[jo5hm4n]

So i currently have a "bad" debt list of about £300, all from ex customers cleaned since the start of this year.  Basically customers that messed me about, bad payers, or cancelling service when i turn up etc the list goes on.  These are mainly new customers who started off okay, but have messed me about since after the first few cleans.

They still owe me money, i'm sick of waiting and when they say "oh sorry i'll get it paid ill tell the wife or the husband to sort it."

I've had enough now.  I'm going to be sending Thomas Sanderson letters to all of them.  Legally i need to give them 7 days notice of my terms to receive payment before i take matters further, how would you personally enforce this. 

Send a text message with 7 days to pay?
Send them my own letter with payment options and 7 days notice?
Not going round knocking, done that tons before gets nowhere and just makes my anxiety worse tbh.

Need to toughen up there is some right messers out there, make empty promises for payment, but never see it.

[The Jester of Wibbly]

Just send your own letter before action letter. Plenty of templates on the net.

[p1w1]

Don't waste your time focusing on the negative even if you send these letters out how many do you need? how much do they cost? even then that does not guarantee you'll get your money. You can bang on about it's the principle etc but all your doing is wasting your time and more money and if you have let people build a few cleans worth of debt up then its your fault for letting it happen learn from it and move on (not being nasty here). Just send your own letter if it works then great if it doesn't just move on. If it was a few thousand then yes pursue but its just a few hundred. 
By all means toughen up but do it from now on looking forward 1 clean 1 payment dont let anybody build up debt...slow payers offer them only gocardless if they want to continue using your services. Also isn't it Thomas Higgins you need to be using? sending a Thomas Sanderson letter will only offer them a conservatory valet 
Its bloody annoying when these things happen but letting it consume you doesn't do you any good.  Perhaps look into getting a card payment reader like some others have done were you can take the payment while your there next time you see them.

[dazmond]

So i currently have a "bad" debt list of about £300, all from ex customers cleaned since the start of this year.  Basically customers that messed me about, bad payers, or cancelling service when i turn up etc the list goes on.  These are mainly new customers who started off okay, but have messed me about since after the first few cleans.

They still owe me money, i'm sick of waiting and when they say "oh sorry i'll get it paid ill tell the wife or the husband to sort it."

I've had enough now.  I'm going to be sending Thomas Sanderson letters to all of them.  Legally i need to give them 7 days notice of my terms to receive payment before i take matters further, how would you personally enforce this. 

Send a text message with 7 days to pay?
Send them my own letter with payment options and 7 days notice?
Not going round knocking, done that tons before gets nowhere and just makes my anxiety worse tbh.

Need to toughen up there is some right messers out there, make empty promises for payment, but never see it.

dont bother with any of that.....just turn up on their doorstep with a card reader and bang on their door........i bet most of them will pay there and then.......

[The Jester of Wibbly]

So i currently have a "bad" debt list of about £300, all from ex customers cleaned since the start of this year.  Basically customers that messed me about, bad payers, or cancelling service when i turn up etc the list goes on.  These are mainly new customers who started off okay, but have messed me about since after the first few cleans.

They still owe me money, i'm sick of waiting and when they say "oh sorry i'll get it paid ill tell the wife or the husband to sort it."

I've had enough now.  I'm going to be sending Thomas Sanderson letters to all of them.  Legally i need to give them 7 days notice of my terms to receive payment before i take matters further, how would you personally enforce this. 

Send a text message with 7 days to pay?
Send them my own letter with payment options and 7 days notice?
Not going round knocking, done that tons before gets nowhere and just makes my anxiety worse tbh.

Need to toughen up there is some right messers out there, make empty promises for payment, but never see it.

dont bother with any of that.....just turn up on their doorstep with a card reader and bang on their door........i bet most of them will pay there and then.......

Completly agree.  'Checkmate' Mr customer.

[Dry Clean]

Customers who cancel when you turn up to clean don't legally owe you anything, you could be breaking the law by chasing money you are not legally entitled to.

[Johnny B]

I know how frustrating it can be to have 'customers' who don't honour their part of the agreement to pay for services rendered. It's happened to me often enough.

But life is too short and stressful enough to worry about chasing a few quid, even if it's 'the principle of the thing'.

What I do is keep a note of what is owed, suspend my service to the offending party and wait for them to approach me in the future to restart (some actually do). Some pay, some don't. It actually amuses me now when they play cat and mouse, so it leaves me in a better place than if I were to get steamed up over it!

John

[John Mart]

Customers who cancel when you turn up to clean don't legally owe you anything, you could be breaking the law by chasing money you are not legally entitled to.

Which law would that be? As long as there were no menaces?

[jo5hm4n]

Don't waste your time focusing on the negative even if you send these letters out how many do you need? how much do they cost? even then that does not guarantee you'll get your money. You can bang on about it's the principle etc but all your doing is wasting your time and more money and if you have let people build a few cleans worth of debt up then its your fault for letting it happen learn from it and move on (not being nasty here). Just send your own letter if it works then great if it doesn't just move on. If it was a few thousand then yes pursue but its just a few hundred. 
By all means toughen up but do it from now on looking forward 1 clean 1 payment dont let anybody build up debt...slow payers offer them only gocardless if they want to continue using your services. Also isn't it Thomas Higgins you need to be using? sending a Thomas Sanderson letter will only offer them a conservatory valet 
Its bloody annoying when these things happen but letting it consume you doesn't do you any good.  Perhaps look into getting a card payment reader like some others have done were you can take the payment while your there next time you see them.

