Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: tonyoliver on December 23, 2024, 03:58:20 pm
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Hi
How do you all deal with slow or non payers ?
One is obvious the other is a bit more tricky as they owe you need to get your money without the nuclear option they
have a habit of calling you to clean but
Seem to conveniently forget the last one two or three unpaid invoices
The as and when’s seem to be the worst
A middle class phonon !!
I need a cute way of putting them straight without unsettling the other jobs nearby
I did a mini review of the slow/ non payers and was shocked to find the amount unpaid was well over a thousand this year
Not including the well pay next moth brigade the sum will triple if I added them on
How do you all deal with them
Surely it’s not just me who gets them !!
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The sooner you dump the here and now mob then the better you will feel. You run your business not them. When I started up I let my new customers order me about because I only had 10 customers. Now I have over 100 and have the bottle to dodge folk and don't even return their calls. Got one in posh area and she said the guy that covers the area didn't come back I asked did you pay him, yes was her answer. So I did it and got paid and I thought another good customer on my books then the next month she failed to pay so I dodged her. She even had the cheek to text me to clean before Christmas. I text back, okay pay the one you owe and another one and I will come and clean them, I'm still waiting.
What I do with messers, I ask them to set up a DD and I will continue and they usual fail to do it and I'm set free. Too busy to even talk to these people now but I'm established and don't even need to advertise now.
Good luck.
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The sooner you dump the here and now mob then the better you will feel. You run your business not them. When I started up I let my new customers order me about because I only had 10 customers. Now I have over 100 and have the bottle to dodge folk and don't even return their calls. Got one in posh area and she said the guy that covers the area didn't come back I asked did you pay him, yes was her answer. So I did it and got paid and I thought another good customer on my books then the next month she failed to pay so I dodged her. She even had the cheek to text me to clean before Christmas. I text back, okay pay the one you owe and another one and I will come and clean them, I'm still waiting.
What I do with messers, I ask them to set up a DD and I will continue and they usual fail to do it and I'm set free. Too busy to even talk to these people now but I'm established and don't even need to advertise now.
Good luck.
You say you're doing really well. What's your average price per job? Just wondering 🤔
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Stress at the quoting stage payment is due by xx after the jobs done , if they persist in slow or no payment dump simple as that , it’s very rare we have a problem like this theses days .
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Hi
How do you all deal with slow or non payers ?
One is obvious the other is a bit more tricky as they owe you need to get your money without the nuclear option they
have a habit of calling you to clean but
Seem to conveniently forget the last one two or three unpaid invoices
The as and when’s seem to be the worst
A middle class phonon !!
I need a cute way of putting them straight without unsettling the other jobs nearby
I did a mini review of the slow/ non payers and was shocked to find the amount unpaid was well over a thousand this year
Not including the well pay next moth brigade the sum will triple if I added them on
How do you all deal with them
Surely it’s not just me who gets them !!
I have one or two and they pay in the end so they dont bother me too much. I've actually got paid over £100 more than I've actually earned this tax year(not including xmas tips either!)due to previous rolling debt from the last tax year.my current debt is down to around £250 at present which is very good.
Non payers are always customers that have died so obviously I have to write it off but it's only £50-£100 per year so not a mega amount to lose out on.
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The sooner you dump the here and now mob then the better you will feel. You run your business not them. When I started up I let my new customers order me about because I only had 10 customers. Now I have over 100 and have the bottle to dodge folk and don't even return their calls. Got one in posh area and she said the guy that covers the area didn't come back I asked did you pay him, yes was her answer. So I did it and got paid and I thought another good customer on my books then the next month she failed to pay so I dodged her. She even had the cheek to text me to clean before Christmas. I text back, okay pay the one you owe and another one and I will come and clean them, I'm still waiting.
What I do with messers, I ask them to set up a DD and I will continue and they usual fail to do it and I'm set free. Too busy to even talk to these people now but I'm established and don't even need to advertise now.
Good luck.
You say you're doing really well. What's your average price per job? Just wondering 🤔
Last week was my best week but I do add-ons. Monday £400, tue,wed,thur £200 each, Friday £600, sat & sun £400, I have certain runs I have to complete and can make £300 but when I get £200 the novelty wears off and I want to go home for the horse racing. Boxing day is good with 12 meetings on. Will begin laying a monoblock path out at my lock ups where we have a much deteriorated public path. I have 10 sq metres of expensive monoblock I need to get rid and half ton of sand so will dig up the path and lay the block paving, neighbours know what I'm doing. I do all the maintenance where I stay for free and they let me park my van at the lock ups. Win win situation, they don't want me to move but I'm running out of room.
