Clean It Up

UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: p1w1 on February 11, 2014, 08:23:13 am

Title: go cardless
Post by: p1w1 on February 11, 2014, 08:23:13 am
Is it possible for a customer to just make a 1 off payment through go cardless and not have to set up a direct debt. Basically a bit like what you can do with paypal.

thanks
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: Craig downey on February 11, 2014, 09:38:11 am
Yes, but it's a bit of fussing just for one payment.  Also they can't make the payment, they set up the direct debit, you then take the payment. 

I have just started using the system for my gardening round and it looks good
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: p1w1 on February 11, 2014, 09:41:57 am
Yes, but it's a bit of fussing just for one payment.  Also they can't make the payment, they set up the direct debit, you then take the payment. 

I have just started using the system for my gardening round and it looks good
Yeah my plan is to set them up on direct debts but just wanted to know if they have the option of making 1 off payments as I'm going to drop paypal
Cheers
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: Smudger on February 11, 2014, 09:47:16 am
hi there, you can just set them up as normal and just take a one off payment. Ours are all set up on "direct debit" but in reality we only manually claim once clean is carried out (ie not taken on a set day) so ours in theory are all "one offs" but taken every 4 weeks or so - if that makes sense :)
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: p1w1 on February 11, 2014, 10:24:15 am
hi there, you can just set them up as normal and just take a one off payment. Ours are all set up on "direct debit" but in reality we only manually claim once clean is carried out (ie not taken on a set day) so ours in theory are all "one offs" but taken every 4 weeks or so - if that makes sense :)
Yes cheers, did you find people that already paid by bank transfer changed over to go cardless
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: Smudger on February 11, 2014, 12:57:10 pm
hi there,

we did not even try to move the bacs people over as no fees with them, however we did have 4 or 5 that chose to move over, we were happy eitheir way.
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: Crystal-clear on February 11, 2014, 03:35:04 pm
I just signed up for an account
Got some questions


it seems you can manually take payment when you have done it but there is a 3 day delay as by law they need to take the direct debit after they notify them and 3 days , this means you can do the job and they can cancel it before funds arrive right?so the best method is to take the payment 3 days before or so that way if they want to cancel then you will know I know its rare for people to cancel this way but at least by taking payment 3 days in advance you know 100% you getting paid right?

The other question I have is when sending the invite via entering the customers details
It comes with "Hi so and so wants you to start a DD" does It also do this when you send the link?
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: PoleKing on February 11, 2014, 03:52:25 pm
I just signed up for an account
Got some questions


it seems you can manually take payment when you have done it but there is a 3 day delay as by law they need to take the direct debit after they notify them and 3 days , this means you can do the job and they can cancel it before funds arrive right?so the best method is to take the payment 3 days before or so that way if they want to cancel then you will know I know its rare for people to cancel this way but at least by taking payment 3 days in advance you know 100% you getting paid right?

The other question I have is when sending the invite via entering the customers details
It comes with "Hi so and so wants you to start a DD" does It also do this when you send the link?

All my GoCardless DD's leave customers acct on the 1st.
Only had one say they didn't want to pay before clean.
Customer gets the email 26th(ish) of the previous month. Money with me by 7th.
Nice getting a chunk all in one hit.

Do to know what you mean by 'send the link' after sending the invite?
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: Craig downey on February 11, 2014, 04:12:56 pm
Yes, but it's a bit of fussing just for one payment.  Also they can't make the payment, they set up the direct debit, you then take the payment. 

I have just started using the system for my gardening round and it looks good
Yeah my plan is to set them up on direct debts but just wanted to know if they have the option of making 1 off payments as I'm going to drop paypal
Cheers


Sorry was thinking you were only wanting to charge them once, as already answered yes you can just take a one off payment however often you want
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: p1w1 on February 11, 2014, 04:13:11 pm
I just signed up for an account
Got some questions


it seems you can manually take payment when you have done it but there is a 3 day delay as by law they need to take the direct debit after they notify them and 3 days , this means you can do the job and they can cancel it before funds arrive right?so the best method is to take the payment 3 days before or so that way if they want to cancel then you will know I know its rare for people to cancel this way but at least by taking payment 3 days in advance you know 100% you getting paid right?