I'm not actually bothered about the principle.  The fact is i am owed around £300 total.  Even if it costs me £20 in sending debt letters out with Thomas Higgins(not sanderson haha)  Then even if just a few pay, i will have got my costs back if nothing else.

I only let the cleans build up to 2 cleans outstanding.  For all new customers its 1 clean outstanding.  These are some customers who paid no problem at all for the first 3 or 4 cleans, so building up to 2 cleans often is not a big problem for me, most pay up.  These ones however haven't which is why i am chasing the debt.  I wont waste much time, sending out Thomas higgins letters wont take much effort.

I have a card payment reader but these are customers who are a nightmare to catch at home, and im not making the effort to go at times they are in to collect if it doesnt suit me.  That is too much to ask!

I wouldn't be so bothered but now that i am employing the £300 outstanding to me is technically a days wage for one of my employees for the cleans and van fuel and costs.  So instead of losing £300 of potential earnings it has physically cost me money on costs if i dont recoup these outstanding customers.  Not expecting to get all of them, even if just half pay up i will be happy.

Moving forwards i will be toughening up with bad payers, i have got alot better than i used to be but clearly there is still room for improvement on my part!

[Dry Clean]

Customers who cancel when you turn up to clean don't legally owe you anything, you could be breaking the law by chasing money you are not legally entitled to.

Which law would that be? As long as there were no menaces?

I would say conning a customer into thinking they still owed you money for a cancelled clean would fall under theft, if you had offered and done a freebie for a set amount of cleans and they cancelled before that set amount was completed then as long as you had a contract to prove it you could still chase the cost of the freebie but nothing more, I'm surprised you dont know this.

[windowswashed]

Another good reason to charge double on first cleans to weed out chancers and not to let debt run up. Customers lie, dump you, have a hidden agenda like selling a house after one clean, etc.  If it feels dodgy .....it  probably is

[John Mart]

Customers who cancel when you turn up to clean don't legally owe you anything, you could be breaking the law by chasing money you are not legally entitled to.

Which law would that be? As long as there were no menaces?

I would say conning a customer into thinking they still owed you money for a cancelled clean would fall under theft, if you had offered and done a freebie for a set amount of cleans and they cancelled before that set amount was completed then as long as you had a contract to prove it you could still chase the cost of the freebie but nothing more, I'm surprised you dont know this.

That would be a civil matter. I’m surprised you’d think otherwise.

[Stoots]

It all depends what's in the contract.

I'd you have agreed to 4 weekly and tbey cancel after the first then you would have thought you would have a case


However it's also a cancel at any time contract, unless you set a clear start and end date to the contract then they can cancel anytime.

However if you have cleaned as agreed and not been paid then you are a winner... You would just need to prove what you agreed in court. That's why you must always get full name address and preferably a text or email conversation on what was agreed.

[dazmond]

Don't waste your time focusing on the negative even if you send these letters out how many do you need? how much do they cost? even then that does not guarantee you'll get your money. You can bang on about it's the principle etc but all your doing is wasting your time and more money and if you have let people build a few cleans worth of debt up then its your fault for letting it happen learn from it and move on (not being nasty here). Just send your own letter if it works then great if it doesn't just move on. If it was a few thousand then yes pursue but its just a few hundred. 
By all means toughen up but do it from now on looking forward 1 clean 1 payment dont let anybody build up debt...slow payers offer them only gocardless if they want to continue using your services. Also isn't it Thomas Higgins you need to be using? sending a Thomas Sanderson letter will only offer them a conservatory valet 
Its bloody annoying when these things happen but letting it consume you doesn't do you any good.  Perhaps look into getting a card payment reader like some others have done were you can take the payment while your there next time you see them.

I'm not actually bothered about the principle.  The fact is i am owed around £300 total.  Even if it costs me £20 in sending debt letters out with Thomas Higgins(not sanderson haha)  Then even if just a few pay, i will have got my costs back if nothing else.

I only let the cleans build up to 2 cleans outstanding.  For all new customers its 1 clean outstanding.  These are some customers who paid no problem at all for the first 3 or 4 cleans, so building up to 2 cleans often is not a big problem for me, most pay up.  These ones however haven't which is why i am chasing the debt.  I wont waste much time, sending out Thomas higgins letters wont take much effort.

I have a card payment reader but these are customers who are a nightmare to catch at home, and im not making the effort to go at times they are in to collect if it doesnt suit me.  That is too much to ask!

I wouldn't be so bothered but now that i am employing the £300 outstanding to me is technically a days wage for one of my employees for the cleans and van fuel and costs.  So instead of losing £300 of potential earnings it has physically cost me money on costs if i dont recoup these outstanding customers.  Not expecting to get all of them, even if just half pay up i will be happy.

Moving forwards i will be toughening up with bad payers, i have got alot better than i used to be but clearly there is still room for improvement on my part!

so you cant be bothered to go and knock on their door to get paid......if you go one evening youll catch most of them in i bet......

