Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: derek west on December 12, 2012, 05:44:17 pm
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got a call off a guy who has his own domestic cleaning company. how much to clean a 4 bed empty, i said my price and he said we've had one other quote but your is a tenner cheaper blah blah blah. okay he said, youve got the job, the guy that is paying is in new zealand so you'll have to email him your invoice. i then said "i'm not happy with doing that, you are the one contacting me so you should be the one to pay and then you can invoice the guy in newzealand" quite abruptly he said "okay we'll use the other company" i replied calmly, "no problem, thanks for your call" and hung up. i like to be paid by the person contacting me, was i being paranoid? must admit i felt justified in my actions and work is coming in nicely so didn't need the job but at the same time i'm questioning my actions slightly.
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And if in 3 months time you still had not been paid, and all comms were being ignored by someone in New Zealand........ how would you be feeling then?? :o
You most certainly did the right thing IMHO for what it is worth. ;D
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Have done many like this and always get paid promptly. It wouldn't bother me at all to take a job on these terms.
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i would have said and done the same as derek.
first question i ask when talking to a third party is who's paying me ?, how ?, and when ?. if i do not like the answer or payment is not agreed on my terms i walk.
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I would have e-mailed / spoken to the guy in NZ , made sure HE was happy with the price, and then made a decision.
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You are subcontracting to the cleaning guy so he should pay you. Or got paid before carrying out the work. Pro forma invoice.
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Email a pro forma to the guy in NZ, payment in full transferred to the bank account before work carried out...
If the guy calling you wasnt happy with this then you have every right to decline the job.
So many people out there looking for a free ride... cant blame you for being careful!
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Still waiting from October for £80 from an Aussie who is selling her uk home when I cleaner the carpet.
Shaun
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I would of done the same, cant be bothered wasting time with complexities like this unless its a large pay check.
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I did a job for a guy that was in Oz, to clean the flat he had just left, I explained that i was sorry but I would need the money transfered to my account first as it would be so easy for him to not pay me, he replied he completely understood, and so thats what he did.
I would not have done it otherwise.
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You done the right thing if the guy who contacted you isn't paying don't touch it with a barge pole
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By the attitude RED FLAG
However I have several clients who are overseas and who don’t have a bank account in the UK so I give them my IBAN nbr but it dose confuse my UK customers they phone me about it I say it’s a SWIFT payment system ok they say I pay by BAC’s
How do you right of a foreign debit with the tax man???? ;)
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you did the right thing Derek. The guy who contracted you should be paying, no money, no job, he seemed pretty quick to happily get the job done for more money by someone else. Like was mentioned on another thread, sometimes you've just got to go on gut instincts.
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As I see it he only wanted you because you was the cheapest (nothing wrong with that) but people like that have no connection personally with you so they don't want to know when you don't get paid but they do want to know you when the jobs no right or they get hassle from their customer.
Shaun
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Not a cat in hells chance I would do a job under those circumstances.
I only deal with the person directly paying the bill, that way there's little confusion.
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Well walked Del boy, definitely stinks of something!
Plenty more uncomplicated transactions to come by, none of us need work that badly that we need to clean for free ;)
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I got stung a couple of times in the past including an estate agent whom instructed me to clean a property and send the invoice to the owner.
Now if the person requesting the work isn't going to be there to pay me i always request pre-payment as i can't be bothered to chase them afterwards. That's it NO DISCUSSION.
Dave
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I think i would have done the same, i had a job recently where i went to clean a flat that this guy had moved into, he left me in the flat saying let yourself out when you are done, fine i though, lots of customers do this.
I left the invoice for him, after three weeks i phoned him and he said the letting agents were going to pay it. It went back and forth for three months i told him he was responsible as he had contracted me to clean his carpets and he made no mention of a letting agent. some people just take the proverbial.
This one sound even worse, i think if you were going to do it then money up front, but what a lot of hassle, why should you have to be arranging all this. he should do it.
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I had a phone call today from someone who wanted the carpets cleaning in a 4 bed rented property tomorrow at 4pm.
I agreed to do it and he asked if he could put a cheque in the post. ( his father is letting me into the house )
I said I would accept cash only as he has moved away, to which he replied " can I transfer the money into your bank ".
30 minutes later it was in my bank.
All I have to decide now is whether to do the job or just keep the money. ;D ;D
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Yeah, I would have walked too.
I have done a few like this in the past but I have always been paid in advance via bac's or cheque.
There are plently more jobs out there, alot of people think we are sitting at home all day waiting for the phone to ring, living hand to mouth ;D
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Agreed Derek. Why take the chance. Never have a problem from the letting agents I work for. It's when dealing with landlords directly that "Issues" occur, let alone living on the other side of the world.
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I did a job some years ago for a nice young couple in Newcastle cleaned their sofas and carpets then 6 months later they wanted them done again before moving to Sweden to live,arrived on the job to be greeted by the cleaner when asked how would I be getting paid she said they only left her money I had their email address/telephone number to this day I haven't been paid for doing them again.
Don't do these types of jobs unless payment is made beforehand
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I'd regard that set up as a GAMBLE and I don't GAMBLE.
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You did the right thing Derek.
I went out for a meal recently with a large group of friends (plus their workmates).
A woman on our table (who I took an instant dislike to) was bragging that she hardly ever paid for meals out. Apparently she kept complaining and most restaurants gave her her money back.
It was a deliberate strategy to get something for nothing. It did not however stop her from woofing down most of her meal first!
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It did not however stop her from woofing down most of her meal first!
Thats women for ya, some of em completely take the pee.
I once had a lady book me to do a whole house and she was moving down south. I knew she worked for a local estate agent who I had dealt with so pretty ligit (so I thought).
I emailed the bill on her request (pay in 7 days)...no response after 2 weeks. Then I called her mobile and left a message...no response. Then sent her another email requesting payment overdue etc....no response.
Then went to the estate agents where she used to work, I said can you give me her forwarding address and they said no but we can get in touch with her.
I explained that she had ignored every request for payment. I said while your on the phone to her, tell her that if no payment is made within the next few days I'll submit this to the small claims court and use her previous address where she had the work done.
The cheque arrived the next day. ;D
So I believe (so I'm told) that if you have a debtor, you use the previous address and send any correspondence to it and use it for the small claims court.
That way, it will affect their credit rating......even if they don't receive the correspondence.
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I do a lot of work for people who have second homes holiday homes etc and most of the time this is arranged by the house keeper or cleaners . I always get the contact details of the owners either email or tel numbers provide them with a quote either by email or fax and inform them of the intended date i will be doing the work and request payment before i do the job . never had a problem date.