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The sooner you dump the here and now mob then the better you will feel. You run your business not them. When I started up I let my new customers order me about because I only had 10 customers. Now I have over 100 and have the bottle to dodge folk and don't even return their calls. Got one in posh area and she said the guy that covers the area didn't come back I asked did you pay him, yes was her answer. So I did it and got paid and I thought another good customer on my books then the next month she failed to pay so I dodged her. She even had the cheek to text me to clean before Christmas. I text back, okay pay the one you owe and another one and I will come and clean them, I'm still waiting.
What I do with messers, I ask them to set up a DD and I will continue and they usual fail to do it and I'm set free. Too busy to even talk to these people now but I'm established and don't even need to advertise now.
Good luck.
You say you're doing really well. What's your average price per job? Just wondering 🤔
Last week was my best week but I do add-ons. Monday £400, tue,wed,thur £200 each, Friday £600, sat & sun £400, I have certain runs I have to complete and can make £300 but when I get £200 the novelty wears off and I want to go home for the horse racing. Boxing day is good with 12 meetings on. Will begin laying a monoblock path out at my lock ups where we have a much deteriorated public path. I have 10 sq metres of expensive monoblock I need to get rid and half ton of sand so will dig up the path and lay the block paving, neighbours know what I'm doing. I do all the maintenance where I stay for free and they let me park my van at the lock ups. Win win situation, they don't want me to move but I'm running out of room.
Very good Humpty Dumpty. Now answer the question that was asked.
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The sooner you dump the here and now mob then the better you will feel. You run your business not them. When I started up I let my new customers order me about because I only had 10 customers. Now I have over 100 and have the bottle to dodge folk and don't even return their calls. Got one in posh area and she said the guy that covers the area didn't come back I asked did you pay him, yes was her answer. So I did it and got paid and I thought another good customer on my books then the next month she failed to pay so I dodged her. She even had the cheek to text me to clean before Christmas. I text back, okay pay the one you owe and another one and I will come and clean them, I'm still waiting.
What I do with messers, I ask them to set up a DD and I will continue and they usual fail to do it and I'm set free. Too busy to even talk to these people now but I'm established and don't even need to advertise now.
Good luck.
You say you're doing really well. What's your average price per job? Just wondering 🤔
Last week was my best week but I do add-ons. Monday £400, tue,wed,thur £200 each, Friday £600, sat & sun £400, I have certain runs I have to complete and can make £300 but when I get £200 the novelty wears off and I want to go home for the horse racing. Boxing day is good with 12 meetings on. Will begin laying a monoblock path out at my lock ups where we have a much deteriorated public path. I have 10 sq metres of expensive monoblock I need to get rid and half ton of sand so will dig up the path and lay the block paving, neighbours know what I'm doing. I do all the maintenance where I stay for free and they let me park my van at the lock ups. Win win situation, they don't want me to move but I'm running out of room.
Very good Humpty Dumpty. Now answer the question that was asked.
It’s none of your business what his average price is . He doesn’t do just window cleaning so you aren’t going to get an average price anyway
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The sooner you dump the here and now mob then the better you will feel. You run your business not them. When I started up I let my new customers order me about because I only had 10 customers. Now I have over 100 and have the bottle to dodge folk and don't even return their calls. Got one in posh area and she said the guy that covers the area didn't come back I asked did you pay him, yes was her answer. So I did it and got paid and I thought another good customer on my books then the next month she failed to pay so I dodged her. She even had the cheek to text me to clean before Christmas. I text back, okay pay the one you owe and another one and I will come and clean them, I'm still waiting.
What I do with messers, I ask them to set up a DD and I will continue and they usual fail to do it and I'm set free. Too busy to even talk to these people now but I'm established and don't even need to advertise now.
Good luck.
You say you're doing really well. What's your average price per job? Just wondering 🤔
Last week was my best week but I do add-ons. Monday £400, tue,wed,thur £200 each, Friday £600, sat & sun £400, I have certain runs I have to complete and can make £300 but when I get £200 the novelty wears off and I want to go home for the horse racing. Boxing day is good with 12 meetings on. Will begin laying a monoblock path out at my lock ups where we have a much deteriorated public path. I have 10 sq metres of expensive monoblock I need to get rid and half ton of sand so will dig up the path and lay the block paving, neighbours know what I'm doing. I do all the maintenance where I stay for free and they let me park my van at the lock ups. Win win situation, they don't want me to move but I'm running out of room.