[John Mart]

Don't waste your time focusing on the negative even if you send these letters out how many do you need? how much do they cost? even then that does not guarantee you'll get your money. You can bang on about it's the principle etc but all your doing is wasting your time and more money and if you have let people build a few cleans worth of debt up then its your fault for letting it happen learn from it and move on (not being nasty here). Just send your own letter if it works then great if it doesn't just move on. If it was a few thousand then yes pursue but its just a few hundred. 
By all means toughen up but do it from now on looking forward 1 clean 1 payment dont let anybody build up debt...slow payers offer them only gocardless if they want to continue using your services. Also isn't it Thomas Higgins you need to be using? sending a Thomas Sanderson letter will only offer them a conservatory valet 
Its bloody annoying when these things happen but letting it consume you doesn't do you any good.  Perhaps look into getting a card payment reader like some others have done were you can take the payment while your there next time you see them.

I'm not actually bothered about the principle.  The fact is i am owed around £300 total.  Even if it costs me £20 in sending debt letters out with Thomas Higgins(not sanderson haha)  Then even if just a few pay, i will have got my costs back if nothing else.

I only let the cleans build up to 2 cleans outstanding.  For all new customers its 1 clean outstanding.  These are some customers who paid no problem at all for the first 3 or 4 cleans, so building up to 2 cleans often is not a big problem for me, most pay up.  These ones however haven't which is why i am chasing the debt.  I wont waste much time, sending out Thomas higgins letters wont take much effort.

I have a card payment reader but these are customers who are a nightmare to catch at home, and im not making the effort to go at times they are in to collect if it doesnt suit me.  That is too much to ask!

I wouldn't be so bothered but now that i am employing the £300 outstanding to me is technically a days wage for one of my employees for the cleans and van fuel and costs.  So instead of losing £300 of potential earnings it has physically cost me money on costs if i dont recoup these outstanding customers.  Not expecting to get all of them, even if just half pay up i will be happy.

Moving forwards i will be toughening up with bad payers, i have got alot better than i used to be but clearly there is still room for improvement on my part!

so you cant be bothered to go and knock on their door to get paid......if you go one evening youll catch most of them in i bet......

It's a bit old fashioned though. I'd just send a final notice.

[Dry Clean]

It all depends what's in the contract.

I'd you have agreed to 4 weekly and tbey cancel after the first then you would have thought you would have a case


However it's also a cancel at any time contract, unless you set a clear start and end date to the contract then they can cancel anytime.

However if you have cleaned as agreed and not been paid then you are a winner... You would just need to prove what you agreed in court. That's why you must always get full name address and preferably a text or email conversation on what was agreed.

A case for what ? you cant claim for work you didn't do,  a builder will draw up a contract because they will buy equipment, materials and so on before starting the job so could end up out of pocket if cancelled, but all they will get back is what they have lost and not what they would have made on completing the job.

[John Mart]

It all depends what's in the contract.

I'd you have agreed to 4 weekly and tbey cancel after the first then you would have thought you would have a case


However it's also a cancel at any time contract, unless you set a clear start and end date to the contract then they can cancel anytime.

However if you have cleaned as agreed and not been paid then you are a winner... You would just need to prove what you agreed in court. That's why you must always get full name address and preferably a text or email conversation on what was agreed.

A case for what ? you cant claim for work you didn't do,  a builder will draw up a contract because they will buy equipment, materials and so on before starting the job so could end up out of pocket if cancelled, but all they will get back is what they have lost and not what they would have made on completing the job.

You can if you've terms and conditions that were issued to the customer. If your terms state full price will be charged if gate locked then you can charge the full price. If you are a roll up in the mouth and flat cap kinda guy you'd struggle though. 

[Perfect Windows]

So i currently have a "bad" debt list of about £300, all from ex customers cleaned since the start of this year.  Basically customers that messed me about, bad payers, or cancelling service when i turn up etc the list goes on.  These are mainly new customers who started off okay, but have messed me about since after the first few cleans.

They still owe me money, i'm sick of waiting and when they say "oh sorry i'll get it paid ill tell the wife or the husband to sort it."

I've had enough now.  I'm going to be sending Thomas Sanderson letters to all of them.  Legally i need to give them 7 days notice of my terms to receive payment before i take matters further, how would you personally enforce this. 

Send a text message with 7 days to pay?
Send them my own letter with payment options and 7 days notice?
Not going round knocking, done that tons before gets nowhere and just makes my anxiety worse tbh.

Need to toughen up there is some right messers out there, make empty promises for payment, but never see it.

The only ones worth chasing are the non-payers.

Send out a Thomas Higgins* letter to them all, bank the payments that come in, forget the rest and move on.

You only have one life. Don't wallow in negativity.

Vin


*Definitely don't send a Thomas Sanderson letter to them. It just won't work.

[Dry Clean]

It all depends what's in the contract.

I'd you have agreed to 4 weekly and tbey cancel after the first then you would have thought you would have a case


However it's also a cancel at any time contract, unless you set a clear start and end date to the contract then they can cancel anytime.

However if you have cleaned as agreed and not been paid then you are a winner... You would just need to prove what you agreed in court. That's why you must always get full name address and preferably a text or email conversation on what was agreed.

