Trevor Knight

  • Posts: 1825
Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« on: August 02, 2006, 12:24:29 pm »
Guy's

Do any of you have domestic customers on DD payment?

If yes, can I ask if you find it works and how you set it up regarding date you clean to date you collect payment?

Many thanks,

Trev
Covering Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Berkshire

paul mather

  • Posts: 528
Re: Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« Reply #1 on: August 02, 2006, 12:47:32 pm »
i have dom customers who pay through a bank transfer the tuesday after the clean. Different i suppose to a DD though. Can't see how that would work, dose of bad weather, holiday could mean you get 2 or 3 weeks behind & then you owe them money for cleans you've not done
Use the wand of power !!


Warrington, Cheshire

carl stanton

  • Posts: 814
Re: Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« Reply #2 on: August 02, 2006, 01:52:29 pm »
i have thought of this but would agree with paul M if get behind then the botheration of cash back!
but i have a couple bank transfer but a bit iffy of letting to many know my details!  :-\
but i thought of saying to customers give me 12 cheques and after each clean i will cash one you get me??  ???  ;D

DASERVICES

Re: Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« Reply #3 on: August 02, 2006, 03:19:54 pm »

  I have one customer who does this , i just gave her my bank details and she
  set it up. We agreed a monthly price where I would clean her windows 11
  times a year. It works a treat as she was a pain to get in.

  It works that well I am seriuosly considering rolling it out to my other customers.

  Best thing to do Trevor is contact your bank.

  Doug

Trevor Knight

  • Posts: 1825
Re: Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« Reply #4 on: August 02, 2006, 03:22:54 pm »
Hi Doug,

Thanks for that, what I wanted to know was how you set the time frequency for collecting payment. I understand you have to set up a date and just wondered how long you set the date from when you have cleaned the house?

Many thanks,

Trev
Covering Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Berkshire

DASERVICES

Re: Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« Reply #5 on: August 02, 2006, 03:31:03 pm »

  Hi Trev,

 How I worked it out I checked my previous history from past years and
 saw that each year I cleaned her house 11 times a year. As well as her
 house she has a cons which is cleaned every other 3rd clean.

 She then set up the direct debit for payment at the end of the month for
 equal amounts  eg: £10/ mnth. All I do is pop the card through the door
 when I have cleaned them. I did say to her if I did not acheive the 11 cleans
  in a year then I would refend her the money owed, she told me not to
  bother.

  To be quite honest this is an idea I am looking into for all as I sure the majority
  would prefer this.

  Doug

  Doug

Trevor Knight

  • Posts: 1825
Re: Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« Reply #6 on: August 02, 2006, 03:41:27 pm »
I have to say it is definately something I need to look at.

It costs me over £450 per month to pay for collecting.

I have a very large client bank and am always owed in the region of £3,000 every month.

I already have 2 days every week when one of the girls calls everyone to get cheques out in the post.

Oh well, back to the drawing board  :-\

Trev
Covering Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Berkshire

Fast 1 *

  • Posts: 667
Re: Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« Reply #7 on: August 02, 2006, 03:46:58 pm »
i know a couple of people that have a bar code system,the bar code is on the windows and is scanned when the job is complete,thus creating automatic payment
wildstyles

Mike George

  • Posts: 105
Re: Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« Reply #8 on: August 02, 2006, 04:39:41 pm »
She then set up the direct debit for payment at the end of the month for equal amounts  eg: £10/ mnth.

That sounds like a standing order.

A direct debit doesn't have a predefined amount or date. The customer has to authorise their bank to let you take money from their account, without specifying how much or when. I can't see anybody agreeing to that for window cleaning.

A standing order is easy to set up. You just give the customer a form to fill in and give to their bank, to pay a set amount to your account on set dates. The customer is in complete control of the payments and can stop them at any time.
Don't recognise people?
Mike's face blindness blog

pjulk

Re: Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« Reply #9 on: August 02, 2006, 04:50:56 pm »
As fast one has said that there is a company that works in our area's that has a barcode system that when they just scan the barcode in the window when finished they hotsync the handheld with there pc then they take payment by direct debit.
But they won't let anyone know how they had it set up.

