Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Paul H Coulthard on October 31, 2015, 04:40:22 pm
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Hi ive recently got 2 non payers for carpet cleaning 1 for the amount of £100 & 1 for the amount of £150 both said would pay by bacs transfer the day after now been nearly 2 weeks for both just ignoring my messages and voice mails ect. How would u go about this ??
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Knock the door, its the first port of call. Go face to face unexpected.
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Why BACS ?
Are they commercial customers
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Knock the door. Ask them if they were unsatisifed about anything. If so put it right (although they should have phoned)
what type of customer are they?
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Agree with knock the door( I assume they weren't end of tenancy.............always cash as you don't know where to chase them)....Alan(Swindon)
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Give them a call, i've had a few that have taken ages to pay, its usually nothing sinister, just they don't see it as urgent, ring them and ask them and they will probably just say they forgot, then they will probably forget again so ring again and then send a final reminder through the post, if they still haven't paid by then then maybe they are trying it on. in that case get in touch with thomas higgins and they will send a polite but formal demand for the money, that should do it.
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The first question should be, is there any reason that the invoice has not been paid.
David
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Ask politely most pay . I have had a couple that I chased all over town and never gave in till I got paid.
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Hi ive recently got 2 non payers for carpet cleaning 1 for the amount of £100 & 1 for the amount of £150 both said would pay by bacs transfer the day after now been nearly 2 weeks for both just ignoring my messages and voice mails ect. How would u go about this ??
As per the bold above.........
So they are not answering the phone when you call? Have you tried a different phone so the numbers different or withholding your number.
If they have not answered your calls then they are trying to get out of paying, if you are a bit timid and don't handle confrontation well ( nothing to be ashamed of some people are not good in these situations) then you could try downloading the claim forms for the small claims court filling them in photocopying them and posting them through the door with a note saying the originals will be filed in 5 working days.
But if they are experienced non payers then nothing You do will bother them,
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I have called 5 times left voice mails and texted also sent her messaged through Facebook she has seen the messages . She was 100% happy with the job she didn't have cash in the house and we do not take cheque after been done for £250 for a big job so we take bacs before the job. Will call her again and if no payment by next week will call at her door.
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if no joy, give her the dirty water back, through her letter box via a funnel and length of pipe...........
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Small claims, if you have proof of work done, then its really simple
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lol Tim. Has anyone ever returned dirty water?
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thomas higgins, cost you £2.99
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returning dirty water is a non starter and an old wives tale i reckon
people are different face to face - just knock the door and sort it there and then
no point advising to ring Derek - he has with no response. They are hoping you will go away quietly - dont!
i spent 6 years working for a debt collection company collecting debts on the doorstep from people who had not paid on adverse credit loans. Some are professional non payers and you need to shout loud and then they pay. Some are in real trouble and thats different. But i would suggest these are taking the pee out of you and the longer you leave it the harder it is. Knock the door, then knock again, then knock again - you will get it but just phoning you may as well be peeing in the wind
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i would never return the water, but i do remember somebody who did something similar when he finished a job in a very expensively decorated/furnished/carpeted house, did a good job but they refused to pay him point blank so he poured a bucket all over the hall carpets after hed packed his gear up, then did one quickish in his van...... turned out it was a very notorious traveller family and he more or less had to go into hiding for a while! forget where i read it, may be a load of cobblers, but a great story!!
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I always leave a message or send a text/email saying that as I cant make contact and its been too long I'm unfortunately going to have to ''escalate'' my efforts to recover the payment.
Usually a gentle threat of further action will get a response.
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why don't you guys take action against these thefts because that's what they are ?
I have trouble was one customer he owed £220 for one job it wasn't the money that peed me off but the way he kept making promises, like my wife will drop a cheque in, or pay by bac's .
So I sent a letter stating all the bulls**t and legal action would follow if not settled within 7 days,
next day at 10.30 am I get a phone call from him saying he would pay by bac's which he did.
Go for it, it is your money ::)roll
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You used to be able to do an online small claims for about £25.00.
Not used it for a while but when I did always got payment immediately. ...
They get an official Summons through the post & normally puts the frighteners on them.....
Fortunately haven't had any non payers for a while so not sure if it's still available ...
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I always stress before hand, payment either in cash on the day of the clean, or BACS whilst on site (before I go) never any problems with domestic customers. I do not except cheques either! Now commercial, thats another kettle of fish, but always pay. I have also put on £30 admin charge for late commercial payments. Works in most cases, others, well they have to pay the £30 as set out in my terms (don't get many of these though).