The other question I have is when sending the invite via entering the customers details
It comes with "Hi so and so wants you to start a DD" does It also do this when you send the link?

its no different if you do the job and they don't pay you by any other means ie dont send the cheque so for me personally i dont see that as an issue.
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: Crystal-clear on February 11, 2014, 04:57:28 pm
Pole king how do you have them all on the first as you can't be everywhere on the first ;?

How do you arrange it?
Also do you take the payment before you clean?

I mean sending the invite via the dashboard it looks much more profesinal then just the link I have confirmed this now with gocardless
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: PoleKing on February 11, 2014, 05:36:23 pm
Pole king how do you have them all on the first as you can't be everywhere on the first ;?

How do you arrange it?
Also do you take the payment before you clean?

I mean sending the invite via the dashboard it looks much more profesinal then just the link I have confirmed this now with gocardless

Yup. Payment taken before the clean in most cases.
When you go to 'take payment'
You set the date you want the next payment to be taken on then 'recurr indefinitely'
The way I sold it to my customers was by saying it becomes like all their other utilities, just goes out automatically.
I've even got a few old dears that wanted the DD but didn't use email so I use my email address and their bank details.
I really like it.
I think it even makes more money than it costs because you never get a 'not today' as it's already been paid for.
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: Crystal-clear on February 11, 2014, 05:57:54 pm
Yea.. Absolutely

So do you give them different dates to take the payment you said you choose the first how does that work?
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: PoleKing on February 11, 2014, 06:03:47 pm
No, I just say payment goes out on the first.
(Not in an 'or else...!' Kind of way)

It says in dashboard;

Take payment: As soon as possible
Or :on a specific date.

Check: on a specific date.

Choose the 1st of the month in their calendar then check 'recurr indefinitely'
Give me a call if you're struggling a bit bud, I'll talk you through it.

Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: Crystal-clear on February 11, 2014, 06:48:23 pm
Thanks alot no its not the payment thing its more like how can you have say your whole round to pay on the first if you will clean it over the month?
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: PoleKing on February 11, 2014, 06:57:16 pm
Thanks alot no its not the payment thing its more like how can you have say your whole round to pay on the first if you will clean it over the month?

It's not my whole round bud.
It's only part of it.
Commercials won't go for DD.

It's what I felt would be easiest for me, so that's what I told my customers.
I was open and honest. I'm fairly good at sales too. I've been doing parts of my round for over 10 years, so they know me well. And, for some of them, I offered dd or a price increase.
I'll never get my whole round on dd.
When I first started it I wanted to have my monthly household bills covered-just as a target. Hit that within about 3 months. I don't push current customers onto it but really push new customers. A few times I've declined a job because they wouldn't commit to it. Only a few though.
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: Craig downey on February 11, 2014, 08:03:42 pm
Pole king how do you have them all on the first as you can't be everywhere on the first ;?

How do you arrange it?
Also do you take the payment before you clean?

I mean sending the invite via the dashboard it looks much more profesinal then just the link I have confirmed this now with gocardless

Yup. Payment taken before the clean in most cases.
When you go to 'take payment'
You set the date you want the next payment to be taken on then 'recurr indefinitely'
The way I sold it to my customers was by saying it becomes like all their other utilities, just goes out automatically.
I've even got a few old dears that wanted the DD but didn't use email so I use my email address and their bank details.
I really like it.
I think it even makes more money than it costs because you never get a 'not today' as it's already been paid for.

Don't shout about using your own email. Part of the direct debit guarantee is that the customer is advised of any debits before it taken, it may never be an issue, but if someone is being funny you may get a reclaim
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: PoleKing on February 11, 2014, 08:10:01 pm
Pole king how do you have them all on the first as you can't be everywhere on the first ;?

How do you arrange it?
Also do you take the payment before you clean?

I mean sending the invite via the dashboard it looks much more profesinal then just the link I have confirmed this now with gocardless

Yup. Payment taken before the clean in most cases.
When you go to 'take payment'
You set the date you want the next payment to be taken on then 'recurr indefinitely'
The way I sold it to my customers was by saying it becomes like all their other utilities, just goes out automatically.
I've even got a few old dears that wanted the DD but didn't use email so I use my email address and their bank details.
I really like it.
I think it even makes more money than it costs because you never get a 'not today' as it's already been paid for.

