Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: StockClean on October 26, 2011, 09:16:09 pm
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Well in all my years of window cleaning, i never ever got spoken to like this.
This was a new customer, 1st clean done nearly three weeks back. The customer promised payment within our 5 day terms via internet banking. It never arrived, called her last week just to remind her, she was very nice and apologetic and said she would do it right away, and next time could i also clean the insides? Great i thought.
Anyway a week had gone by again, and still no payment. I attempted to call and every time I did it rang through to VM. I left a message, and no reply.
Decided to withhold mobile number, she picks up right away.
"Hi its the window cleaner here" I say
She says "oh hi, its not really a good time now as I have guests round, can you call back?"
"no actually it cant wait" I said "im calling about the payment, its very late and it way overdue now, considereing you are also a new customer can you please ensure you send us your payment either through the bank like you said you would, or the post please, as we have a 5 day payment term, to which we made it clear to you when you too up the service, and its nealry 10 days overdue, we may not continue the service otherwise"
Her reply was "Fine, dont continue, S*d off; a check will be posted to you via 2nd class next monday!"
She then put the phone down.
:o
Was a bit moody eh? Never had that, oh well better make a cuppa.
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If they're bad payers from the word 'Go', they don't improve, in my experience.
I like your dogged determination; I'm too soft. :-\
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I'd be round there quicker than soon! And if she didn't pay up I'd be making a very loud commotion on her doorstep.
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I'm thinking of getting a cheap backpack. for none payers. If they dont pay I go back with a backpack full of filthy water and unclean all the windows again. Getting fed up of doing 1st cleans and having the P taken.
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Just recently Ive had it with dodgy payers.
Here's an email conversation Ive just had with the worst payer on my round, (ex-worst payer now)
Re xx Pardown Oakley.
Payment made via BACs for £28 today.
Thank you for the service provided over the last couple of years.
For future ref please can you remove xx Pardown from your rota as we have decided to manage the window cleaning
ourselves.
Regards
Tony Wright
My reply was:
Dear Mr Wright,
Many thanks for your prompt payment for the window cleaning at xx Pardown.
I think the decision to remove you from our rota is probably the right one, you beat me to it by no more than 30 minutes; all I ever want from a customer is prompt payment, perhaps you might like to consider that with your next window-cleaner.
Matt (Oakley Window Cleaning)
His attitude stank. What, you want money too?
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I'm thinking of getting a cheap backpack. for none payers. If they dont pay I go back with a backpack full of filthy water and unclean all the windows again. Getting fed up of doing 1st cleans and having the P taken.
well charge a 1st clean price, 100% increase!
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why do you let it annoy you?
payment within 10 days? - I'm lucky if its paid before next clean date - government work I'm doing well if I get a payment after 3 months!
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Just recently Ive had it with dodgy payers.
Here's an email conversation Ive just had with the worst payer on my round, (ex-worst payer now)
Re xx Pardown Oakley.
Payment made via BACs for £28 today.
Thank you for the service provided over the last couple of years.
For future ref please can you remove xx Pardown from your rota as we have decided to manage the window cleaning
ourselves.
Regards
Tony Wright
My reply was:
Dear Mr Wright,
Many thanks for your prompt payment for the window cleaning at xx Pardown.
I think the decision to remove you from our rota is probably the right one, you beat me to it by no more than 30 minutes; all I ever want from a customer is prompt payment, perhaps you might like to consider that with your next window-cleaner.
Matt (Oakley Window Cleaning)
His attitude stank. What, you want money too?
please let us know what mr wright's reply is to that,lol
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I'd be surprised if he does mate, but will do if he does.
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I'm thinking of getting a cheap backpack. for none payers. If they dont pay I go back with a backpack full of filthy water and unclean all the windows again. Getting fed up of doing 1st cleans and having the P taken.
well charge a 1st clean price, 100% increase!
Don't make any diff. ???
I can charge 1000% extra. But if they don't pay the don't pay. I would be even more out of pocket.
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i got a new customer a few months ago £10 and she said she would pay by BACS straight away.it took me a month to get the money off her.anyway i seen her the other month and she said "im hopeless with money always forgetting to pay bills and stuff!!"when are you gonna do my windows again?unbelievable!!
i just said im not taking anymore work on and i didnt have time to fit her in!!
im generally polite with messers and just drop them after payment without getting angry.whats the point?
they are very few and far between.most of my customers are good solid payers and friendly too.
i do think its also because of the friendly chilled out vibe i give off while conducting myself on their property plus im very well established. ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Just a thought you may wish to consider , New Customers , in Streets where everyone else has a WC , are always thought upon with caution i.e Have they mugged of the over fella , and he has told them to do one !