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Use a different phone to contact them, they could of blocked your number, Write to them recorded delivery giving them notice before action, add a £25.00 charge for the letter and any further letters.
If you don't get any response then you could issue a summons, but you have to weigh up if it is worth spending more time and money with no guarantee of success. Because you can bet your house if they take it as far as court they will say they weren't satisfied with the job. Which of course before and after pictures prove to be invaluable.
Even if you get a County Court order against them, which could take months, they will still have 28 days to pay, longer if the judge allows them because of their circumstances. Then if they default on the order you will then have to decide to pay further cost for a court bailiff to recover your money. The cost will be added to their debt.
I have gone as far as sending out bailiffs many years ago, and they got my money straight away. Glad I got my money in the end but it was a stressful journey, and one I would not like to go on again.
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https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome
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Get a card machine and then only either accept cash or card, that way you walk away with the money every time. Give people the opportunity to get something without paying for it, if only over a few hours, then sooner or later you will get some who will seek to take advantage of it, so don't given them the chance, simples.
Simon
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If you are offered a cheque and they cant pay cash or card take don't wait for bacs a cheque is proof they owe you the money so easier to chase up if you are in the ncca get a free payatrader account
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Same as Simon, card or cash only on completion - sorted. We would only ever take a cheque if it is from a repeat who we know really well.
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I used to work for a company that would urge you to dump the dirty water onto the carpets of non paying customers!
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whats the best deal for card readers to take card payments
when i looked into it a bit the charges seemed high for the low volume i think i would take through it in a month
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We've just got a new deal £18 per month for a 36 month contract and 0.4% on debit and 1.2% on credit cards.
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just looked at Worldpay Zinc - i think you can have a plan £12 a month and no transaction fee's
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You always pay transaction fees, it's how these people make money. Look a. Little deeper.
And if you do it through your mobile phone, people don't like that.
Simon
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this is what i was looking at -
http://www.chip-and-pin.info/worldpay-zinc/
might be out of date though
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I always stress before hand, payment either in cash on the day of the clean, or BACS whilst on site (before I go) never any problems with domestic customers. I do not except cheques either! Now commercial, thats another kettle of fish, but always pay. I have also put on £30 admin charge for late commercial payments. Works in most cases, others, well they have to pay the £30 as set out in my terms (don't get many of these though).
Darren, do you add the £30 late payment info onto the estimate, what I mean is how do you make them aware of the charge before you do the work?
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If your going to do low volume then don't go for a monthly pay system. There are transaction fee only deals - yes they may be slightly higher but at least you don't get charged if you don't use it.
Plenty about.
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izettle do a free card reader & no monthly contract just transaction fees, ideal for low volume, althought the rates do lower for the more transactions you do per month....
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i would never return the water, but i do remember somebody who did something similar when he finished a job in a very expensively decorated/furnished/carpeted house, did a good job but they refused to pay him point blank so he poured a bucket all over the hall carpets after hed packed his gear up, then did one quickish in his van...... turned out it was a very notorious traveller family and he more or less had to go into hiding for a while! forget where i read it, may be a load of cobblers, but a great story!!
He had his van broken into and all the gear stolen that night from what I remember.. if its the same person that is.
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I always stress before hand, payment either in cash on the day of the clean, or BACS whilst on site (before I go) never any problems with domestic customers. I do not except cheques either! Now commercial, thats another kettle of fish, but always pay. I have also put on £30 admin charge for late commercial payments. Works in most cases, others, well they have to pay the £30 as set out in my terms (don't get many of these though).
Yes, when we do a quote it states it on the quotation, with also the link to my website with the info on. http://www.squeakandbubbles.co.uk/payment.html
Darren, do you add the £30 late payment info onto the estimate, what I mean is how do you make them aware of the charge before you do the work?
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Hi ive recently got 2 non payers for carpet cleaning 1 for the amount of £100 & 1 for the amount of £150 both said would pay by bacs transfer the day after now been nearly 2 weeks for both just ignoring my messages and voice
mails ect. How would u go about this ??
I'm guessing it's a commercial customer as I don't now any cc that invoice domestic customers. In the past I've had domestic customers so they havnt got the cash and wanted to pay by BACS so we got a card machine which also saves the hassle of customers giving you cheques.
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big guys send big guys it always worked for us in the past