Don't shout about using your own email. Part of the direct debit guarantee is that the customer is advised of any debits before it taken, it may never be an issue, but if someone is being funny you may get a reclaim

Cheers Craig.
I'll keep that in mind.
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: Crystal-clear on February 11, 2014, 08:38:13 pm
Pole king how do you have them all on the first as you can't be everywhere on the first ;?

How do you arrange it?
Also do you take the payment before you clean?

I mean sending the invite via the dashboard it looks much more profesinal then just the link I have confirmed this now with gocardless

Yup. Payment taken before the clean in most cases.
When you go to 'take payment'
You set the date you want the next payment to be taken on then 'recurr indefinitely'
The way I sold it to my customers was by saying it becomes like all their other utilities, just goes out automatically.
I've even got a few old dears that wanted the DD but didn't use email so I use my email address and their bank details.
I really like it.
I think it even makes more money than it costs because you never get a 'not today' as it's already been paid for.

Don't shout about using your own email. Part of the direct debit guarantee is that the customer is advised of any debits before it taken, it may never be an issue, but if someone is being funny you may get a reclaim

So with DD you saying if we clean a customers house for a year say £150 they can recharge that when ever they want they can be funny as and when?
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: Crystal-clear on February 11, 2014, 08:40:21 pm
Poleking

So I'm guessing its just a few that you can handle within a few days ofc if you had everyone it would need to be split in certain days
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: PoleKing on February 11, 2014, 09:30:31 pm
Poleking

So I'm guessing its just a few that you can handle within a few days ofc if you had everyone it would need to be split in certain days


Not really...
I say that the month the payment is taken in will be the clean.
This month it's certainly conceivable that payment was taken 01/02/2014 and the clean will take place on 28/02/2014. Then the next day, payment will be taken for the March clean which may not happen until 31/03/2014.
Personally, I won't be splitting payments up. GoCardless dd payments are taken on the 1st of the month. I can see not everyone (other cleaners) would like it, but it works for me.
I've got one lady who's windows are £150 a clean. She only has them done every other month, I take £75PCM to spread the cost. Another is £30 every 3 months. She pays a tenner each month.
Spreading the cost on more expensive cleans seems to be favoured by some customers.
I've got some every 2 months that only want to pay on the month if their clean though. It makes no difference to me really. Must admit though, I do like getting paid before I've cleaned though.
And I've a few who were on the cusp of being dumped, great people but terrible payers-no malice-just scatty. Offered dd, signed up-funny how they can be close to dumped one month and a great customer the next.
Just checked-I've got 86 customers signed up to pay through GoCardless, I'd like 100 but I'm not sweating it.
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: Crystal-clear on February 11, 2014, 10:33:20 pm
Nice post mate,

That's pretty cool that some customers have to wait up to a month to get cleaned After paying might toy with that first of the month date as well end of the day you will get round soon

and will also try and time some like per week to help sync the round so there clean is a few days after paying ,


The only other thing I wAna ask is about this reversing transactions
If they want to can they get a full refund for all cleans visa DD?
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: PoleKing on February 11, 2014, 10:51:43 pm
Not that I know of.
As far as I know, as it's a direct debit-the vendor (I think that's the term) is in control.
I forgot to cancel the payment of a customer that cancelled (nothing to do with dd) and they asked me to cancel the payment. I'd assume that if they were in control, they would've just recalled it...
I know that the dd can be cancelled at anytime by the customer through online banking dashboard but I've not heard of reversal.
If a dd is cancelled that way though, you get an email straight away to let you know it's been cancelled.
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: Marc Stock on February 12, 2014, 01:26:24 pm
I just signed up and trialed 30 customers on it.

here is the e-mail:

Dear Valued Customer,

During 2014, I am trialling a new payment facility which offers much more convenience to customers; a Direct Debit payment system provided by Go Cardless.

The facility will work alongside our existing billing system; customers who sign up for direct debit payments will no longer have to remember to submit payment on-line, or post a cheque; the payment will be taken 3 days after the bill date.

This is of course optional, there is no obligation to use this service; however as we expand the business it is something we want to be fully implementing by the end of 2015 if the trials are successful. We also want to be phasing out cheque payments by the end of 2016.