Rarely will I clean without recieving immeadiate payment under these circumstances ,unless they have just moved in ..
The other one to consider is the payer who comes out with the money halfway through the job , (knowing full well they owe from the previous month)- in the hope you may have forgotten .
Anyway don t let a bad customer put you off , they are few and far between , and some times , its a lesson learnt , before cleaan a second time .
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5 day payment terms, to be honest if you wanting to grow as big as you say you do in a previous post then you may want to consider employing a full time member of staff just to chase up over due payments, mines 14 days and not everyone pays within that time, but I've got better things to do then chase up people that haven't paid yet. Very rarely have I not ended up being paid.
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I to have a few bad payers and it does not worry me, but does frustrate me a little. When I have to pay my bills and they don't. I was driving past a bad payer that still owes me some cash. Low and behold there front window was open so I got out the pole and backpack and empted the 16 litres in the bedroom I know from trading the windows, that the bed is at the window.I seemed to sleep well that night, but did they. ;D ;D ;D ;D
Ps Please to those who will tell me its unprofessional, I just don`t care.
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I to have a few bad payers and it does not worry me, but does frustrate me a little. When I have to pay my bills and they don't. I was driving past a bad payer that still owes me some cash. Low and behold there front window was open so I got out the pole and backpack and empted the 16 litres in the bedroom I know from trading the windows, that the bed is at the window.I seemed to sleep well that night, but did they. ;D ;D ;D ;D
Ps Please to those who will tell me its unprofessional, I just don`t care.
take no prisoners ,i like it !
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iv gone back to charging first cleans at double the price and customer must pay up front, by charging double i think it will put off the silly tramps who use you to get there windows looking great again, i got sick of doing council house jobs spending 45 mins gettin them right to wait for a measley tenner!!
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5 day payment terms, to be honest if you wanting to grow as big as you say you do in a previous post then you may want to consider employing a full time member of staff just to chase up over due payments, mines 14 days and not everyone pays within that time, but I've got better things to do then chase up people that haven't paid yet. Very rarely have I not ended up being paid.
We feel that 5 working days for domestic customers is more than adequate.
We actually dont really get any huge problems with late payments normally, and sometime we have a few customers that always pay late. But this post is not focusing on the late payers as such, more so being told to s*d off.
Its water off a ducks back, im not bothered i have lots of work, for our contract work with Total, NHS and the care homes and some property managment companies we do we have standard 30 day terms.
The fact we are offering credit at all to domestics shows that we are professional. I know alot of WC s who do cash on the day only. (And i can see why to be honest)
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Its annoying when you spend ages on a first clean then they aren't interested in the service. I've had this a few times when canvassing, so I started charging double for first cleans or one offs
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I'm with RWC on this one - 5 days does seem a little harsh, I also state 14 days on my invoices - although most companies like 30 days as standard.
Many of my suppliers give me 30 days too.
I give monthly customers, who are unpaid, a second clean with a reminder that previous month is unpaid - that usually prompts them to settle almost immediately - if it goes another two weeks without payments I'll either write or visit them. I don't resort to treats or revenge - just polite persistence.
My customers are a nice bunch of people on the whole, and they like me for some reason - maybe it because I concentrate on cleaning - rather than stressing terms and conditions
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Like i said, 5 working days for domestics is more than adequate. Especially when you are dealing with small ammounts of money 20-50 quid at a time. That also applies to check payments, so in real terms even if we get the payment on the 5th day, it can take up to a further 6 days to clear. Thats not an issue though, we just get on with it.
All my customers (around 450) are pretty much good payers. I have the right to impose my terms, and if they dont like it then i wont wash it.
Never have i ever had to do a clean whilst the customer is past owing. In my view they are not a customer until they have paid.
I love that saying, No doshie, no washie. Cant remember who said that on here now.
We are running a business, so i expect to have my terms respected. It works well for us, and i personally cant see why there seems to be so much negativity with the 5 day term on this forum.
But puttiing that aside, i havd around 30 customers who have set up a standing order, and i have one customer who pays in advance sometime six months.
So its swings and roundabouts, but i do expect my terms to be honoured if they want the service.