A case for what ? you cant claim for work you didn't do,  a builder will draw up a contract because they will buy equipment, materials and so on before starting the job so could end up out of pocket if cancelled, but all they will get back is what they have lost and not what they would have made on completing the job.

You can if you've terms and conditions that were issued to the customer. If your terms state full price will be charged if gate locked then you can charge the full price. If you are a roll up in the mouth and flat cap kinda guy you'd struggle though. 

As you will have worked at the property then the locked gate price may be legally enforceable, ( I honestly dont know ) but when it comes to a customer cancelling your service your terms and conditions dont mean squat.
You can only claim for any loss incurred as a result of the early cancelllation and not for the loss of future custom.

[Smudger]

Forget any cancellations even if it was worth the time and hassle I doubt you would get anything - even going to court (yours t&c’s would be horrifically complicated and even then judged as unfair) and all for what £15 - just move on!

Those that actually  owe you for services rendered then a letter from yourself followed up by one from Mr Higgins - if that doesn’t work it’s a judgement call between what your owed against time and further costs pursuing the debt I really doubt anyone would find pursuing less than £50 worthwhile - certainly those that employ

Darran

[Stoots]

It all depends what's in the contract.

I'd you have agreed to 4 weekly and tbey cancel after the first then you would have thought you would have a case


However it's also a cancel at any time contract, unless you set a clear start and end date to the contract then they can cancel anytime.

However if you have cleaned as agreed and not been paid then you are a winner... You would just need to prove what you agreed in court. That's why you must always get full name address and preferably a text or email conversation on what was agreed.

A case for what ? you cant claim for work you didn't do,  a builder will draw up a contract because they will buy equipment, materials and so on before starting the job so could end up out of pocket if cancelled, but all they will get back is what they have lost and not what they would have made on completing the job.

What u on about...

I said if you agreed to a 4 week clean tgey have a right to cancel anytime before the clean.

Once cleaned as agreed  they owe you money

[Dry Clean]

It all depends what's in the contract.

I'd you have agreed to 4 weekly and tbey cancel after the first then you would have thought you would have a case


However it's also a cancel at any time contract, unless you set a clear start and end date to the contract then they can cancel anytime.

However if you have cleaned as agreed and not been paid then you are a winner... You would just need to prove what you agreed in court. That's why you must always get full name address and preferably a text or email conversation on what was agreed.

A case for what ? you cant claim for work you didn't do,  a builder will draw up a contract because they will buy equipment, materials and so on before starting the job so could end up out of pocket if cancelled, but all they will get back is what they have lost and not what they would have made on completing the job.

What u on about...

I said if you agreed to a 4 week clean tgey have a right to cancel anytime before the clean.

Once cleaned as agreed  they owe you money

Sorry I misread your post, I thought you where talking about cancelling future agreed cleans not non payment for the first clean.

[Soupy]

So i currently have a "bad" debt list of about £300, all from ex customers cleaned since the start of this year.  Basically customers that messed me about, bad payers, or cancelling service when i turn up etc the list goes on.  These are mainly new customers who started off okay, but have messed me about since after the first few cleans.

They still owe me money, i'm sick of waiting and when they say "oh sorry i'll get it paid ill tell the wife or the husband to sort it."

I've had enough now.  I'm going to be sending Thomas Sanderson letters to all of them.  Legally i need to give them 7 days notice of my terms to receive payment before i take matters further, how would you personally enforce this. 

Send a text message with 7 days to pay?
Send them my own letter with payment options and 7 days notice?
Not going round knocking, done that tons before gets nowhere and just makes my anxiety worse tbh.

Need to toughen up there is some right messers out there, make empty promises for payment, but never see it.

The only ones worth chasing are the non-payers.

Send out a Thomas Higgins* letter to them all, bank the payments that come in, forget the rest and move on.

You only have one life. Don't wallow in negativity.

Vin


*Definitely don't send a Thomas Sanderson letter to them. It just won't work.

I got chucked by Thomas Higgins for using their services in this way 

Edit: just looked back, they didn't bin me exactly, they trebled their fees if I continued to use them as a "Letter Only Service" so....

[Shrek]

I think if your a member of the Fsb , this is a free service

[Soupy]

I think if your a member of the Fsb , this is a free service

What is? Thomas Higgins?

[John Mart]

So i currently have a "bad" debt list of about £300, all from ex customers cleaned since the start of this year.  Basically customers that messed me about, bad payers, or cancelling service when i turn up etc the list goes on.  These are mainly new customers who started off okay, but have messed me about since after the first few cleans.

They still owe me money, i'm sick of waiting and when they say "oh sorry i'll get it paid ill tell the wife or the husband to sort it."

I've had enough now.  I'm going to be sending Thomas Sanderson letters to all of them.  Legally i need to give them 7 days notice of my terms to receive payment before i take matters further, how would you personally enforce this. 

Send a text message with 7 days to pay?
Send them my own letter with payment options and 7 days notice?
Not going round knocking, done that tons before gets nowhere and just makes my anxiety worse tbh.

Need to toughen up there is some right messers out there, make empty promises for payment, but never see it.

The only ones worth chasing are the non-payers.

Send out a Thomas Higgins* letter to them all, bank the payments that come in, forget the rest and move on.