Those who do use the direct debit facility will know that all payments re protected by the direct debit guarantee; and the customer has complete control over the facility. We do not have access to your account details, you information is secure and we don't see any personal financial data.

If you have any questions about GO Cardless call me on 07905 42 11 55 and ill do my best to help. This trial is has been selected to just 30 customers, we hope you can find it useful and look forward to establishing if this is something we could implement across all our customers.

An e-mail from go cardless will follow shortly.

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

Will let you know how it goes
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: p1w1 on February 12, 2014, 02:14:11 pm
I just signed up and trialed 30 customers on it.

here is the e-mail:

Dear Valued Customer,

During 2014, I am trialling a new payment facility which offers much more convenience to customers; a Direct Debit payment system provided by Go Cardless.

The facility will work alongside our existing billing system; customers who sign up for direct debit payments will no longer have to remember to submit payment on-line, or post a cheque; the payment will be taken 3 days after the bill date.

This is of course optional, there is no obligation to use this service; however as we expand the business it is something we want to be fully implementing by the end of 2015 if the trials are successful. We also want to be phasing out cheque payments by the end of 2016.

Those who do use the direct debit facility will know that all payments re protected by the direct debit guarantee; and the customer has complete control over the facility. We do not have access to your account details, you information is secure and we don't see any personal financial data.

If you have any questions about GO Cardless call me on 07905 42 11 55 and ill do my best to help. This trial is has been selected to just 30 customers, we hope you can find it useful and look forward to establishing if this is something we could implement across all our customers.

An e-mail from go cardless will follow shortly.

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

Will let you know how it goes
hi marc, yes will be interested in the responce you get
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: Craig downey on February 12, 2014, 05:41:19 pm
Hi all, the reversal of a payment I was talking about was inc injection with the direct debit guarantee, I don't know the ins and out of it, but basically if an amount is debited by error, the customer is entitled to an immediate refund from the bank, I would then guess this is claimed back from the vendor.  Part of the guarantee stated customers must be made aware of all debits before they are taken - I was only referring to the post where someone said they used their own email as the old dear didn't have an email herself, this could cause problems, having said that if you leave the customer with a bill that explains payment. Will be taken in 3 days I suppose that means they have been informed....

I wouldn't worry about reversals, this is the same as card payments, they can be disputed by the payee, but in all my years taking card payment this has never happened to me.

I for one am introducing gocardless, I just wish I have the email letter Marc has supplied, it's much better worded than the one I sent out!
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: Crystal-clear on February 13, 2014, 12:28:01 am
Thank you for your input Craig
It's a good email from Marc yes and today I have just sent out my first gocardless request to a customer,

there is one thing which I feel they need to change but I think it's a standard DD thing is the £5,000 a month limit who the hell would sign up to a £5k regular payment I understand there are prolly landlords who use this, they shouldn't allow more then £500 or something , I personally would be worried if I saw that my trades man had the ability to take £5,000 out my account I know there is a garentee and fraud squad would be called on him but Even so the rigmarole will put me off and if customers check the limit I'm sure it might put some off,

Is there a way to lower that just for customers peace of mind?
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: Marc Stock on February 13, 2014, 01:09:42 am
Direct Debit Guarantee is pretty much flawless.  Customer gets money back as if the transaction never took place, immediately. So nothing to worry about there. Lets face it we all use direct debits for some form of service these days, I wouldn’t worry.

Just an update, I have two customers now on the direct debit list, and have just taken a payment this evening already for £25.  It does say that payment will be taken from his acc on the 19th and ill get it into the Go Cardless acc on the 20th to finally hit my acc on the 24th. So not the fastest. Ill keep going and see how we get on.  Oh and the cost for that payment was 25p. so again not the cheapest, but its all tax deductible so who cares? And it’s about 10p cheaper than paying in a cheque.

In the meantime, I adjusted all our bills to now have a detachable DD mandate for the customer to fill in if they wish. I have attached it to this reply if anyone wants to get an idea on how to make it work as best as possible.

