I found $400 missing out of my bank account...
Yesterday as I was peacefully sitting at my desk doing some personal budgeting... I mean doesn't everyone consider that peaceful... oh wait. That's just me. π€£ Anyways, I was reviewing where I stood for this month and I found almost $400 I was missing because it was doubly charged to my credit card. Keep reading to learn what happened and how I got it back.
Long story short, we hosted a big party at our house a few weeks ago and I ordered Buffalo Wild Wings catering take out online the week before. Then I called and changed my order, I was told I would get the first payment refunded and so they had me pay in store when I picked it up.
However... I did NOT get refunded and the store manager claimed that he didn't see my initial payment. I kindly persisted and told him the dates and that I had both receipts I would email over. After a few hours he called me back and said that he found it and that I was getting refunded.
Okay in the grand scheme of things $400 is not that much but imagine if it was $4,000 missing in your business and you had no idea you were getting double charged or even if someone said they were going to cancel a subscription or refund you but they never did or just simply forgot.
Here's the lesson:
Keep your receipts. This is not just for if the IRS ever audits you but it's for your knowledge and for you to have proof if anything like this happens to you.
Make sure you (or your trusty bookkeeper aka us π) are reviewing your bank and transactions each and every month AND also reconciling your accounting platform to your statements.
Kindness goes a long way. This could have easily been a bad situation if I was rude to the manager and I very much could have been.
Now like I said above, let's make one thing clear that I probably don't have to say to you but I'm going to say it again anyway...
You gotta have your books up to date if you're going to catch stuff like that (or subscriptions that are costing you $$$ and you're not even using). And this goes for personal and business finances! So take this as your friendly reminder to get your books up to date! Like, NOW!
We're almost to October, y'all. It's Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, then BOOM. Tax Time. DON'T WAIT to get your books caught up for next year, I promise it'll save you a world of headache and stress to get it done now. If you need to get caught up but don't want to do it yourself... we may or may not have an offer coming soon that you'll love π
