge![/QUOTE]

Bloody hell! That sounds like work!
“Yes dear! I’m onto it……”

[MITCHAY]

I had to pay an invoice today to a previously unknown party. My bank sent me a SMS to verify a new payee and then an email to follow up.

It's possible that is what he forwarded you? It might be possible something similar could be done just by adding the new payee without paying but I don't know.

Bank transfers are fairly quick these days so mine isn't even pending it is marked as actually transferred immediately but I guess that doesn't mean it has been credited to your account IDK

[gregaust]

A new payee I've found can take time to go through. I sold a car few weeks ago , Friday arvo took till monday to clear , apparently it is "working days "

In my case I knew it was good , sold to a mate .

[Itsme]

When I have had bank transfers it can take a few days with new people, also depends on which bank you go through as to how quick they process payments.

[Citroënbender]

It’s come through overnight, not one of the “four pillars” or a NPP-aligned bank so was just a lag… Relief; work can resume tomorrow.

[HIPO]

Osco is done almost immediately, most banks use it.

[arm79]

Originally Posted by HIPO

Osco is done almost immediately, most banks use it.

Unless the payer is with Commonwealth who generally holds transfers to new payees for upto 24 hours.

[Cav]

Try Paypal

[prktkljokr]

Never had this problem with CASH

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by prktkljokr

Never had this problem with CASH

True, cash is king of all transactions.

[prktkljokr]

Originally Posted by Itsme

True, cash is king of all transactions.

You can already see where this cashless economy is going to take us, dishonoured payments, pending transactions, fake payments, funds credited to wrong accounts, internet fraud, banks declining transactions, and plenty more problems, have you ever had to contact your bank when one of these things goes wrong , welcome to the future.

Cash will always be King, instant and verified on the spot

I'm glad it turned out he paid Citroënbender, nothing worse than when a customer stiffs ya.

[mad2]

have had two 'pending' payments to "White Boots Spokane" of $18.55. queried it with the bank, but money was never taken & bank cancelled dispute.

Originally Posted by prktkljokr

You can already see where this cashless economy is going to take us, dishonoured payments, pending transactions, fake payments, funds credited to wrong accounts, internet fraud, banks declining transactions, and plenty more problems, have you ever had to contact your bank when one of these things goes wrong , welcome to the future.

Cash will always be King, instant and verified on the spot

I'm glad it turned out he paid Citroënbender, nothing worse than when a customer stiffs ya.

and you can also get a discount with cash. just watch out for the fakes.

Originally Posted by Cav

Try Paypal

are you paying as a normal payment? .. which means a small part goes to paypal, or a 'friends' payment.. which then means you can lose ya $ [from what i understand of it].

[arm79]

Originally Posted by prktkljokr

You can already see where this cashless economy is going to take us, dishonoured payments, pending transactions, fake payments, funds credited to wrong accounts, internet fraud, banks declining transactions, and plenty more problems, have you ever had to contact your bank when one of these things goes wrong , welcome to the future.

Cash will always be King, instant and verified on the spot

Not sure how cash would have made a difference here.

Work progresses on the basis of a cleared transfer or cash in hand, both are the same thing. With Okso transfers these days a transfer is almost always instantanous, same as taking the cash in the hand.

But customer could have easy given CB a big FU follwed by the finger as they retreated into their house.

Originally Posted by mad2

and you can also get a discount with cash. just watch out for the fakes.

Haven't seen a discount for cash in a longtime, unless you are talking dropping the GST... Which from a business perspective is starting to get a little hard.

Also I don't know why businesses would give a discount on a transaction media that is infinitely more expensive to administer. From a business perspective I can understand why businesses favor EFT only, given how ridiciously expensive it is becoming to provide cash as a payment method.

[prktkljokr]

Originally Posted by arm79

Not sure how cash would have made a difference here.

Work progresses on the basis of a cleared transfer or cash in hand, both are the same thing. With Okso transfers these days a transfer is almost always instantanous, same as taking the cash in the hand.

But customer could have easy given CB a big FU follwed by the finger as they retreated into their house.

I always discuss payment before I proceed, currently doing work on a guys VY SS ute, $5000 cash, he knows nothing will get done unless I see the cash in my hand, was discussed before I started and was agreed upon, no cash = no work, simple

I Have had 2 businesses, so I have been burned before on many occasions, its just cash now, if they don't like it they can go somewhere else I dont care, like they say, "A small few spoil it for the rest"

[Citroënbender]

I’m only a third in, had the customer thought it clever to stiff me they’d have been looking for a tradesperson to take over a job at maximum entropy - a point barely passed just today - and a normal contractor would be suspicious about why someone did not continue.

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by arm79

Not sure how cash would have made a difference here.