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I ask all customers to pay within 3 days, most then pay within the week.
Start as you mean to go on.
why should we wait any longer than a few days ??
I used to have a 7 day period, but they paid within a fortnight..
3 days is more than long enough to wait.
I dont buy beer at asda and pay next month. !!
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I to have a few bad payers and it does not worry me, but does frustrate me a little. When I have to pay my bills and they don't. I was driving past a bad payer that still owes me some cash. Low and behold there front window was open so I got out the pole and backpack and empted the 16 litres in the bedroom I know from trading the windows, that the bed is at the window.I seemed to sleep well that night, but did they. ;D ;D ;D ;D
Ps Please to those who will tell me its unprofessional, I just don`t care.
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
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Not suprised you have bad payers ::)
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I'm with RWC on this one - 5 days does seem a little harsh, I also state 14 days on my invoices - although most companies like 30 days as standard.
Many of my suppliers give me 30 days too.
I give monthly customers, who are unpaid, a second clean with a reminder that previous month is unpaid - that usually prompts them to settle almost immediately - if it goes another two weeks without payments I'll either write or visit them. I don't resort to treats or revenge - just polite persistence.
My customers are a nice bunch of people on the whole, and they like me for some reason - maybe it because I concentrate on cleaning - rather than stressing terms and conditions
I do this /\
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I ask all customers to pay within 3 days, most then pay within the week.
Start as you mean to go on.
why should we wait any longer than a few days ??
I used to have a 7 day period, but they paid within a fortnight..
3 days is more than long enough to wait.
I dont buy beer at asda and pay next month. !!
You do if you get it on your credit card ;D
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I think were too soft after reading these posts! we have no agreement as such as to how quickly we get paid, but we will normally go up to i4 months before start to get worried. most pay at about 4 weeks, just before we do them again. I view it as an added service we offer. in our 8 years of window cleaning domestics had 4 bad payers, 1 of them cus moved and couldn't get new address. our worst customer, a 10 weeker front only for 3 quid, owed us 14 months (7 cleans). that bugged me due to length of time more than anything.
as a rule tho, I know how forgetful I get, so give some leeway for month or two..... those that take the pee tho I ask to also pay in advance to make up for their usual debt!
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Thought this might be of interest as a comparison to others.
Listed are total debts written off each year since starting.
07/08 = £74
08/09 = £64.50
09/10 = £125.00
10/11 = £173.00
11/ to date = £53.00
Total = £490.50 4.5 years
All are domestic no commercial. I blame myself for being to lenient with payments. I used to let them get to 3/4 months. But find when they are hit with a 4 month bill ave £40 they don't pay.
Now I only do two cleans and stop even if it's the Queen herself nobody gets a third clean.
Also not collecting invites trouble, I think. But I find it a PITA collecting.
Anyone willing to share their losses. Domestic not Commercial. Just to see if it's my ugly mug they don't like. :'(
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I agree with richywilts. Always charge first-time clean price. I think, too, that if they've paid good money to get their windows looking nice they'll want to keep them that way... I worry about not being paid for first cleans so from now on I'm going to insist on cash payment on the day or no clean.
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I'm thinking of getting a cheap backpack. for none payers. If they dont pay I go back with a backpack full of filthy water and unclean all the windows again. Getting fed up of doing 1st cleans and having the P taken.
Yep this as been happening to me lately, but i have a back pack ready for this, never get round to doing it though as it costs more money to do it.
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I'm thinking of getting a cheap backpack. for none payers. If they dont pay I go back with a backpack full of filthy water and unclean all the windows again. Getting fed up of doing 1st cleans and having the P taken.
well charge a 1st clean price, 100% increase!
Don't make any diff. ???
I can charge 1000% extra. But if they don't pay the don't pay. I would be even more out of pocket.
Yep again correct, either way we lose
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I to have a few bad payers and it does not worry me, but does frustrate me a little. When I have to pay my bills and they don't. I was driving past a bad payer that still owes me some cash. Low and behold there front window was open so I got out the pole and backpack and empted the 16 litres in the bedroom I know from trading the windows, that the bed is at the window.I seemed to sleep well that night, but did they. ;D ;D ;D ;D
Ps Please to those who will tell me its unprofessional, I just don`t care.
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
That's what happens when you work the Buckskin, South Ham and Oakridge areas :o
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basingstoke eh? buckskin was my breeding ground, managed to survive and move on lol.