You only have one life. Don't wallow in negativity.

Vin


*Definitely don't send a Thomas Sanderson letter to them. It just won't work.

I got chucked by Thomas Higgins for using their services in this way 

Edit: just looked back, they didn't bin me exactly, they trebled their fees if I continued to use them as a "Letter Only Service" so....

Why don’t you just write your own? Mine rarely fails.

[Soupy]

So i currently have a "bad" debt list of about £300, all from ex customers cleaned since the start of this year.  Basically customers that messed me about, bad payers, or cancelling service when i turn up etc the list goes on.  These are mainly new customers who started off okay, but have messed me about since after the first few cleans.

They still owe me money, i'm sick of waiting and when they say "oh sorry i'll get it paid ill tell the wife or the husband to sort it."

I've had enough now.  I'm going to be sending Thomas Sanderson letters to all of them.  Legally i need to give them 7 days notice of my terms to receive payment before i take matters further, how would you personally enforce this. 

Send a text message with 7 days to pay?
Send them my own letter with payment options and 7 days notice?
Not going round knocking, done that tons before gets nowhere and just makes my anxiety worse tbh.

Need to toughen up there is some right messers out there, make empty promises for payment, but never see it.

The only ones worth chasing are the non-payers.

Send out a Thomas Higgins* letter to them all, bank the payments that come in, forget the rest and move on.

You only have one life. Don't wallow in negativity.

Vin


*Definitely don't send a Thomas Sanderson letter to them. It just won't work.

I got chucked by Thomas Higgins for using their services in this way 

Edit: just looked back, they didn't bin me exactly, they trebled their fees if I continued to use them as a "Letter Only Service" so....

Why don’t you just write your own? Mine rarely fails.

I've been doing that for about 20 years. It [was] for the ones that do.

[Shrek]

I think if your a member of the Fsb , this is a free service

What is? Thomas Higgins?

Not sure if it’s thomas Higgins but it’s 20 free solicitors letters each year

https://www.fsb.org.uk/benefits/finance/fsb-debt-recovery

[John Mart]

So i currently have a "bad" debt list of about £300, all from ex customers cleaned since the start of this year.  Basically customers that messed me about, bad payers, or cancelling service when i turn up etc the list goes on.  These are mainly new customers who started off okay, but have messed me about since after the first few cleans.

They still owe me money, i'm sick of waiting and when they say "oh sorry i'll get it paid ill tell the wife or the husband to sort it."

I've had enough now.  I'm going to be sending Thomas Sanderson letters to all of them.  Legally i need to give them 7 days notice of my terms to receive payment before i take matters further, how would you personally enforce this. 

Send a text message with 7 days to pay?
Send them my own letter with payment options and 7 days notice?
Not going round knocking, done that tons before gets nowhere and just makes my anxiety worse tbh.

Need to toughen up there is some right messers out there, make empty promises for payment, but never see it.

The only ones worth chasing are the non-payers.

Send out a Thomas Higgins* letter to them all, bank the payments that come in, forget the rest and move on.

You only have one life. Don't wallow in negativity.

Vin


*Definitely don't send a Thomas Sanderson letter to them. It just won't work.

I got chucked by Thomas Higgins for using their services in this way 

Edit: just looked back, they didn't bin me exactly, they trebled their fees if I continued to use them as a "Letter Only Service" so....

Why don’t you just write your own? Mine rarely fails.

I've been doing that for about 20 years. It [was] for the ones that do.

Gotcha.

[The Jester of Wibbly]

I have a letter before action template if any one wants it.

[Stoots]

It all depends what's in the contract.

I'd you have agreed to 4 weekly and tbey cancel after the first then you would have thought you would have a case


However it's also a cancel at any time contract, unless you set a clear start and end date to the contract then they can cancel anytime.

However if you have cleaned as agreed and not been paid then you are a winner... You would just need to prove what you agreed in court. That's why you must always get full name address and preferably a text or email conversation on what was agreed.

A case for what ? you cant claim for work you didn't do,  a builder will draw up a contract because they will buy equipment, materials and so on before starting the job so could end up out of pocket if cancelled, but all they will get back is what they have lost and not what they would have made on completing the job.

What u on about...

I said if you agreed to a 4 week clean tgey have a right to cancel anytime before the clean.

Once cleaned as agreed  they owe you money

Sorry I misread your post, I thought you where talking about cancelling future agreed cleans not non payment for the first clean.

No i didn't word it very well...I meant if they agree to 4 weekly clean then they can cancel anytime before each clean. However if they have one of the cleans they have agreed to then they owe you money.

Unless you had a contract with specific terms to the contrary.

[Perfect Windows]

I find it amusing that whenever debts come up there's a sudden rush of barrack-room lawyers appearing who fire off their opinions about the law.

Forget the law. Look at your time and quality of life. Do you really want to spend time on legal shenanigans that, with a following wind, hours of effort and a court case regarding the exact contract you have with your customer (taking previous case law and precedent into account) might get you twenty or thirty quid out of a customer?

No. Take reasonable steps (I set the limit at about 15 minutes total) to get the money out of people whose windows you actually cleaned and who didn't pay.  Then dust yourself down, forget the money you didn't collect and move on to customers who want you to clean and who want to pay you.  Don't spend time chasing them to court, spend the time with your family, watching TV, picking your backside or even looking for good customers.