So far so good.
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: Crystal-clear on February 13, 2014, 01:48:37 am
That's a really good bill , so the bottom bit is for customers to fill in who post a cheque the idea is that they post it back with an email ,
It's really cool I'm gona edit it thank you! ;D

£1000/month on gocardless will only be £10 it's a small price I think

One thing to worry about is that one day they up there prices and while we have established all our customers say £50 now that would be too much but still not too much to change customer payments so we might end up being stuck working for them! As the stress of re contacting say 70 customers that we might have signed will be a false economy

It does sound a bit too good to be true here is a thought say gocardless have £1,000,000 of debits/month there cut is only £10,000/monthly with all the running costs they have a few customer service guys say 4 thats already £80k pa other staff etc even if they were a small operation to make it worth while they will need at least 2,000,000+ to make it worth it cover all costs and directors to take some sort of dividend

2m is a lot of debits don't forget it's capped at £2.00 so say a landlord uses them for rent collection of £2k that's only £2 to them I think they are too cheap
The only way they can sustain that price is with alot of volume or have they got something up there sleeve to hook us then bang! Price goes up to 5% lol
I hope not as I really like them so will enjoy my gocardless dream but not rush in to quick might go for a cool 100 or so like poleking has and see how it goes
Will focus on bad payers first!
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: PoleKing on February 13, 2014, 07:01:24 am
That's a really good bill , so the bottom bit is for customers to fill in who post a cheque the idea is that they post it back with an email ,
It's really cool I'm gona edit it thank you! ;D

£1000/month on gocardless will only be £10 it's a small price I think

One thing to worry about is that one day they up there prices and while we have established all our customers say £50 now that would be too much but still not too much to change customer payments so we might end up being stuck working for them! As the stress of re contacting say 70 customers that we might have signed will be a false economy

It does sound a bit too good to be true here is a thought say gocardless have £1,000,000 of debits/month there cut is only £10,000/monthly with all the running costs they have a few customer service guys say 4 thats already £80k pa other staff etc even if they were a small operation to make it worth while they will need at least 2,000,000+ to make it worth it cover all costs and directors to take some sort of dividend

2m is a lot of debits don't forget it's capped at £2.00 so say a landlord uses them for rent collection of £2k that's only £2 to them I think they are too cheap
The only way they can sustain that price is with alot of volume or have they got something up there sleeve to hook us then bang! Price goes up to 5% lol
I hope not as I really like them so will enjoy my gocardless dream but not rush in to quick might go for a cool 100 or so like poleking has and see how it goes
Will focus on bad payers first!

The hook 'em and screw 'em had crossed my mind.
It's just another what if though.
Just have to hope it doesn't.
As for their fees in relation to us-the 1% charge-I look at it as though 100 cleans is 8 years(ish) for monthly. You've only got to get one 'not today' for that fee to be covered.
Simplistic? You betchya. I don't mind it when I look at it like that.
And on some business accounts it's 75p to pay a cheque in. I ain't getting many £75 cheques!
And the waiting-I don't mind waiting as long as I know it's coming.
Much better to see 'payment pending' on your screen that hear 'I'll post you a cheque' one is guaranteed. The other...
Don't put all your eggs in one basket and I'm sure it'll all be fine.
Title: Re: go cardless
Post by: Mike #1 on February 13, 2014, 08:10:13 am
Direct Debit Guarantee is pretty much flawless.  Customer gets money back as if the transaction never took place, immediately. So nothing to worry about there. Lets face it we all use direct debits for some form of service these days, I wouldn’t worry.

Just an update, I have two customers now on the direct debit list, and have just taken a payment this evening already for £25.  It does say that payment will be taken from his acc on the 19th and ill get it into the Go Cardless acc on the 20th to finally hit my acc on the 24th. So not the fastest. Ill keep going and see how we get on.  Oh and the cost for that payment was 25p. so again not the cheapest, but its all tax deductible so who cares? And it’s about 10p cheaper than paying in a cheque.

In the meantime, I adjusted all our bills to now have a detachable DD mandate for the customer to fill in if they wish. I have attached it to this reply if anyone wants to get an idea on how to make it work as best as possible.

So far so good.


1% not the cheapest  , Try PayPal they would have charged about £1.50 then to get your money out of PayPal they charge you again .

So Go Cardless is the cheapest would it cost you more than 25p to go back and collect the money in person YES

I have been trying to get most of my custys on BACS for almost a year but i still offer cash collection , Cash collection will be stopping in the next 2-3 months for me .

Getting sick of spending 4-6 hours a week chasing money and not really making a significant dent in my debt list , So i will be switching people over to Go Cardless . Mike