By JO-MARIE BROWN
The cheque may be in the mail ... but even if you send it by registered post, there is no guarantee it will be delivered.
Peter Hauser, of the Auckland suburb of Waterview, is outraged that a £1000 ($3390) bank cheque sent to him from England for Christmas has gone missing, even though it was sent though the registered post tracking system.
Mr Hauser contacted New Zealand Post's subsidiary company, Courier Post, on Christmas Eve to see where the cheque was.
The company said it was at its Mt Wellington depot because a courier had found no one at home on December 11.
But when Mr Hauser phoned again on Wednesday, he was told it had been lost.
The cheque was last recorded at the depot, and Mr Hauser says his elderly aunt in England now has to cancel it and resend the money.
"When they told me they had lost it I was fuming. They've spoilt my Christmas because I can't pay the rent and have had to borrow money from a friend," he said.
New Zealand Post spokeswoman Karin Kos said it was highly unlikely the cheque had been stolen. Courier Post believed it was in its system somewhere.
NZ Post and Courier Post delivered 1.6 billion items each year, and 15 in a million went missing.
"Every time something like this happens we're disappointed, but we're doing what we can to look into it."
Ms Kos said Courier Post's security team was investigating and NZ Post would pay the cancelled cheque fees and bank draft charges Mr Hauser's aunt might incur in resending the money.
"Even though it's a registered item, registered items to be sent overseas shouldn't include things like cash, jewellery and cheques," said Ms Kos.
"You should not send items of value like that through any sort of post.
"It should either be sent via a bank draft or direct-credited. Those are the ways of transferring funds securely."
Big cheque's in the post somewhere
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