Life really is too short.

Vin

[Slacky]

Lets hope your custards dont read this forum.

[dazmond]

rather than whinging  do something about it mate if its bothering you that much....forget the letters if its small amounts and knock their door in the evening.....whats wrong with some of you that you cant be arsed collecting?even if its just that once before you dump them for good....armed with a card reader they cant escape paying......

[Soupy]

I find it amusing that whenever debts come up there's a sudden rush of barrack-room lawyers appearing who fire off their opinions about the law.

Forget the law. Look at your time and quality of life. Do you really want to spend time on legal shenanigans that, with a following wind, hours of effort and a court case regarding the exact contract you have with your customer (taking previous case law and precedent into account) might get you twenty or thirty quid out of a customer?

No. Take reasonable steps (I set the limit at about 15 minutes total) to get the money out of people whose windows you actually cleaned and who didn't pay.  Then dust yourself down, forget the money you didn't collect and move on to customers who want you to clean and who want to pay you.  Don't spend time chasing them to court, spend the time with your family, watching TV, picking your backside or even looking for good customers.

Life really is too short.

Vin

I wish Tesco would adopt this attitude. I reckon I could outrun them for 15 minutes, even with £30 worth of shopping.

[Dry Clean]

I find it amusing that whenever debts come up there's a sudden rush of barrack-room lawyers appearing who fire off their opinions about the law.

Forget the law. Look at your time and quality of life. Do you really want to spend time on legal shenanigans that, with a following wind, hours of effort and a court case regarding the exact contract you have with your customer (taking previous case law and precedent into account) might get you twenty or thirty quid out of a customer?

No. Take reasonable steps (I set the limit at about 15 minutes total) to get the money out of people whose windows you actually cleaned and who didn't pay.  Then dust yourself down, forget the money you didn't collect and move on to customers who want you to clean and who want to pay you.  Don't spend time chasing them to court, spend the time with your family, watching TV, picking your backside or even looking for good customers.

Life really is too short.

Vin

I wish Tesco would adopt this attitude. I reckon I could outrun them for 15 minutes, even with £30 worth of shopping.

If Tesco where only losing £300 a year on theft then that's exactly the attitude they would take, never confuse a business decision with the need to get the money back because its become personal.

[John Mart]

I find it amusing that whenever debts come up there's a sudden rush of barrack-room lawyers appearing who fire off their opinions about the law.

Forget the law. Look at your time and quality of life. Do you really want to spend time on legal shenanigans that, with a following wind, hours of effort and a court case regarding the exact contract you have with your customer (taking previous case law and precedent into account) might get you twenty or thirty quid out of a customer?

No. Take reasonable steps (I set the limit at about 15 minutes total) to get the money out of people whose windows you actually cleaned and who didn't pay.  Then dust yourself down, forget the money you didn't collect and move on to customers who want you to clean and who want to pay you.  Don't spend time chasing them to court, spend the time with your family, watching TV, picking your backside or even looking for good customers.

Life really is too short.

Vin

I wish Tesco would adopt this attitude. I reckon I could outrun them for 15 minutes, even with £30 worth of shopping.

If Tesco where only losing £300 a year on theft then that's exactly the attitude they would take, never confuse a business decision with the need to get the money back because its become personal.

You need to scale it. If a window cleaner loses £300 a year that’s 0.1%. Say Tesco turnover £1bn that’s 1m. I think.  Damn sure they’ll be chasing that up.

[Soupy]

I find it amusing that whenever debts come up there's a sudden rush of barrack-room lawyers appearing who fire off their opinions about the law.

Forget the law. Look at your time and quality of life. Do you really want to spend time on legal shenanigans that, with a following wind, hours of effort and a court case regarding the exact contract you have with your customer (taking previous case law and precedent into account) might get you twenty or thirty quid out of a customer?

No. Take reasonable steps (I set the limit at about 15 minutes total) to get the money out of people whose windows you actually cleaned and who didn't pay.  Then dust yourself down, forget the money you didn't collect and move on to customers who want you to clean and who want to pay you.  Don't spend time chasing them to court, spend the time with your family, watching TV, picking your backside or even looking for good customers.

Life really is too short.

Vin

I wish Tesco would adopt this attitude. I reckon I could outrun them for 15 minutes, even with £30 worth of shopping.

If Tesco where only losing £300 a year on theft then that's exactly the attitude they would take, never confuse a business decision with the need to get the money back because its become personal.

It is the attitude they would take. Maybe. However if they did, that £300 would quickly escalate, as soon as it became apparent to everyone that Tecso had lost their marbles.

Also, as 8weekly said, you need to scale that up. Tesco lose more than £300 a year refunding incorrectly priced items.

[Stoots]

Tesco probably lose £300 a minute on carrier bags at self serve checkouts. 

Oops that bag didn't scan...

[Dry Clean]

I find it amusing that whenever debts come up there's a sudden rush of barrack-room lawyers appearing who fire off their opinions about the law.

Forget the law. Look at your time and quality of life. Do you really want to spend time on legal shenanigans that, with a following wind, hours of effort and a court case regarding the exact contract you have with your customer (taking previous case law and precedent into account) might get you twenty or thirty quid out of a customer?

