SET(M) missing, payment returned?

[Semantic]

Bit of an odd one, would appreciate help.

Summary: SET(M) sent in Dec, cheque cashed in Jan for fee (plenty of cash in account), money returned next day in Jan, got a call last week saying they'd been trying to return our docs since then, even though there's someone in the house 24/7. No idea who to contact now/what to do so we can send it back in and get this sorted.

Full:

My wife's FLR(M) was due to expire Nov 2012, but she lost her BRP in June. She applied for a replacement, registered biometrics etc, but no replacement came.

Eventually at the end of November we mailed the BRP replacement e-mail to ask where our documents were as we wanted to apply for SET(M), they replied that they'd check and then mid-December we received our documents back saying that they couldn't issue a replacement BRP as the leave had expired (clearly).

So, we pulled together our documents and sent in our SET(M) form in December, sending a cheque for the £996 fee, including the e-mails showing us asking for the documents back so we could send in the SET(M) and their replies.

We duly received the mail saying our application had been received and to sit tight, so made sure the cash was in my wife's account for the fee.

The cheque was cashed at the start of January and there was plenty of money in the account that covered it going out, but then it was returned next day. We have printouts from the bank to this effect.

We didn't notice this and were patiently waiting for the SET(M) to be processed until my wife got a call last week saying her application had been rejected, refusing to say why.

This was quite distressing as she is the only carer for our disabled son, but eventually the guy on the phone said that it had been rejected as the payment wasn't processed and that they had been trying to return the documents to us since January, requesting that she stay in all of last week to ensure someone was there to receive it. Which we didn't.

This was strange to us as, given our son's disability, there is always someone at home 24/7 and we have a good relationship with our postman, who hasn't seen any recorded items.

The only human I could get through to on the phone was the team for 6 month + applications, who could not advise me of any details but just said to check with my post office on the mailing. Which we did and they couldn't find anything.

We're a bit unsure what to do now as:

a) we'd like to get this sorted and find out where our documents are

b) my wife has just started working part time on her own company to get additional money for our son's therapy (I'm the primary earner, the only benefits we receive is disability living allowance) and we want to make sure this is ok.

c) we have no idea why the cash would be returned the day after it left our account or how to make sure this doesn't happen again.

d) my cousin is getting married in August in the USA. I'm guessing that if we resubmit the application sometime in the next few weeks its unlikely that we'll get a visa by then?

Thanks!

Semantic