What do you do when you get a bad check?

[gimmeagig]

So far I've been lucky but I have the feeling that this time I will have a problem with a check that i received last week.
The guy is a Rep for a siding business and rented a furnished house. He's in the process of moving out of town and needed it cleaned per rental agreement.He wrote me a check and asked me not to cash it for a few days( until this week Monday) because he was waiting for his company to transfer some money into his account. The home he rented was a very expensive lake view rental and he seemed OK enough so I agreed. I told him to call me when the check was good.Nothing until today (Wednesday) So I called him and he seemed kind of standoffish on the phone but he told me that the check would good tomorrow and that he will call me to confirm that.
I have a feeling that I am being played here but at the same time I don't want to overreact.
By the way, the rental is being handled by a Property Management company and they probably have a security deposit from him, that I'm sure he is waiting to get back.
So my question is: How long should I wait to take some kind of action and what should that action be?
Contacting the customer, the manager, small claims?
This is new territory for me. I don't want to get so suspicious of people that I won't take checks anymore. Like I said so far I have been lucky.
I'm not set up to take credit cards, should I be?How about Paypal, does anybody here use that as a payment option?
My invoice does not say anything about a return check charge, I suppose I could handwrite it when a customer pays by check and have him sign it....

 

[bob vawter]

sometimes on empty units it's OK to write up the invoice....hand it to them...an' stand there till they pay it first.........done it!

EDIT: A BOUNCED CHECK......

 

[Royal Man]

The check in your hand is a good thing. If worse comes to worse you can take it to the county attorney.

Likely he has a lot of money going out and a lot coming in.

It should be no problem.

A check in the hand sure beats an account receivable.

 

[fresh1]

I had an interesting conversation with a friend who litigates in the construction trades regarding bad check and non payment. He says being a contractor you can expect to lose 10-15% of your gross to bad checks and non payment per year. I have been having a hell of a time collecting from some big and small construction companies and quite frankly I'm about ready to take it to the streets regarding these a-holes. His advise, and it saddens all of us legitimate contractors but its time to provide preliminary lien notices on all commercial jobs regardless of the amount just to cover your own behind. And another commercial trend is C.O.D you might lose some work if these are your terms, but sometimes its cheaper to stay home.

sorry for the rant
Doug

 

[Contemporary Carpet Clean]

Go to the bank that is on the check. Ask the teller if the check is good. They can look up the account info. If its not good let a few more days go by and then check again. If they charge you 5 bucks to cash the check because its not your own bank just pay it or start an acct with them. Some banks can put temporary holds on someones acct for you if the funds are availble. You can't pursue legal action until the check actually bounces. Meaning you will have to pay 30 something dollars out of your pocket for that. After it bounces you can protest the check and legally the person who wrote the check can be arrested.

 

[Jamesh921]

You can save some time by simply calling the bank and asking if the account is still open, or has it been closed. If it's still open, ask if there is enough in the account to cover the check you have in your hand (they can't tell you how much is in the account, but they CAN tell you if there is enough to cover the check you have in your hand).

If the account has been closed, get the the DA's office immediately. Call you client on the way and tell him where you're going. 99% of the time, they'll offer a cash payment "if you'll just meet with them first".

 

[Walt]

I think you'll be fine.

But you made a little mistake in my opinion. When he said, "can you wait to cash it you it?", you should have said, "we take credit cards."