Work progresses on the basis of a cleared transfer or cash in hand, both are the same thing. With Okso transfers these days a transfer is almost always instantanous, same as taking the cash in the hand.

But customer could have easy given CB a big FU follwed by the finger as they retreated into their house.



Haven't seen a discount for cash in a longtime, unless you are talking dropping the GST... Which from a business perspective is starting to get a little hard.

Also I don't know why businesses would give a discount on a transaction media that is infinitely more expensive to administer. From a business perspective I can understand why businesses favor EFT only, given how ridiciously expensive it is becoming to provide cash as a payment method.

Maybe with big retail stores paying cash will not get you discount, but I can tell you for sure, with many other types of businesses about cash is king for discounts.

[arm79]

Originally Posted by prktkljokr

I always discuss payment before I proceed, currently doing work on a guys VY SS ute, $5000 cash, he knows nothing will get done unless I see the cash in my hand, was discussed before I started and was agreed upon, no cash = no work, simple

And the same applies for a bank transfer... No cleared funds into an account then work doesn't proceed.

As I said, I'm not sure where cash would benefit this situation. In either situation the rules are the same, no funds = no work, its just the means on how the funds are dispersed.

[prktkljokr]

Originally Posted by arm79

And the same applies for a bank transfer... No cleared funds into an account then work doesn't proceed.

As I said, I'm not sure where cash would benefit this situation. In either situation the rules are the same, no funds = no work, its just the means on how the funds are dispersed.

There is a difference for me, I don't want to have bank transfers, I don't want to have to check every 5 minutes if someone has actually paid, I don't want the chance that the person is a piece of Crap and is trying to bull crap me that they have paid when they have not, I like cash because it is instant on the spot in front of my eyes payment for services provided, I like the fact that I don't have to rely on the system that is so frequently braking down when I urgently need it (like what pretty much happens every month), I like the fact that if my card was to decline for the above reason (happened on 3 occasions this year alone) I have CASH to pay with, I also don't like when banks charge me a fee, for using my money, receiving my money, transferring my money, or if I accept a credit card payment, or for whatever other reason they see fit to do, I also find it weeds out the no money time wasters when I specify that all transactions are cash.

For you card payment may be great and you may never have a problem with it, but for me its a no brainer to just accept cash.

I always offer discounts for cash, its either the price im asking in cash or double for card

[arm79]

Originally Posted by prktkljokr

There is a difference for me, I don't want to have bank transfers, I don't want to have to check every 5 minutes if someone has actually paid, I don't want the chance that the person is a piece of Crap and is trying to bull crap me that they have paid when they have not, I like cash because it is instant on the spot in front of my eyes payment for services provided, I like the fact that I don't have to rely on the system that is so frequently braking down when I urgently need it (like what pretty much happens every month), I like the fact that if my card was to decline for the above reason (happened on 3 occasions this year alone) I have CASH to pay with, I also don't like when banks charge me a fee, for using my money, receiving my money, transferring my money, or if I accept a credit card payment, or for whatever other reason they see fit to do, I also find it weeds out the no money time wasters when I specify that all transactions are cash.

For you card payment may be great and you may never have a problem with it, but for me its a no brainer to just accept cash.

I always offer discounts for cash, its either the price im asking in cash or double for card

I still don't see how that logic pertains to benefiting the situation at hand. Maybe I'm just getting slow in my old age...

[prktkljokr]

Originally Posted by arm79

I still don't see how that logic pertains to benefiting the situation at hand. Maybe I'm just getting slow in my old age...

Maybe getting cash from his customer rather than a email or transfer would have alleviated the need for this thread?

[T3rminator]

Originally Posted by prktkljokr

You can already see where this cashless economy is going to take us, dishonoured payments, pending transactions, fake payments, funds credited to wrong accounts, internet fraud, banks declining transactions, and plenty more problems, have you ever had to contact your bank when one of these things goes wrong , welcome to the future.

Cash will always be King, instant and verified on the spot

Osko and PayID should alleviate most of those concerns. Like everything else we are always 10 years behind everyone else, but its getting more common. Dropped into a late night kebab shop the other week, and the bloke had a poster with his PayID My dog trainer uses Apple pay, I put my card against her phone and it takes the payment!

If people want to rip you off they will find a way, regardless of whether its cash or card. Can you spot a fake pineapple?

[Citroënbender]

The main point of my thread was to find out whether an innocent looking email was a ploy to delay payment. If several people had piped up and said “Yes, the same happened to me”, I’d have been on the customer’s doorstep pronto.

But that didn’t happen, payment was rendered and they deserve the grace of presuming the delay was not their act.

I don’t mind cash, but if I’ve carried receipted outgoings for a job, the incoming has to be above board as well.

[prktkljokr]

Originally Posted by T3rminator

Can you spot a fake pineapple?

For the amount of them that I have handled over the last 35 years I would say yes