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Dear Mrs A****,
31st October 2011
RE: CANCELATION OF SERVICE
We are writing to inform you that; we have cancelled our services to you with immediate effect; we do not appreciate being verbally abused down the telephone.
When we called to remind you of the overdue payment, we did so because we expect our customers to pay within 5 days, which was made clear to you when you took up the service from us.
We called you on two occasions, the 21st October to remind you of the due payment approaching, to which you responded that you had been unwell, and you would make the payment over the weekend via BACS transfer.
The second reminder by telephone was made to you on the 26th October due to that fact the payment was not made, and remains outstanding. You were very aggravated that we had called you a second time, mentioned that you had guests round and could it wait?
Due to the fact that we had already called the 1st time with regards to the overdue amount we explained that it couldn’t wait and that if we didn’t get the payment soon, we would cease our services to you. On reply we were told to ‘sod off’ and cancel the service, and you hung up.
As per our terms & conditions, http://www.stockclean.co.uk/page13a.html we have the right to charge for a one-off clean, if the customer agrees to a regular service, and cancels after the 1st clean with no complaints or issues with the quality of work provided.
We would normally use our discretion when enforcing this condition, as normally we would only enforce this on regular cleans where the job requires much time on the 1st clean, or if the clean is of a particularly high value.
Since you were verbally abusive to us on the telephone however I have decided to use my discretion and charge you 2.5 times the regular clean price for your rude cancellation and failure to respect our payment terms. When we carried out the window clean at your premises we spent considerable time cleaning the windows, preparing them for the regular monthly service you requested.
Please take this as your final notice:
You have 5 days from the date of this letter to make full payment of £25.00 for the window clean carried out on the 17th Oct 2011.
Failing this we will make a claim against you via the HM Courts & Tribunals Service for the following:
£25.00 for the overdue monies.
£37.50 for the remaining one off clean balance.
£25.00 for the cost of going through HM Courts
Total £87.50
Please note that the above balance may also be subject to a weekly £2 charge for covering our costs in administration.
Kind Regards
Marc Stock
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Marc
Above you say 5 days payment terms; your terms and conditions give 7 days.
If you go the court route be careful all is in order.
Malc
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I dont have a time limit on paying as long as they pay up,i recently had a guy have to pay for the past year yup 13 cleans on the other hand ive just sacked three customers for messing me about saying they havent had slips through their door and werent paying,its not the first time they have said it and since i had one customer bump me for 4 cleans recently well i went through them like a ton of bricks,told them they should be ashamed of themselves trying to con hardworking ppl like myself out of money and that they can clean their own from now on as they werent worth the hassle.I think i only have two now on a shoogly peg out of 600 odd customers so thats not too bad.
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Marc
Above you say 5 days payment terms; your terms and conditions give 7 days.
If you go the court route be careful all is in order.
Malc
oh yeah good point, ill sort that now.
was just posted 10mins ago so should be ok
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Thought this might be of interest as a comparison to others.
Listed are total debts written off each year since starting.
07/08 = £74
08/09 = £64.50
09/10 = £125.00
10/11 = £173.00
11/ to date = £53.00
Total = £490.50 4.5 years
All are domestic no commercial. I blame myself for being to lenient with payments. I used to let them get to 3/4 months. But find when they are hit with a 4 month bill ave £40 they don't pay.
Now I only do two cleans and stop even if it's the Queen herself nobody gets a third clean.
Also not collecting invites trouble, I think. But I find it a PITA collecting.
Anyone willing to share their losses. Domestic not Commercial. Just to see if it's my ugly mug they don't like. :'(
rang a bell for me. similar picture over here, other than all paid this year, but a bit more previous.
To be honest it was more down to me not bothering to go back for it, than bad payers.
I do have to push it for a coupe of jobs, but they won't last long if they keep it up.
stockclean: If i really didn't like them I may send a similar letter, but usually it is quicker and cheaper to just move on to the next one.
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Ok website updated, did a few more updates due to some errors that have been pointed out by the good peeps on here.
The letter took me 5 mins to type out this morning, im not all that bothered, but i do feel that i need to stand my ground on this one so will keep ya updated.
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i suppose I've been lucky with regard to non-payers. Only had 2 so far and on both occasions I have told them that if they don't pay within the next 5 days, their details will be added to the window cleaners national database for bad payers.
It's worked so far ;)
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@stcokclean
i really like your style mate ;)
i aspire to be a good as you one day sir!
regards
george