Debt collecting

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3 Dec 2007
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now i am sure many of you have had this problem , the odd one just will not pay you, and keep giving excuses but have not said that you have done a bad job or any thing but keep promising to pay you, how do you try and make sure you get money owed :?
 
i have had this problem a cpl times, must be the areas i go to.

last one is a post on here but my mate has the best idea (also a tiler)

when the villain wouldnt pay he said ok, went back to his van, took out a lump hammer and started to smash a cpl tiles, customer quickly enough manages to find money!

another guy i knew was a carpet fitter, villain says he dont think he can pay all the balance, fitter says ok, and takes the money offered, then asks to go toilet, customer says no probs, (he had laid the carpet and upstairs) takes up the upstairs carpet and walks out the door calm as you like. villain rings him later asking when he will return the carpet, fitter says as soon as you pay me for the last job and i will quote you for the upstairs if you like!

failing that small claims court, but can be expensive and takes a long time
 
lol, i dont want to wrong your mates :? the thing is this guy used to be a mate, through being a neighbor , he owes me for plasterboard and bits, i think i still have his front door key :twisted: unless he has changed the locks, i would so be the one done :roll:
 
lol, i dont want to wrong your mates :? the thing is this guy used to be a mate, through being a neighbor , he owes me for plasterboard and bits, i think i still have his front door key :twisted: unless he has changed the locks, i would so be the one done :roll:

im sure the old bill would see the using of his key to get goods back for services rendered a no no when he isnt at home! lol

with mates its hard, thats why i try my best not to work for friends / family
 
i do whatever i got to do to get my money.why worry about them,they aint worried about me.
 
I always give my customers a copy of my terms and conditions to read as soon as I get to a job. They sign it, I pop it in my briefcase. It has my rates on it also. They are signing to say that they agree the rates and the t&c's. I therefore legally have them by the balls if they dispute anything.

I then invoice them on completion of the job. On the invoice it states that payment is to be made within 7 days from the date of the invoice.

I have never had anyone who has not paid me.

If it did happen, I would send them a reminder that the bill was to be paid within 7 days from the date of the reminder. If monies were still not forthcoming, they would get a final reminder stating that payment must be made within 7 days from the date of this notice or legal proceedings will be started.

Think you just have to bite the bullet and front him up mate. He owes you money, you want it..end of chat :nod:
 
Agree, you have to keep on top of it.

Issue your invoice promptly on completion (having said you would. Preferably take it to the cust and put it in his hand, wait while he gets his cheque book. If he doesn't ask him to (many businesses don't issue bills promptly :roll: which doesn't help them to get paid.

Go round at the end of the seven days and say, pleasantly, you've come for your cheque. Don't say anything else. Stand there (the silence may be awkward, but don't weaken yourself by being the one to break it).

Collecting money may be awkward and uncomfortable and you may not like doing it... but hopefully you will get used to it. It's the people who put it aside, as a job they don't like doing, who don't get paid. It's hard, and embarrassing, like when you were young and trying to ask grils out.

If the punter makes a promise to pay at the end of the week, take out your notebook, in front of him, and speak out loud as you write "Mr Scroggins...will pay...the £1739.50p owing...on Friday...14th December...2007" look at him and say "That right?" And pause. Stand there until he says Yes.

Come that due date, you must be on his doorstep (unless the cheque arrived in the post already).

If he breaks his promise, say sadly that you'll now have to go to the small claims court or whatever.

You may prefer to get someone else to do the chasing on your behalf. It can be your wife, business partner, dad, or a retired person looking for some part time work. He can always introduce himself as "the accounts department of Bloggin's plumbing." You can pay then a small commission if you like, even 0.5% is much less than your overdraft charges for a month, and a reasonable amount for you to pay.

A funny story (well it made me laugh) I once went to the office of a customer who hadn't responded to the usual phone calls and letters... it wasn't there. I don't mean they'd moved out... I mean their premises had been demolished. They hadn't paid the rent either and the landlord had repossessed and was going to redevelop it. I later found the equipment in a bailiff's warehouse awaiting auction. A contract showing title was still vested in my company meant they weren't entitled to seize it.

On another occasion, I tucked an order into my pending tray until the cust phoned me (intending to complain delivery was late) and when they introduced themselves, I said, ah yes, Mr Scroggins, you must be phoning to say why you haven't paid for the equipment delivered on...
 
Good post that JohnD, sums up nicely what everyone should do to chase the money.

Agree with you 100% about 'not braking the silence' .... bit of psychology is spot on & works VERY well :lol:

Reminds me of aout 20 years ago, when I worked for a big builders, joiners, engineers company.

