UPS LOSES FAMILYS $846K INHERITANCE, OFFERS TO REFUND $32 SHIPPING FEE

[Blue_Tires]

A Canadian man says he’s broke after the United Parcel Service lost track of his inheritance.

The intended $846,000 delivery was a bank draft from TD Canada Trust, which still hasn’t refunded the lost fortune 10 months later. Instead, UPS offered an apology and $32 to pay for the mailing costs, according to a CBC News report.

Taylor’s brother, Louis Paul Herbert, said they were finalizing the details of her father’s will last February and went to a local UPS store near Cornwall, Ontario, where he was expecting a package from his sister containing his share of the inheritance in a bank draft. But it never came.

Taylor sent the money through UPS from her lawyer about 270 miles away in Georgetown, Ontario, so Herbert wouldn’t have to worry about picking up the money. She obtained the bank draft in February after she said the bank advised it as the safest way to send the large sum. TD guaranteed Taylor and her husband, John, that the money would be replaced if the draft was lost, she said.

“They said a bank draft was more appropriate” for that amount of money, Taylor said. “Never in my wildest imagination did I think something like this would happen.”

http://www.newsweek.com/ups-loses-846k-inheritance-offer-refund-shipping-fee-748764

UPDATE: The money came through -- http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/toronto/ups-td-canada-trust-bank-draft-1.4447384

But who the hell doesn't do wire transfers in the 21st century?

[MineralMan]

1. Wire Transfers. There's a fee.

But, you can watch the money appear in your account on the Internet. That's why they use wire transfers in mortgage closings. Nothing happens until the transfer is completed.

With close to $1 million involved, I'd be sitting in the issuing bank until I saw the funds appear in my own account. There are too many ways that paper checks and drafts can be lost. A traffic accident on the way to your bank. Whatever.

[appleannie1943]

2. That is one of the dumbest things I have heard a bank do.

If the guy did not already have an account, the bank could have told him to open one for a couple bucks and then just electronically transferred the money to it. It is not like this is 1950.

[inwiththenew]

3. For $846k I think I could make time to go 270 miles and pick it up

Seems like a safer thing to do if you weren't going do some kind of electronic transfer.

[PasadenaTrudy]

4. Can't they issue another check? n/t

[tinrobot]

9. They did issue another check. This is an old story.

[parkerMcDavis]

5. UPS is safer than a wire transfer???

[Iggo]

11. LOL.

I use UPS (and FedEx, and Central Freight, and Oak Harbor, etc etc etc) at work every damn day, and the obvious answer to that is: HELL NO.

[csziggy]

6. My sister has had problems with checks sent from some banks

Plain checks, not bank drafts or certified, for tens of thousands of dollars sent through regular US mail with no tracking requested. The bank insisted that was the only way they ever do the kind of payment she was getting.

Some never arrived, sometimes the original check arrived at the same time the replacement check did. Since these are payments for third parties, she has no access to the receiving party's accounts and cannot insist on wire transfers.

[nini]

7. I guess stopping payment on the check wasn't ok?

This is one odd story.

[Lee-Lee]

8. So let me get this straight...

To avoid driving 270 miles to get an inheritance almost a million dollars and avoid wire transfer fees they sent a bank draft in an envelope UPS without insurance on the parcel.

Stupid...

[MineralMan]

12. Wire transfer.

Anything over $10K, I choose a wire transfer. Close to $1 Million? No other method will do. Actually, though, I'd probably open an account in the bank that had the money and have them transfer it internally. When I could see it was in the account, I could either manage that account online or write a check to deposit in my local bank. Of course, there's probably a branch of the issuing bank in my town, anyhow, so I could just do the distribution or whatever from there.

This is a silly story, with silly people. Banking is easy these days.

[treestar]

10. The money is still in the bank

The bank wants a promise to pay it back in case someone cashes the lost draft and a lien on the house. You'd think they could look out for that draft in some way, does it not at least have a number? And the guy's name?