[thewindowcleaner1]

http://www.is4profit.com/businessadvice/smallclaimscourt/3_howsmallclaimscourt.htm

Click on above and down load form N1.
Then fill in details leaving her details empty, then post it through door with note requesting her to complete her details and when you will be back to collect, also leave phone number if call back time is note OK... this ploy has worked for me several times..
   But if it fails and you are prepared to loose the money find some local thug and give them the debt you don't get the money but they usualy pay (feels good)

[window pain]

hi, getting knocked for £15 is one thing, but i used to work in the building trade and it's not uncommon to get knocked for far more than that. i lost £1,500 on one occassion to a builder, he refused to pay on the grounds that the roof was defective. i then had to pay a surveyor to do a report, in the end i had to take him to court,it turned out he was bankrupt all the time so i never got a penny, but i still had to pay for the labour and materials ect. thats one of the reasons i left the trade. 

[Londoner]

Bang on there Window Pain if its only a few quid you don't really hurt but like Tosh says you still remember it even years later.
A friend of mine is a heating engineer, Corgi registered and all that. He can tell some horror stories about getting ripped off for thousands of pounds. Some of it deliberate fraud.
When I take on a new customer I always get their phone number. I would guess most of us do. If you know a taxi driver,or a postman or other shift worker who is likely to be out and about at 4 in the morning get them to give your customer an early morning call about their unpaid window cleaning bills. Make sure they use a phone box and not their mobile.

After being woken up a few times they usually find the money.

I really don't understand how these people think. If you havent got the money then getting your windows cleaned is not a high priority. So why do they?

[[GQC] Tim]

Persistance IS the keyword. Annoy the hell out of them like Tosh said. KEEP on calling, every bit of money is money someone owes. They WILL pay. Just keep on going. Keep sending them letters, leave notes, keep calling. And yessir, they will pay.

[window pain]

Bang on there Window Pain if its only a few quid you don't really hurt but like Tosh says you still remember it even years later.
A friend of mine is a heating engineer, Corgi registered and all that. He can tell some horror stories about getting ripped off for thousands of pounds. Some of it deliberate fraud.
When I take on a new customer I always get their phone number. I would guess most of us do. If you know a taxi driver,or a postman or other shift worker who is likely to be out and about at 4 in the morning get them to give your customer an early morning call about their unpaid window cleaning bills. Make sure they use a phone box and not their mobile.

After being woken up a few times they usually find the money.

I really don't understand how these people think. If you havent got the money then getting your windows cleaned is not a high priority. So why do they?

hi vince i will tell you how these" people" think, because your only a window cleaner you don't" think" so therefor it dosn't matter, in other words your not important, it's only when you corner them and let them know in no uncertain terms, that actually you are "important"that they pay up. 

[dai]

I had a customer last week tell me she was in a hurry, and had no time to write a cheque. I asked her when she was coming home. and she said about 6 if you can call then.
Now it's dark at 5, does she think I am going to sit around and wait for her?
Why do people always asume that their time is more valuble than ours?
This really peed me off and I was thinking about it all day. If she thinks that my time has so little value, it's time I charged her a lot more for it, and she won't get her frames done next time. Dai

[[GQC] Tim]

http://www.is4profit.com/businessadvice/smallclaimscourt/3_howsmallclaimscourt.htm

Click on above and down load form N1.
Then fill in details leaving her details empty, then post it through door with note requesting her to complete her details and when you will be back to collect, also leave phone number if call back time is note OK... this ploy has worked for me several times..
   But if it fails and you are prepared to loose the money find some local thug and give them the debt you don't get the money but they usualy pay (feels good)

Unfortunately, that link doesn't work, can anyone host the original N1 form?

Many thanks.

[JM123]

I'd just forget it - whats the point getting wound up for£15??

If it bothers you that much make up 20 flyers saying the woman at number x is a cheat who doesn't pay her bills etc etc - post them through all the neighbours letter boxes and hers with a note that all her neighbours got the same flyer - do it all on PC though

[stevef]

I am going to a small estate this morning I clean about 12 houses there, one woman owes me £18 this is for one and a half cleans (two visits) I decided not to clean anymore as the cheque never appeared this has gone on for several months now, But I get great satisfaction seeing her walking the kids to school as I clean windows all around her and say GOOD MORNING!  to her and watch her go red and hang her head in shame. I now dont want the money, as I have a great satisfaction knowing I that I am so much better than her and people like her and I dont owe a penny to anyone, and have a stress free life. So as my kids say to me! get over it & move on

[Paul Coleman]

If you don't pay for a taxi, yu have taken a percunary advantage and can get done for it. Why is it not the same for us? DAI

That's an interesting question Dai.
Unpaid bills are normally regarded as a civil matter rather than a police matter yet I believe that people who haven't paid taxi fares have been prosecuted under criminal law.
I will post this into a newsgroup called uk.legal to see what they've got to say about it and if I get a response I will post it here.

I have just posted the following to the uk.legal newsgroup

QUOTE

Hi.
I may be wrong but I believe that I've seen several accounts in local newspapers over the years of people being prosecuted for not paying their taxi fares.  Now I always believed that non-payment of bills was a civil matter rather than criminal.  For instance, I am a window cleaner and sometimes incur bad debts (thankfully very few and generally for quite small amounts).  I find it easier to just try collecting it several times and just move on if I fail to do so.  Indeed, if it's a bad paying job, I find it easier to move on anyway with little attempt to collect payment.
So what is the difference between a taxi fare and, for instance, my window cleaning bill legally?  I wouldn't dream of involving the police in such a situation.  Indeed, I know they wouldn't be interested anyway.
Is there some technical legal difference why a taxi fare is treated differently from non payment of other services?  Presumably there is so could someone in the know explain it?
Thank you.

UNQUOTE

[Londoner]

I am a London taxidriver and it is a criminal offence not to pay a London taxi at the end of the journey. This is because the licensing of taxis came under the control of the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police when the force was set up and is specifically mentioned in the Metropolitan Police Act 1830.

I don't think that stands for the rest of the country but to receive any goods or service with the intention (stress the word intention) of not paying is an offence.
The problem is how do you prove intent?

[Helen]

you charge them what they owe you, plus any cost you have incurred in gaining payment this way.

[S.A.J]

N1 Form

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/n1_0102.pdf