Doh!
I mistakenly paid about $12.00 less on our property tax than the amount due (paid $2,000ish). Didn't find out until I received a letter in the mail notifying me of being turned over to collections and a lien would be placed on the house.
This was a town of 1500 people! Couldn't the clerk have picked up the phone and asked why I underpaid?
There probably was a time they did that.
Clerk: [finds number in phone book and dials...] Mr. Jones, we received your property tax check and it's $12 short. If you can get the balance to me by next Friday you won't have any late fee.
Mr. Jones: Thanks for letting me know! I'll make sure it's there in time.
Clerk: No problem, have a good day.
Today:
Clerk realizes the last 20 times he tried to call someone about a check problem, he couldn't find a phone number since so many people dumped landlines and the number wasn't printed or written on the check. Realizes it would take 15 minutes to write a letter, address it, and get it to the outgoing mail. Shrugs and goes back to processing payments.
Now if you had your phone number on the check, I'd be a little miffed and probably stop by the office to politely ask why they didn't call.