Direct debit would be better for window cleaning as its a lot more flexible than standing order which works great unless you end up running late as the standing order will pay out on a set day.

Also with direct debit its easier putting customers prices up.
With standing order you have to get the customers to do a new form and cancel there old standing order.

Paul

Re: Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« Reply #10 on: August 02, 2006, 05:29:51 pm »
Trev,

I have around 30 customers who pay me by Standing Order - NOT - Direct Debit.

There is a difference, with Standing Orders, the customer orders a set amount to be paid to you each month; you have no capability of increasing this at will.

With a Direct Debit, you have to fit a certain criteria to be able to legally set up Direct Debits, and you have the 'power' to increase the payments and deduct money from their bank accounts when you like.

Standing Orders are safe from the customers point of view (always a good point to push, when selling it to them).

I clean mostly on a calandar monthly basis and receive one payment per calandar month. 

It works like this:  When I set the standing order payment up, I set it so I receive payment at the begining of the month.

I then clean their property sometime during that calandar month.  I always leave a 'Your window cleaner has been' chit and advise my standing order customers to mark my visit on their calandar.  There should be one 'mark' per month.

There's a standing order form (compliments of Wavie Davie) in the documents to upload section; just numptyise it to suit your own requirements.

I also showed it to the girls in my bank; to get their opinion of it; and they were more than happy with it and told me it would work no problems.

Once set up, it may seem difficult to then do a price increase; it's not; I'm just about to do another form for this purpose; I'll e-mail you it when I've finished it.

Regards,

Tosh.

Sir Squeaky

  • Posts: 8341
Re: Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« Reply #11 on: August 02, 2006, 05:38:16 pm »
Too much bother to arrange for my liking.

Also you're tied into doing it, probably by a certain date.
Sod that. :-\

Some people must like complex lives.... ::)

Re: Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« Reply #12 on: August 02, 2006, 05:47:07 pm »
Further Information:

I'm at 'bursting point' with work and just cannot physically get round my customers within the 'calandar monthly' timescale, despite culling around 30 accounts so far (okay, Trev, I'm in Division Four here).

So last Monday, I posted a letter to each of my Standing Order customers basically saying I may have problems with regards to my regularity and if I go over the timescale, I would refund the payment in cash when I next turned up to clean.

Or they could cancell the Standing Order and revert to a 'cash/cheque paying customer'.

So far I've not had any phonecalls about it.

As long as your administration is good; it won't cause you any problems in instances like this.  I keep a seperate list of these customers and check them off each month via internet banking.

---------------------------------

Selling it to customers:

Before I started with standing orders, I increased my prices to a level I thought was fair (I was underpriced due to my inexperience).

I then advertised it on my 'Your window cleaner has been' chits which is A5 sized, and includes 'payment methods' as well as my terms and conditions.

I also suggested to customers when I called to collect that paying by standing order might be less hassle for them; no disruptions during dinner and stuff.

I also promised no price increases for standing order paying customers for two years (I'd just increased my prices anyway).


Re: Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« Reply #13 on: August 02, 2006, 05:54:35 pm »
Too much bother to arrange for my liking.

Also you're tied into doing it, probably by a certain date.
Sod that. :-\

Some people must like complex lives.... ::)

Horses for courses, Squeaks!

It's not that complex really, not if you've got a few brain cells.

However, I agree, there's a lot to be said for keeping it simple.

But I do like my standing order customers.  Some of them I wouldn't recognise in the street if I saw them; it's been that long since I've seen them.

They pay me - directly into my bank - I clean their house; no hassles; really simple.  If they pay me twice (this hasn't happened yet) and I only clean them once; I'll pop the money in an envelope through their letter box.