No. Take reasonable steps (I set the limit at about 15 minutes total) to get the money out of people whose windows you actually cleaned and who didn't pay.  Then dust yourself down, forget the money you didn't collect and move on to customers who want you to clean and who want to pay you.  Don't spend time chasing them to court, spend the time with your family, watching TV, picking your backside or even looking for good customers.

Life really is too short.

Vin

I wish Tesco would adopt this attitude. I reckon I could outrun them for 15 minutes, even with £30 worth of shopping.

If Tesco where only losing £300 a year on theft then that's exactly the attitude they would take, never confuse a business decision with the need to get the money back because its become personal.

You need to scale it. If a window cleaner loses £300 a year that’s 0.1%. Say Tesco turnover £1bn that’s 1m. I think.  Damn sure they’ll be chasing that up.

No they wouldn't as chasing debt costs in both time and money, Tesco's 1 million might sound like a large amount to let drop but spending millions on the chance of getting it back is a lot more, they would make a business decision based on whats best for profit.

[Marc Stock]

If the debt is older than say 6 months; and you havent actively tried to collect or send payment reminders; then tbh they may not even know they owe you the money.

Lets be honest i doubt very much our customers are sitting down thinking about weather they are upto date with the window cleaning payment.

Plus never let one clean go overdue.

Like daz said. Go and collect it using your card reader.

[John Mart]

I find it amusing that whenever debts come up there's a sudden rush of barrack-room lawyers appearing who fire off their opinions about the law.

Forget the law. Look at your time and quality of life. Do you really want to spend time on legal shenanigans that, with a following wind, hours of effort and a court case regarding the exact contract you have with your customer (taking previous case law and precedent into account) might get you twenty or thirty quid out of a customer?

No. Take reasonable steps (I set the limit at about 15 minutes total) to get the money out of people whose windows you actually cleaned and who didn't pay.  Then dust yourself down, forget the money you didn't collect and move on to customers who want you to clean and who want to pay you.  Don't spend time chasing them to court, spend the time with your family, watching TV, picking your backside or even looking for good customers.

Life really is too short.

Vin

I wish Tesco would adopt this attitude. I reckon I could outrun them for 15 minutes, even with £30 worth of shopping.

If Tesco where only losing £300 a year on theft then that's exactly the attitude they would take, never confuse a business decision with the need to get the money back because its become personal.

You need to scale it. If a window cleaner loses £300 a year that’s 0.1%. Say Tesco turnover £1bn that’s 1m. I think.  Damn sure they’ll be chasing that up.

No they wouldn't as chasing debt costs in both time and money, Tesco's 1 million might sound like a large amount to let drop but spending millions on the chance of getting it back is a lot more, they would make a business decision based on whats best for profit.

I’ll bet you £300 you are wrong.

[Soupy]

I find it amusing that whenever debts come up there's a sudden rush of barrack-room lawyers appearing who fire off their opinions about the law.

Forget the law. Look at your time and quality of life. Do you really want to spend time on legal shenanigans that, with a following wind, hours of effort and a court case regarding the exact contract you have with your customer (taking previous case law and precedent into account) might get you twenty or thirty quid out of a customer?

No. Take reasonable steps (I set the limit at about 15 minutes total) to get the money out of people whose windows you actually cleaned and who didn't pay.  Then dust yourself down, forget the money you didn't collect and move on to customers who want you to clean and who want to pay you.  Don't spend time chasing them to court, spend the time with your family, watching TV, picking your backside or even looking for good customers.

Life really is too short.

Vin

I wish Tesco would adopt this attitude. I reckon I could outrun them for 15 minutes, even with £30 worth of shopping.

If Tesco where only losing £300 a year on theft then that's exactly the attitude they would take, never confuse a business decision with the need to get the money back because its become personal.

You need to scale it. If a window cleaner loses £300 a year that’s 0.1%. Say Tesco turnover £1bn that’s 1m. I think.  Damn sure they’ll be chasing that up.

No they wouldn't as chasing debt costs in both time and money, Tesco's 1 million might sound like a large amount to let drop but spending millions on the chance of getting it back is a lot more, they would make a business decision based on whats best for profit.

They would. And that decision would be "thieves will be prosecuted".

[Perfect Windows]

They would. And that decision would be "thieves will be prosecuted".

They would indeed, because knowing they do that has a deterrent effect against people thinking about committing a criminal act.

Whereas my taking Mrs Grottles to court over an £18 civil debt will take far more time than it's worth and, if I win, won't deter anyone.  Unless I start a newsletter shaming all the people I beat in court.  With a photo of them in the stocks, maybe.

Anyway, I suggest that everyone does what they want.  Enjoy your days in court.

Vin

[Soupy]

They would. And that decision would be "thieves will be prosecuted".

They would indeed, because knowing they do that has a deterrent effect against people thinking about committing a criminal act.

Whereas my taking Mrs Grottles to court over an £18 civil debt will take far more time than it's worth and, if I win, won't deter anyone.  Unless I start a newsletter shaming all the people I beat in court.  With a photo of them in the stocks, maybe.

Anyway, I suggest that everyone does what they want.  Enjoy your days in court.