You are going to mono block a public path? Bash on, it’s only a matter of time before the council come along and rip up the expensive mono block!
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You have to chase some debt from time to time. We knock on doors every so often and put "Friendly Reminder" slips through the door if they aren't there.
We don't let the debt mount up. Each clean we do is paid for before we clean again. We have £64 of residential debt atm and £74 of commercial debt. The commercial debt was a job completed today.
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Hi
How do you all deal with slow or non payers ?
One is obvious the other is a bit more tricky as they owe you need to get your money without the nuclear option they
have a habit of calling you to clean but
Seem to conveniently forget the last one two or three unpaid invoices
The as and when’s seem to be the worst
A middle class phonon !!
I need a cute way of putting them straight without unsettling the other jobs nearby
I did a mini review of the slow/ non payers and was shocked to find the amount unpaid was well over a thousand this year
Not including the well pay next moth brigade the sum will triple if I added them on
How do you all deal with them
Surely it’s not just me who gets them !!
Don't ever be scared to loose bad customers, sign up to go cardless. Everyone who doesn't continually pay within 7 days then on the next clean post a note with your slip explaining that from the next clean, this is going to be the payment method used for collecting the window cleaning payment. So if they could sign up to the payment option before the next clean is due.
The ones who aren't signed up by the next time your round don't get done, simple as that. We have all been there and tolerated it like yourself at some stage, until you pro actively do something about it then itl never change, and youl have the same problem 12 months down the line.
I put up with it alot longer than I should have because like yourself, you put up with it in fear that you loose the work. The majority of the ones you do it to will sign up, let the ones who don't be someone else's headache. Youl regret not doing it sooner.
All new customers get told at the first clean that if payment is made later than 7 days twice within a 12 month period the option of bacs payment is taken away and they go onto go cardless.
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I have to admit, I have a certain amount of tolerance in order to keep my round compact. It’s kind of like back in the trad days, customers with bungalows used to get a wee bit more leverage because I didn’t want to lose what was effectively easy work.
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The sooner you dump the here and now mob then the better you will feel. You run your business not them. When I started up I let my new customers order me about because I only had 10 customers. Now I have over 100 and have the bottle to dodge folk and don't even return their calls. Got one in posh area and she said the guy that covers the area didn't come back I asked did you pay him, yes was her answer. So I did it and got paid and I thought another good customer on my books then the next month she failed to pay so I dodged her. She even had the cheek to text me to clean before Christmas. I text back, okay pay the one you owe and another one and I will come and clean them, I'm still waiting.
What I do with messers, I ask them to set up a DD and I will continue and they usual fail to do it and I'm set free. Too busy to even talk to these people now but I'm established and don't even need to advertise now.
Good luck.
You say you're doing really well. What's your average price per job? Just wondering 🤔
Last week was my best week but I do add-ons. Monday £400, tue,wed,thur £200 each, Friday £600, sat & sun £400, I have certain runs I have to complete and can make £300 but when I get £200 the novelty wears off and I want to go home for the horse racing. Boxing day is good with 12 meetings on. Will begin laying a monoblock path out at my lock ups where we have a much deteriorated public path. I have 10 sq metres of expensive monoblock I need to get rid and half ton of sand so will dig up the path and lay the block paving, neighbours know what I'm doing. I do all the maintenance where I stay for free and they let me park my van at the lock ups. Win win situation, they don't want me to move but I'm running out of room.
Very good Humpty Dumpty. Now answer the question that was asked.
It’s none of your business what his average price is . He doesn’t do just window cleaning so you aren’t going to get an average price anyway
Spose he's not telling porkies though 😉
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You have to chase some debt from time to time. We knock on doors every so often and put "Friendly Reminder" slips through the door if they aren't there.
We don't let the debt mount up. Each clean we do is paid for before we clean again. We have £64 of residential debt atm and £74 of commercial debt. The commercial debt was a job completed today.
£3517.00 of debt, both commercial and a few domestic. Completely normal and expected when carrying out commercial jobs with 30/45 day payment terms.
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Hi
How do you all deal with slow or non payers ?