At the end of the month, the accounts department brought down all the letters which were going out to customers with invoices. Us (the lads) split them up & hand delivered them to each customer. Inside with each invoice was a stamped, addressed envelope for the return cheque.

When I asked the accountant why we spent so much time (actually, it took almost no time as we dropped them off over a couple of days en route to other jobs) he said :

If hand delivered, the excuse of 'haven't received it' was invalid
SAE return envelope helped because people don't have to find an envelope, remember to buy a stamp, etc.....

Must have worked very well ----- I talked to him again at a Christmas Party and he said that based on invoices of about £45k a month, over 95% were paid within 30 days.

Not bad for the cashflow in a £750K turnover company ! !
 
only had one guy try to really bump me. A builder (loose term for him) asked for his lawn to be redone quickly as he was putting house on the market. Did the work, had to keep chasing the cheque. Ater several failed promises, he stopped answering his phone. Luckily the neighbours i had worked at down the road worked for a very large multi-national accountants. I mentioned it to them and she did a search on all his registered companies. Started phoning them all one by one. In the end the secretary got a bit ****ed off with me and got snotty about why i kept phoning. I politely told her why and told her he had till the end of the day to contact me, before i went to my solicitors.

10 minutes later he phoned me. "The cheque has been posted yesterday i promise you, if you dont get it friday ill bring the money around personally." I pointed out that if the cheque didnt turn up he wouldnt need to as i would be storing some landscaping materials on the grass verge outside the front of his house if it didnt. He asked me what i meant and i told him a few tipper loads of fresh manure would be appearing there. Funny how the cheque turned up...dated that day

I always give the invoice the day we finish the work. Some people say shall i pop the cheque in the post, my standard reply is no you can do it now if you like. Normally has the desired effect. Youve earnt it, dont be afraid to chase it
 
When i went self employed doing electrical work after i left the electricity board, I was always on my guard for people who didnt want to pay. I always took a deposit up-front and then the rest of the payment when the job was done.

hardly a problem, word of bouth got me decent work, all was good until some old moaning git didnt want to pay the remainder, without giving a valid excuse he thought 'the job wasnt worth it'

So i disconnected his electricity, sealed the cut-out fuse back up and told him he wont get it back on until he pays.

funnily enough, he had the rest of the cash in his wallet :roll:
 
i have had this problem a cpl times, must be the areas i go to.

last one is a post on here but my mate has the best idea (also a tiler)

when the villain wouldnt pay he said ok, went back to his van, took out a lump hammer and started to smash a cpl tiles, customer quickly enough manages to find money!

another guy i knew was a carpet fitter, villain says he dont think he can pay all the balance, fitter says ok, and takes the money offered, then asks to go toilet, customer says no probs, (he had laid the carpet and upstairs) takes up the upstairs carpet and walks out the door calm as you like. villain rings him later asking when he will return the carpet, fitter says as soon as you pay me for the last job and i will quote you for the upstairs if you like!

failing that small claims court, but can be expensive and takes a long time


Lol, reminds me of a run in I had with a non payer, admittidly it was my first and only time dealing with this type of thing, but it was when I first started out on my own, I was so desperate to get going and get established, I had a gut feeling about this person, and it proved right, it taught me a valuable lesson. :D
 
How do you guys go on if the customer believes they have a valid reason to withhold payment. If they are unhappy with the product you have supplied?
 
How do you guys go on if the customer believes they have a valid reason to withhold payment. If they are unhappy with the product you have supplied?


usually means they cant pay but if they really think they have a reason to not pay then get the reason/reasons in writing. They have to give you an opportunity to correct defective work. Put it right as per there request in writing then get them to sign it off 8) You are then entitled to your money. If they say its still not ok then get an independant assessor to go over it. Members of trade organisations can get these as part of there membership (usually free of charge) If all ok in their opinion chase your money :evil:

Sometimes its better to just walk away. If its a large contract for an unknown client then staged payments are the way forward that way they are not sticking you for huge amounts. If for instance its a room and they say the wallpaper aint right and we are not paying you then try to correct a genuine mistake if its not genuine and they are knockers then as far as I'm concerned its all mine until they pay me for it so I will remove it inc some of the paint (bit from the skirting Bit from the door etc you get the idea) :twisted: Then I walk. Will cost em twice as much next time round. Spec when you've phoned all your deccy mates in the area and warned them :lol: :lol: :lol: :shock:
 
So i disconnected his electricity, sealed the cut-out fuse back up and told him he wont get it back on until he pays.

funnily enough, he had the rest of the cash in his wallet :roll:

NICE ONE SOME PEOPLE just try it on, and job not worth it compared to what though, the wage Tesco pay their cashier's?? no disrespect to them
 
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