But I've a part-time window cleaner starting with me on Monday, so hopefully this scenario won't happen and I'll manage to stay on top of it all.


dai

  • Posts: 3503
Re: Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« Reply #14 on: August 02, 2006, 08:03:56 pm »
But I've a part-time window cleaner starting with me on Monday, so hopefully this scenario won't happen and I'll manage to stay on top of it all.
Tosh, what method are you using to pay him? My mrs can't work at the moment and I am getting behind. There is a local part timer willing to give me the odd day.
When I employed a guy years ago I gave him 35%. Dai

Paul Coleman

Re: Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« Reply #15 on: August 02, 2006, 08:26:31 pm »
There are two things that put me off automated payments.

1)  It forces me to be there when I am supposed to be there.  I don't mind this within reason but I prefer to have the flexibility of being a few days late or even a little bit early.  I like self-employment because I can work harder or have a day or two off extra sometimes as I choose.  I am not self-employed to be a slave to my business or my customers.

2)  My bank doesn't show me any reference numbers so I don't know who has paid.

I would be happy to give a customer my banking details so that they can set up a bill payment facility.  This means that after I leave a bill, they can initiate the payment each time (usually online or sometimes by telephone banking).  The trouble is with the lack of reference numbers.  I need to either hassle my bank to see if they can provide more details of a payer or change my bank to one who already does so.

dougster

  • Posts: 251
Re: Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« Reply #16 on: August 02, 2006, 11:08:50 pm »
I think this standing order for payment is a superb idea.I also have been trying to think best of how to go about it as a lot of customers forget to post cheques regualry.  So im up for giving it a go and wipeeee a lot less asale for chasing customers for money sounds good to me any day

supernova77

  • Posts: 3547
Re: Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« Reply #17 on: August 02, 2006, 11:43:32 pm »
When I've cleaned a house and no one is home I leave the attached slip with a self addressed envelope for them.

Most customers send me a cheque within 7 days, some pay direct into my bank account by bank transfer quoting their address as a reference and a couple pay online with their debit or credit card.

I've been window cleaning 8 months now and I haven't been out collecting once!

Andy


Trevor Knight

  • Posts: 1825
Re: Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« Reply #18 on: August 03, 2006, 09:13:24 am »
Hi Guy's

Thanks for all your replies.

I am thinking this.

I am going to go to my customers and offer this facility to pay by Standing Order. The payment will be taken on the 28th of each month regardless of when I clean them during the month. This way they will have had their windows cleaned and I just have 1 day a month to check the payments have been received.

I will call the bank as well to see if I can set up DD facilities as this would be easier, I think?

Commercial is so much easier, Clean, Invoice, Cheque, Banked, Forgotten

Many thanks to you all.

Trev
Covering Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Berkshire

Trevor Knight

  • Posts: 1825
Re: Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« Reply #19 on: August 03, 2006, 09:16:18 am »
When I've cleaned a house and no one is home I leave the attached slip with a self addressed envelope for them.

Most customers send me a cheque within 7 days, some pay direct into my bank account by bank transfer quoting their address as a reference and a couple pay online with their debit or credit card.

I've been window cleaning 8 months now and I haven't been out collecting once!

Andy



Hi Andy,

Just looked at your payment facilities online.

Can I ask how expensive the NOCHEX is to use?

Many thanks,

Trev
Covering Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Berkshire

supernova77

  • Posts: 3547
Re: Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« Reply #20 on: August 03, 2006, 10:00:45 am »
Hi Trevor,

Nochex charge 2.9% plus 20p per transaction received.

Also... If you transfer money from your Nochex account to your bank account and the sum is less than £50 then they charge you 25p. If you transfer £50 or more then it's free.

Andy

Trevor Knight

  • Posts: 1825
Re: Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« Reply #21 on: August 03, 2006, 10:03:26 am »
Hi Andy,

Thanks for that, I will look into this as that is cheaper and seems easier for the customer to use than PAYPAL.

Many thanks,

Trev
Covering Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Berkshire

mgba_78

  • Posts: 436
Re: Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« Reply #22 on: August 03, 2006, 10:07:15 am »
NOCHEX details here http://www.nochex.co.uk/merchant-accounts.htm

Used his before paypal was big when i was into ebay, at the time was easier and cheaper than paypal but may have changed may be worth checking the paypal web site as well and comparing overall costs.