One is obvious the other is a bit more tricky as they owe you need to get your money without the nuclear option they
have a habit of calling you to clean but
Seem to conveniently forget the last one two or three unpaid invoices
The as and when’s seem to be the worst
A middle class phonon !!
I need a cute way of putting them straight without unsettling the other jobs nearby
I did a mini review of the slow/ non payers and was shocked to find the amount unpaid was well over a thousand this year
Not including the well pay next moth brigade the sum will triple if I added them on
How do you all deal with them
Surely it’s not just me who gets them !!
I don't tolerate bad payers. Think about it. You refuse to clean until the debt is settled and you think they will moan to their neighbours? Not a chance.
If you had a gardener you and your neighbour used and you didn't pay him promptly and he reminded you or dumped you would you tell your neighbour?
No. Because you don't want to embarrass yourself as a tightwad who bumps the gardener.
Your customers need a good reliable window cleaner. If that's you then stand tall give and expect respect. And expect prompt payment.
If they forget occasionally then fine. I just send them a text to remind them. If I feel they are taking me for granted they get dumped.
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The sooner you dump the here and now mob then the better you will feel. You run your business not them. When I started up I let my new customers order me about because I only had 10 customers. Now I have over 100 and have the bottle to dodge folk and don't even return their calls. Got one in posh area and she said the guy that covers the area didn't come back I asked did you pay him, yes was her answer. So I did it and got paid and I thought another good customer on my books then the next month she failed to pay so I dodged her. She even had the cheek to text me to clean before Christmas. I text back, okay pay the one you owe and another one and I will come and clean them, I'm still waiting.
What I do with messers, I ask them to set up a DD and I will continue and they usual fail to do it and I'm set free. Too busy to even talk to these people now but I'm established and don't even need to advertise now.
Good luck.
You say you're doing really well. What's your average price per job? Just wondering 🤔
Last week was my best week but I do add-ons. Monday £400, tue,wed,thur £200 each, Friday £600, sat & sun £400, I have certain runs I have to complete and can make £300 but when I get £200 the novelty wears off and I want to go home for the horse racing. Boxing day is good with 12 meetings on. Will begin laying a monoblock path out at my lock ups where we have a much deteriorated public path. I have 10 sq metres of expensive monoblock I need to get rid and half ton of sand so will dig up the path and lay the block paving, neighbours know what I'm doing. I do all the maintenance where I stay for free and they let me park my van at the lock ups. Win win situation, they don't want me to move but I'm running out of room.
Very good Humpty Dumpty. Now answer the question that was asked.
Not really any need for the name calling.
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You simply cannot accept people that continue to not pay you.
I give people 7 days to pay. It's on the bill I leave each time.
Once they go beyond this I text them to ask for payment. 90% pay. Everyone's busy and they probably just forget. I will keep texting them until they pay.
I also use SumUp on my phone (takes card payments). If I'm in the area I will knock to take the payment. If you catch them there's no way out for them as everyone has a card. I recently got paid by two customers that had not paid for 6 months, very satisfying. I'll then offer to keep coming if they set up a direct debit.
I used to do two cleans even if they haven't paid, but I've reduced this to just one.
You will always get some that never pay, but just let it go and move on.
I will then text them to say that unless they pay for the last clean I will have to stop coming.
Dump and just get a new customer.
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Never clean more than once without payment. Even if they are begging you
Send a debt text two weeks after clean if not paid
Send another one every week until payment
If they take more than 2 reminders strike them off the round anyway
Trust your instincts they are usually right
You may still lose out sometimes but not by the amount you have been
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The sooner you dump the here and now mob then the better you will feel. You run your business not them. When I started up I let my new customers order me about because I only had 10 customers. Now I have over 100 and have the bottle to dodge folk and don't even return their calls. Got one in posh area and she said the guy that covers the area didn't come back I asked did you pay him, yes was her answer. So I did it and got paid and I thought another good customer on my books then the next month she failed to pay so I dodged her. She even had the cheek to text me to clean before Christmas. I text back, okay pay the one you owe and another one and I will come and clean them, I'm still waiting.
What I do with messers, I ask them to set up a DD and I will continue and they usual fail to do it and I'm set free. Too busy to even talk to these people now but I'm established and don't even need to advertise now.
Good luck.
