Bank Would not Cash Google Adsense Check - Anyone Else?

November 27, 2007

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What Can Happen When Banks Don’t Understand Online Business

This is the story of dentedmind; a user in webmaster world forum which I found very interesting and may happen to all of us in Adsense and other Online business like Affiliate marketing.

Day 1:

Ok, what gives… Citi-bank tells my bank that they cannot cash my check as the account has been closed. My Google check is coming back to me in the mail with an ACCOUNT CLOSED stamped on it. Has this happened to anyone else?

(of course I wrote checks on the money, I have a dented mind)

Overdrafts should amount to waaayy more than my adsense earnings.

Sweet beans and rice! Why-oh-Why didn’t I switch to EFT!

Dentedmind, asked this question on the forum to see if he can get some other opinions and help on this issue.

Day 2:

I have contacted G AND the bank…this is how I know that the account is closed(and check is being returned to me)

….However, in the interest of being fair to G, did my bank re-submit the check just in case it WAS an error? I don’t know, but my bank did tell me phone calls were involved.

I failed to ask that question(about re-submittal) out of sheer desperation(and frustration) in trying to cover my checks I wrote.

I do know for sure it was drawn from a citi-bank account that has been closed. (What my bank tells me.) (I will confirm once the allegedly bad check is back in my greedy little hands.)

As far as getting paper checks are concerned…I like to hold my earnings in my hands at least once. Call me old fashioned. Is it THAT weird to want to say I actually, physically, GOT PAID?

Some Webmasters gave a suggestion to call directly google adsense but as this user replied that: “There is no telephone hotline of Google Adsense. You can only deal the problem with them through emails. “.

Day 3:

Ok, I FINALLY got somewhere…after many many phone calls.

My bank stated to me that the account from Citi-bank, on which the GAS check was issued from was indeed CLOSED. Basically I was just SOL. All this came from the assistant manager and the branch manager.

But, during my conversations with them, they kept asking me, where was this check from? How did I get it? What did I do to get it? etc. etc. The manager also stated that ,”You know, most checks you get from the internet are fraudulant!” Talk about someone w/no clue!

Anyway…

This definitely struck a weird chord with me as I have never had a problem in the 18 months or so I have been involved w/Google Adsense and always used the same bank. So I called the manager again!

So I said to the manager, OK, so the check is no good and the account is closed, right? And she replied yes.

Next I said: So, the check in question, as you told me yesterday, is on its way back to me, correct? She replied, Not Exactly. She said that they needed to send it to loss prevention first, and then if my account has not been overdrawn that then, and only then, would I receive the check back.

Fine then, I said, GIVE ME LOSS PREVENTIONS PHONE NUMBER! Reluctantly, she gave in.

Onto loss prevention…several on holds, and several people later I found myself talking to a gentleman by the name of Matthew at National City’s Loss Prevention Center. (Yes, I’m giving the name of the bank and persons involved cause I’m still ticked about this whole thing!)

Matthew goes on to say that indeed the account the check was written on was closed and that there was no other recourse for me.

I kept up asking more and more questions (most of them phrased slightly different)

And then it happened…He slipped up. I was drilling him on when I was gonna get my check mailed back to me, and he replied that as soon as they find out that the account the check was written on is a valid account or not, would determine if and when I would get the check back.

HOLD UP! You just told me the account was closed, I said!

I told him, That’s it! Just exactly what are my rights here…Google is a billion dollar company, they might make mistakes, but there would be others for sure in the same boat as me. Where are those people? But most importantly, I want the check back and I want to know right now when that is gonna happen. Just exactly what are my rights here, huh?

So he replied to me, “I’m sorry but I don’t know what your rights are here but I’ll transfer you to someone else who may be able to help you…give me a minute to explain the situation to them and I will transfer the call.

Five Minutes of on-hold go by….(and I almost gave in and hung up)

A lady by the name Rachael, also from National City’s Loss Prevention, gets on the phone and says, Hello, sorry about the wait, everything is ok now!

WHAT THE ****?

It turns out that everyone at NATIONAL CITY from the teller on up to Rachael has lied to me on multiple occasions over the last 24 hours.

Come to find out that either the teller or someone from accounting had flagged the check as fraudulent and was in the process of investigating me (and the check) for legal action.

I was told by Rachael that there has been several attempts by individuals to cash fraudulent Google checks at National City. Perhaps this is why Hunster has a hold on his Google check.

So now, everything is ok with my Google check and my account, but it really ticks me off about the lying and the fact that it would have only taken someone about 3 mouse clicks to find out that I have been depositing checks from Google into my account for about 18 months now.

I would have much rather had a hold put on the check than the BS I had to endure from those lying you-know-whats. There was sooo much more bull thrown at me, but there just isn’t enough time for me to say it all. LOL Yes, I’m switching banks.

Google Talks About it

After many people replied back that they had the same issue an Adsense advisor (from Google itself) came and posted some great suggestions:

Since our publishers around the world use a huge variety of banks, it’s hard for us to know the exact cause of every check problem. However, here are some things everyone should know:

• First of all, our accounts are not closed and we do have sufficient funds to pay all publishers every month. We use a non-traditional check format that some bank tellers seem to have trouble handling. We chose this system because it’s designed to ensure timely and accurate payments even in large monthly volumes. Our payments team is investigating the specific difficulties banks are encountering so that we can figure out how to make things easier for all of you.

• AdSense checks are for deposit only. We’ve heard that some banks will tell clients who try to cash these checks that there is a problem with the check, but in fact it’s a problem with the cashing.

• Ask your bank about their check-clearing times. As I’m sure you know, these will vary from bank to bank, and some banks may take a considerably longer time than others.

I strongly encourage you to sign up for EFT or Western Union if you live in a country that offers one of these forms of payment. This will reduce check mailing delays and mishaps, clearing times, bank miscommunications, and many other errors.

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