Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: LWC on July 12, 2011, 04:56:55 pm
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Had one today, he owed me from last time, older chap, on all my envelope is says clearly, date, price, ref and please pay within 14 days, any late payments will receive a £2.50 admin charge.
Well i opened the door as hes 41 days late in paying (wcp told me im not counting)
"hi window cleaner"
"oh yes, i got your envelope i just havent sent it yet, but im going to bla bla bla"
Im like, right ok send it as soon as you can...then he comes out with this charm
"that £2.50 late payment charge is not lawful"
"sorry?"
"that charge, you cant do that"
i said "well its more of a please pay me on time, i rarely actually charge it"
"yes but you wouldnt be allowed to charge it anyway as you need to set out your terms with me and i need to sign a contract binding it between me and you"
i was light hearted and said "i get charged when you dont pay me on time so i have to make it up somewhere if i was to charge it"
Oh he went off on one bla bla bla, what ticked me off tho was he said "its for such a piddly amount that i thought whats the point" (the house is £10) "even if i had agreed to it you could charge a maximum of 6%"
My life give it a rest mate i aint charging it you but when he said that i said "it aint a piddly amount when theres 20 of you outstanding is there, i cannot run a business with money outstanding all the time"
He kind of accepted that. Well he was right and i was wrong and nothing was gonna change his mind. So after "discussing" argueing for 10 mins...he still didnt pay me and said ill send in next few days...so when the money comes in, guess who wont be getting their windows done. Idiot
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if i was him i would pay you via paypal ,then it would cost you ;)
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Had one today, he owed me from last time, older chap, on all my envelope is says clearly, date, price, ref and please pay within 14 days, any late payments will receive a £2.50 admin charge.
Well i opened the door as hes 41 days late in paying (wcp told me im not counting)
"hi window cleaner"
"oh yes, i got your envelope i just havent sent it yet, but im going to bla bla bla"
Im like, right ok send it as soon as you can...then he comes out with this charm
"that £2.50 late payment charge is not lawful"
"sorry?"
"that charge, you cant do that"
i said "well its more of a please pay me on time, i rarely actually charge it"
"yes but you wouldnt be allowed to charge it anyway as you need to set out your terms with me and i need to sign a contract binding it between me and you"
i was light hearted and said "i get charged when you dont pay me on time so i have to make it up somewhere if i was to charge it"
Oh he went off on one bla bla bla, what ticked me off tho was he said "its for such a piddly amount that i thought whats the point" (the house is £10) "even if i had agreed to it you could charge a maximum of 6%"
My life give it a rest mate i aint charging it you but when he said that i said "it aint a piddly amount when theres 20 of you outstanding is there, i cannot run a business with money outstanding all the time"
He kind of accepted that. Well he was right and i was wrong and nothing was gonna change his mind. So after "discussing" argueing for 10 mins...he still didnt pay me and said ill send in next few days...so when the money comes in, guess who wont be getting their windows done. Idiot
A while ago I might have agreed with him - until the banks won the court case about bank charges.
A way around it is to charge everyone more but with a prompt payment discount. It sounds nicer too.
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You should put it up £2.50 to £12.50 & tell him if he pays within 14 days then he gets the £2.50 back! ;)
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You should put it up £2.50 to £12.50 & tell him if he pays within 14 days then he gets the £2.50 back! ;)
;D ;D ;D
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by law you are aloud to put on an invoice
''payment to be made within 30 days or there will be a 7% charge''
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I don't think you can charge a late payment fee as this applies to commercial business only.But I see not problem with and a administration fee and this costs you money to keep track of his bad payments. Its your business you make the rules.All you need it is to tell your customers on your invoicing slip.I have done this for 20 months and had no problems. You just get some condescending asses who think they know everything.If this was my custy we payment was received he would be on a cash only bases or I will tell him to his face that I do not do business with people who think they own my business. I would then sing a hymn. F HIM. IF YOU WANT TO SEE SPARK GIVE ME A CUSTOMER LIKE THIS.I will have him for breakfast. His just a mental bully. My computer is STEAMING. >:( >:(
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???
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I`d have told him about my ten minute argument charge. You could have had some more work done in that time.
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Ill say it again:
"Why the hell are people so suprised that we need to get paid for doing our job!"
Drop him from your round, BUT tell him why because these people need to know.
A school started to charge parents a "late fee" if they picked there kids up from school after an allotted time.
Instead of the numbers of late pick ups decreasing they actually increased. Before parents felt guilty and tried there hardest to get there. After the implement of the late fee they felt that it was ok if they were late as they would just pay the fee.
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You could charge him a collection fee.
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???
english as a second language maybe???
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Surely as you had entered into a contract with him by agreeing to clean his windows and he knows and agrees to your terms this is a Commercial Debt. Wether he signed up or not, he agreed.
As I previously mentioned in another post you should all put this short paragraph on the bottom of all invoices and slips that you put through doors;
''We understand and will exercise our statutory right to interest and compensation for debt recovery costs under the late payment legislation if we are not paid according to agreed credit terms.''
The late payments act is there to protect US not them! use it guys!!! here's a link;
http://payontime.co.uk/ (http://payontime.co.uk/)
wether they are a home owner or a business owner you are a professional, and the debt is therefore commercial.
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I like the idea of a prompt payment discount, rather than a late payment fee. Trouble is, wouldn't you need to put all of your prices up to accommodate it?
Or would you just say that the quoted price includes the prompt payment discount, maybe in the small print?
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Don't Blockbusters charge us a late fee if we don't get the DVDs back on time? I don't remember signing a contract with them....
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Don't Blockbusters charge us a late fee if we don't get the DVDs back on time? I don't remember signing a contract with them....
You have to open an account and agree to terms and conditions though.
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currently the bank of england base rate is 0.5% - we are allowed to charge a basic of 8% above that, so 8.5%.
There is a statutory £40 as well but I can't remember the ins and outs of it.
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Just get rid...no point arguing with the bloke...life is too short.
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i dont charge a late payment charge as i feel it wouldnt go down too well with customers.luckily for me i dont get too many late payers.i also dont rely on getting all my money in at once.it would be nice if i did but it simply doesnt happen in reality.in fact my outstanding debts just seem to get bigger and bigger as my round becomes more profitable.
if i get persistently late payments despite friendly warnings i get my money and dump.i find its usually the same customers every month.
at the moment there are a few customers who are on holiday and as we are approaching the childrens 6 week summer break my cashflow slows down a bit but i get my money in the end.
i get plenty of money in to easily cover bills etc and i tend to get the customers who owe from previous months work to pay on the day of the next clean.i also have a few who pay in advance so it all balances itself out generally.
regards
dazmond
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late payers never worry me i have some custys i might not see for six months and they pay in full when i see them without any hassle and some even give me extra by way off an apology , i dont expect to get all my money in every week who does in this job , I was talking to a custy last week who lost his office cleaner for his business premises because they wanted the invoiced payed and payment cleared within 48hrs so they sacked him , totally baffled ??? ??? ???
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I do make late payment request charges and this is 5 euros everytime I have to ask for the money.
I do not however do this on the first occassion ...they get a warning letter first..after that...it's the customers choice to pay on time or late.
I like to be friendly but I like to be paid as well.
Cheers
Dave.