You say you're doing really well. What's your average price per job? Just wondering 🤔
Last week was my best week but I do add-ons. Monday £400, tue,wed,thur £200 each, Friday £600, sat & sun £400, I have certain runs I have to complete and can make £300 but when I get £200 the novelty wears off and I want to go home for the horse racing. Boxing day is good with 12 meetings on. Will begin laying a monoblock path out at my lock ups where we have a much deteriorated public path. I have 10 sq metres of expensive monoblock I need to get rid and half ton of sand so will dig up the path and lay the block paving, neighbours know what I'm doing. I do all the maintenance where I stay for free and they let me park my van at the lock ups. Win win situation, they don't want me to move but I'm running out of room.
Very good Humpty Dumpty. Now answer the question that was asked.
Not really any need for the name calling.
If you're a bragger or Billy buller then I believe you need calling out. I can't stand either of them and there's no need for it 👍
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I just dump them these days.
I used to go down thr debt latter route and even took a couple to small claims.
I've been down the revenge route as well a few times and whilst lobbing half a brick out of the van window onto a non payers car bonnet sounds very satisying theres that many cameras and ring door bells etc about these days it's probably not worth the risk anymore.
I just write them off now, dump and move on. I don't know how much I've lost this year I would guess a couple hundred quid to non payers but in the grand scheme of things 20 quid a month before tax isn't much loss for a business. Most businesses will Incur losses and write offs we are actually lucky most are jobs are low value I'll bet other trades getting taken for a lot more.
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The sooner you dump the here and now mob then the better you will feel. You run your business not them. When I started up I let my new customers order me about because I only had 10 customers. Now I have over 100 and have the bottle to dodge folk and don't even return their calls. Got one in posh area and she said the guy that covers the area didn't come back I asked did you pay him, yes was her answer. So I did it and got paid and I thought another good customer on my books then the next month she failed to pay so I dodged her. She even had the cheek to text me to clean before Christmas. I text back, okay pay the one you owe and another one and I will come and clean them, I'm still waiting.
What I do with messers, I ask them to set up a DD and I will continue and they usual fail to do it and I'm set free. Too busy to even talk to these people now but I'm established and don't even need to advertise now.
Good luck.
You say you're doing really well. What's your average price per job? Just wondering 🤔
Last week was my best week but I do add-ons. Monday £400, tue,wed,thur £200 each, Friday £600, sat & sun £400, I have certain runs I have to complete and can make £300 but when I get £200 the novelty wears off and I want to go home for the horse racing. Boxing day is good with 12 meetings on. Will begin laying a monoblock path out at my lock ups where we have a much deteriorated public path. I have 10 sq metres of expensive monoblock I need to get rid and half ton of sand so will dig up the path and lay the block paving, neighbours know what I'm doing. I do all the maintenance where I stay for free and they let me park my van at the lock ups. Win win situation, they don't want me to move but I'm running out of room.
You are going to mono block a public path? Bash on, it’s only a matter of time before the council come along and rip up the expensive mono block!
A new guy has moved in and as luck would have it, he is the boss of roads and lighting for the council. He looked into who owns the paths so we could get it retarred from the council but we own it and its also communal. So we would all need to chip in and pay for it. So that's the reason they like me doing it because I don't charge them. I save about £200 a month on storage because everything is stored at my place. 2 huts and a lockup full of stuff and they don't mind. The moment they complain then I will have to move or rent a container. I clean all their windows and clean all their wheelie bins which I get paid for. We had a grass cutter who kept falling when cutting mine and the neighbour's grass which is on a hill. I asked the neighbour to half me in buying astro turf and I built 2 large wooden frames, sunk them down and drove long wooden pegs in and used angle brackets to join them together. In 4 years it will have paid for itself and no falling grasscutter. I always follow the KISS method, keep it simple sam because it seems to work.
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I'll give you the best advice regarding non payers. This is what I do and it tends to work. Remember folk forget once but they don't usually forget twice unless they don't want to pay. I clean and post a card after I clean and next month I clean again and post a card or text telling them they owe double. Next time I just post card with balance and don't clean if I don't want to clean then I don't go back and am happy to lose the price of 2 cleans. This is how I do it and it works for me but it took 6 years to work it out.
I have spent nearly every penny I earned on new equipment and 20% of the stuff I have binned of resold and found it to be a total waste of money. But like in the fire engine going to an alarm. I was told we never go to false alarms but we come back from plenty of them. I have 6 big scaffold frames that cost £300 each and now they are obsolete because they have brought out the Mark 2 frame which hinges and can be place in my van rather than on my roof rack. Because I have both mark 1 &2 frames folk often say what a waste of money those big frames are and why did you buy them. I reply, I bought the complete new tower and only the mark1 frames were made and came with it. Then customers kept complaining they were too big and didn't fit in their vans so they brought out the mark 2 frame. We all had to buy the new mark 2 if we wanted to fit them inside our van. It was a money spinner for the scaffolding merchants who made the mark 2 frame.
