They aren't checks. They're wire transfers. The mistake is understandable, and really -- it's not that big of a mistake. Apple hasn't paid anything out yet, the documentation can almost certainly be changed -- Apple simply needs to respond to his queries.

Why work so hard to blame the person who makes a simple mistake and gets stuck in an endless bureaucracy? The process is intimidating, poorly documented, and incredibly confusing. Apple provides very little assistance when things go wrong, and quite often, mistakes made in the web UI can not be rectified without going through human support -- who will, more often than not (from experience), simply ignore you.