Vin

Sarcasm is no fun in written form.

Anyway, as long as you don't go publishing your lax attitude to bad debt on a public forum under your "registered trademark", where you "advise" others in the industry to do the same; I'm sure it's fine.

[Perfect Windows]

They would. And that decision would be "thieves will be prosecuted".

They would indeed, because knowing they do that has a deterrent effect against people thinking about committing a criminal act.

Whereas my taking Mrs Grottles to court over an £18 civil debt will take far more time than it's worth and, if I win, won't deter anyone.  Unless I start a newsletter shaming all the people I beat in court.  With a photo of them in the stocks, maybe.

Anyway, I suggest that everyone does what they want.  Enjoy your days in court.

Vin

Sarcasm is no fun in written form.

Anyway, as long as you don't go publishing your lax attitude to bad debt on a public forum under your "registered trademark", where you "advise" others in the industry to do the same; I'm sure it's fine.

Are you seriously suggesting (in your utterly sarcastic manner in that post) that our customers will read this and decide not to pay us on the basis of what I've said on here?

Vin

[Soupy]

They would. And that decision would be "thieves will be prosecuted".

They would indeed, because knowing they do that has a deterrent effect against people thinking about committing a criminal act.

Whereas my taking Mrs Grottles to court over an £18 civil debt will take far more time than it's worth and, if I win, won't deter anyone.  Unless I start a newsletter shaming all the people I beat in court.  With a photo of them in the stocks, maybe.

Anyway, I suggest that everyone does what they want.  Enjoy your days in court.

Vin

Sarcasm is no fun in written form.

Anyway, as long as you don't go publishing your lax attitude to bad debt on a public forum under your "registered trademark", where you "advise" others in the industry to do the same; I'm sure it's fine.

Are you seriously suggesting (in your utterly sarcastic manner in that post) that our customers will read this and decide not to pay us on the basis of what I've said on here?

Vin

Sarcasm?

I've nooooo idea what you're on about...


Vin

[Soupy]

Are you seriously suggesting (in your utterly sarcastic manner in that post) that our customers will read this and decide not to pay us on the basis of what I've said on here?

Vin

Not as a general rule no.

I wouldn't put it beyond the realm of possibility that after a letter from you threatening court action somebody might Google say "perfect windows" debt collection where they'll find this thread on the first page.

[Soupy]

They might try "perfect windows" court action where they'll find you from 2011.

http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=128161.msg1110495#msg1110495

Again on page one.

I'm not saying it's going to change the behaviour of your customer base, it'll probably have no noticeable effect whatsoever. Still, it's not exactly very bright is it?

[Marc Stock]

I agree with soupy.

Everything on this forum is indexable.

Everything you say on here Google will pick it up.

I took the smarter option , and removed my business information from here. Same as GOMO.
Hopefully the google bots will re index the text and drop the business association.

[Soupy]

The "mathematical approach" may well tell you to spend only 15 minutes chasing bad debt. The "don't be a wally approach" tells me not to advertise that fact on a public forum.

I dunno if you've ever been threatened with court action before, I have. I can assure you that a Google search of the claimant along with the claim is invariably the first port of call for most people. If I were to find this:



My mind would be put to rest and I would be paying nowt.

[Soupy]

And if you think that maybe this is just a Google search tailored for me, here's the same search carried out in explorer [boke] with absolutely no cookies or search history.

[Dry Clean]

I googled it and got similar, but what was just in  front of it on the list was a money saving forum telling customers why they shouldn't  worry if a shiner threatens court action, I don't think this make the slightest bit of difference to somebody that has no intention of paying, he's just confirming what they already believe about us all.

[John Mart]

I googled it and got similar, but what was just in  front of it on the list was a money saving forum telling customers why they shouldn't  worry if a shiner threatens court action, I don't think this make the slightest bit of difference to somebody that has no intention of paying, he's just confirming what they already believe about us all.

Gomo was talking about 150 non payers. I’ll bet 130 would pay with a letter before action.

[Soupy]

I googled it and got similar, but what was just in  front of it on the list was a money saving forum telling customers why they shouldn't  worry if a shiner threatens court action, I don't think this make the slightest bit of difference to somebody that has no intention of paying, he's just confirming what they already believe about us all.

And why on earth would anyone willingly confirm that?

[Dry Clean]

I googled it and got similar, but what was just in  front of it on the list was a money saving forum telling customers why they shouldn't  worry if a shiner threatens court action, I don't think this make the slightest bit of difference to somebody that has no intention of paying, he's just confirming what they already believe about us all.

And why on earth would anyone willingly confirm that?

He's just giving his opinion on this forum, its you who's making a mountain out of a molehill.

[Soupy]

He's just giving his opinion on this forum, its you who's making a mountain out of a molehill.

I notice that you don't put your name to anything on here either.

Sensible.

[Shrek]

He's just giving his opinion on this forum, its you who's making a mountain out of a molehill.

I notice that you don't put your name to anything on here either.

Sensible.

I think there’s only a few of us on here now that use our real names 

[Soupy]

He's just giving his opinion on this forum, its you who's making a mountain out of a molehill.

I notice that you don't put your name to anything on here either.

Sensible.

I think there’s only a few of us on here now that use our real names 

Just you, Vin and Lee.