This is what they mean by gaining wisdom? Wisdom is purely just experience and it can only gained by constantly trying out new stuff that comes onto the market and trying out different techniques of working. I do this all the time in window cleaning. I have many streets with 3 houses next to each other and I will begin at the far away one and work my way back to the van. Other times I will start at the nearest one or the middle one and time myself to see which way is the quickest. One customer asked why I clean the middle house first and I told them that's the quickest way to do it. They seemed confused but the reason is quite simple. When I clean the middle first round the back, I can also clean the top windows of either side of it when the pole is extended.
If you study a Postman when they are delivering letters you some times see them walking along backdoors of tenements with no fences between them.
I have a field out my back door which sometimes has cows in it. they all run down the hill and have a drink from the stream at the bottom but they never go straight back up the hill for milking they all travel at 45 degrees to one edge and then turn and do the same like a zig zag motion. I can only think that it saves them a ton of energy and that's why they do it.
Another example that's always baffled me. Why do roofers always load a roof with stacks of roof tiles before they tile the roof? I asked a roofer and he said it's the simplest way to do it. Once loaded you only need one person to sit there and fit all the tiles in place and the other guys can load the other side at the same time. Its the fastest and safest way to do it which now makes perfect sense. After decades of tiling roofs they have all came to the same conclusion and all use the same method. fwiw
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You could just try the sensible non-over reactive method,
Speak to them and let them know that to run your business efficiently and be able to keep prices low, you require a prompt payment system, ie before 7 days, If you have not been paid after 8 days send a simple reminder text " Hiya xxxx Don't forget window payment is due" . If after 14 days a sightlier sterner message, " Window cleaning payment is overdue".
When next clean is due skip them , after that you or they have made a long term decision.
They pay prompt you keep
They don't pay and you can dump.
Always remember, a non-paying customer is not a customer. But a slow paying customer can be trained !!
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You could just try the sensible non-over reactive method,
Speak to them and let them know that to run your business efficiently and be able to keep prices low, you require a prompt payment system, ie before 7 days, If you have not been paid after 8 days send a simple reminder text " Hiya xxxx Don't forget window payment is due" . If after 14 days a sightlier sterner message, " Window cleaning payment is overdue".
When next clean is due skip them , after that you or they have made a long term decision.
They pay prompt you keep
They don't pay and you can dump.
Always remember, a non-paying customer is not a customer. But a slow paying customer can be trained !!
Agree ^^^^
I also remain very patient and calm when dealing with a non payer. The goal is to get payment for the last clean. If you threaten them with discontinuing cleaning their windows, they probably won't pay us.
Once I get paid I will just stop going. They will know the reason. If a neighbour asks why I'm not cleaning the house next door, my response is to ask them.
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I'll give you the best advice regarding non payers. This is what I do and it tends to work. Remember folk forget once but they don't usually forget twice unless they don't want to pay. I clean and post a card after I clean and next month I clean again and post a card or text telling them they owe double. Next time I just post card with balance and don't clean if I don't want to clean then I don't go back and am happy to lose the price of 2 cleans. This is how I do it and it works for me but it took 6 years to work it out.
I have spent nearly every penny I earned on new equipment and 20% of the stuff I have binned of resold and found it to be a total waste of money. But like in the fire engine going to an alarm. I was told we never go to false alarms but we come back from plenty of them. I have 6 big scaffold frames that cost £300 each and now they are obsolete because they have brought out the Mark 2 frame which hinges and can be place in my van rather than on my roof rack. Because I have both mark 1 &2 frames folk often say what a waste of money those big frames are and why did you buy them. I reply, I bought the complete new tower and only the mark1 frames were made and came with it. Then customers kept complaining they were too big and didn't fit in their vans so they brought out the mark 2 frame. We all had to buy the new mark 2 if we wanted to fit them inside our van. It was a money spinner for the scaffolding merchants who made the mark 2 frame.
