A man requested the Ombudsman’s help after waiting weeks for a check that the Division of Public Assistance promised was in the mail. The man had recently terminated his Social Security payee and, despite receiving the proper and timely notification of the termination, DPA mistakenly sent his benefits to the payee anyway. When the man continued to contact the agency for inquiries about the money—which it believed had been properly paid—he was banned from the office. After Ombudsman contact, the terminated payee attempted to return the man’s funds to DPA. However, the first time she failed to properly address the envelope—causing it to be returned. Then she returned it to an office in a city across the state. That office forwarded the check to the correct office, which then had to deposit the funds, reissue a check, and mail it to the man, who had since moved to a remote village. The whole process took nearly three months and required constant Ombudsman shepherding, but finally ended happily when the man confirmed he had received the long-overdue money. (A2016-0638)