HTH
Andy
Oooooo that is shiny!!

ecowasher

  • Posts: 59
Re: Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« Reply #23 on: August 03, 2006, 10:20:34 am »
Something i will be considering  (once the round is big enough),  is incorporating an online method (via my website) which i used successfully with a previous business venture.

It worked via paypal,  the online payment system.

Basically the customer goes to your website and pays from there,  by whatever means they see fit,  ie, credit card, current account card, etc etc.

The amount then appears in your paypal account,  together with payers details. Its easy to reconcile from there.  The money can then be transferred to your own accounts whenever you see fit.

Its not the easient of things to set up at first,  but once in place it is fantastic, and the % charged by Paypal is cheaper than what the credit card clearance companies charge, with no setup fee either.

The details of how a customer pays in this way can be written down and printed on a slip and handed to them,  with a reminder slip following each visit.

Not all customers are 'internet' savvy,  but most are these days and are happy to make payments via it (the internet outsold the high street last year)!

Worth considering.

Beer!

ecowasher

  • Posts: 59
Re: Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« Reply #24 on: August 03, 2006, 10:31:54 am »
Guy's

Do any of you have domestic customers on DD payment?

If yes, can I ask if you find it works and how you set it up regarding date you clean to date you collect payment?

Many thanks,

Trev

From this post,  and a few others that i have read from you Trev,  it sounds like you have a thriving business that has gone from small to medium,  and you are now coming across the growing pains of managing the actual operation of the business as opposed to the work itself.

Maybe you need a business focussed Ops Manager to take you through this stage - In a previous life I have seen this stage of growth and the effects it can have many times. 

Possibly now is the point to go down the deaded creation and review of 'operational policies and proceedures' route,  to ensure efficiency, accuracy, and most importantly scaleability in preparation for the forthcoming years.

I,  on the other hand,  have the reverse.  All i need is the business through the door!
Beer!

Mike George

  • Posts: 105
Re: Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« Reply #25 on: August 03, 2006, 08:12:42 pm »
I am going to go to my customers and offer this facility to pay by Standing Order. The payment will be taken on the 28th of each month regardless of when I clean them during the month. This way they will have had their windows cleaned and I just have 1 day a month to check the payments have been received.

None of my customers have yet taken me up on using standing orders, but when I've been going for a few months and they can see I'm trustworthy I'll push it more. I was planning to set them up for the 15th of the following month, which gives them at least a week to cancel if I don't turn up.
Don't recognise people?
Mike's face blindness blog

Mike George

  • Posts: 105
Re: Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« Reply #26 on: August 03, 2006, 08:20:39 pm »
Something i will be considering  (once the round is big enough),  is incorporating an online method (via my website) which i used successfully with a previous business venture.

It worked via paypal,  the online payment system.

Basically the customer goes to your website and pays from there,  by whatever means they see fit,  ie, credit card, current account card, etc etc.

I've got one customer who pays with Nochex, and I prefer to send them an email request when I've cleaned his windows. That way I don't have to rely on the customer remembering to go to my web site and make the payment.

I just log in to Nochex and send the request, he gets the email and clicks the link to make the payment, and I get the confirmation email.
Don't recognise people?
Mike's face blindness blog

jinky230

Re: Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« Reply #27 on: August 04, 2006, 07:45:58 am »
guys it seems the perfect dream in reality but would customers just not bother their behind paying and then you are left with more outstanding cash

windows cleaning domestic is like the milkman, people are used to paying at the door, some will go on line but I recon most would just find it a hassle in their already present rat race life

just my opinion-- I would like to be proved wrong

jinky

Paul Coleman

Re: Customer Paying by Direct Debit
« Reply #28 on: August 04, 2006, 08:38:56 am »
guys it seems the perfect dream in reality but would customers just not bother their behind paying and then you are left with more outstanding cash

windows cleaning domestic is like the milkman, people are used to paying at the door, some will go on line but I recon most would just find it a hassle in their already present rat race life

just my opinion-- I would like to be proved wrong

jinky

I thought this too about people paying by cheque.  However, a lot of people send mr cheques each visit which is more hassle than going online.