This is what they mean by gaining wisdom? Wisdom is purely just experience and it can only gained by constantly trying out new stuff that comes onto the market and trying out different techniques of working. I do this all the time in window cleaning. I have many streets with 3 houses next to each other and I will begin at the far away one and work my way back to the van. Other times I will start at the nearest one or the middle one and time myself to see which way is the quickest. One customer asked why I clean the middle house first and I told them that's the quickest way to do it. They seemed confused but the reason is quite simple. When I clean the middle first round the back, I can also clean the top windows of either side of it when the pole is extended.
If you study a Postman when they are delivering letters you some times see them walking along backdoors of tenements with no fences between them.
I have a field out my back door which sometimes has cows in it. they all run down the hill and have a drink from the stream at the bottom but they never go straight back up the hill for milking they all travel at 45 degrees to one edge and then turn and do the same like a zig zag motion. I can only think that it saves them a ton of energy and that's why they do it.
Another example that's always baffled me. Why do roofers always load a roof with stacks of roof tiles before they tile the roof? I asked a roofer and he said it's the simplest way to do it. Once loaded you only need one person to sit there and fit all the tiles in place and the other guys can load the other side at the same time. Its the fastest and safest way to do it which now makes perfect sense. After decades of tiling roofs they have all came to the same conclusion and all use the same method. fwiw
One paragraph on the subject and five about me me me.
Unbelievable.
I'm starting to get really irritated by Scottishs posts. Is there a function on here to hide his posts?so I don't have to read them?
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Another about turn from Dazmond😆
Just last week you were saying you don’t understand why people are getting so angry with Scottish, now you want to block him😂
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Just don't read Scottish's posts if you find them irrelevant or whatever.
Insulting post from Bungle towards him removed.
To Scottish - try to be a little more self aware. This is a window cleaning (and associated jobs to an extent is fine) forum. If you want to talk about other stuff take it to the any other business section where Tosh reigns supreme. ;D
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I'll give you the best advice regarding non payers. This is what I do and it tends to work. Remember folk forget once but they don't usually forget twice unless they don't want to pay. I clean and post a card after I clean and next month I clean again and post a card or text telling them they owe double. Next time I just post card with balance and don't clean if I don't want to clean then I don't go back and am happy to lose the price of 2 cleans. This is how I do it and it works for me but it took 6 years to work it out.
I have spent nearly every penny I earned on new equipment and 20% of the stuff I have binned of resold and found it to be a total waste of money. But like in the fire engine going to an alarm. I was told we never go to false alarms but we come back from plenty of them. I have 6 big scaffold frames that cost £300 each and now they are obsolete because they have brought out the Mark 2 frame which hinges and can be place in my van rather than on my roof rack. Because I have both mark 1 &2 frames folk often say what a waste of money those big frames are and why did you buy them. I reply, I bought the complete new tower and only the mark1 frames were made and came with it. Then customers kept complaining they were too big and didn't fit in their vans so they brought out the mark 2 frame. We all had to buy the new mark 2 if we wanted to fit them inside our van. It was a money spinner for the scaffolding merchants who made the mark 2 frame.
This is what they mean by gaining wisdom? Wisdom is purely just experience and it can only gained by constantly trying out new stuff that comes onto the market and trying out different techniques of working. I do this all the time in window cleaning. I have many streets with 3 houses next to each other and I will begin at the far away one and work my way back to the van. Other times I will start at the nearest one or the middle one and time myself to see which way is the quickest. One customer asked why I clean the middle house first and I told them that's the quickest way to do it. They seemed confused but the reason is quite simple. When I clean the middle first round the back, I can also clean the top windows of either side of it when the pole is extended.
If you study a Postman when they are delivering letters you some times see them walking along backdoors of tenements with no fences between them.
I have a field out my back door which sometimes has cows in it. they all run down the hill and have a drink from the stream at the bottom but they never go straight back up the hill for milking they all travel at 45 degrees to one edge and then turn and do the same like a zig zag motion. I can only think that it saves them a ton of energy and that's why they do it.
Another example that's always baffled me. Why do roofers always load a roof with stacks of roof tiles before they tile the roof? I asked a roofer and he said it's the simplest way to do it. Once loaded you only need one person to sit there and fit all the tiles in place and the other guys can load the other side at the same time. Its the fastest and safest way to do it which now makes perfect sense. After decades of tiling roofs they have all came to the same conclusion and all use the same method. fwiw
What a load of drivel. Forum will be dead by Spring if this nonsense carries on.
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I'll give you the best advice regarding non payers. This is what I do and it tends to work. Remember folk forget once but they don't usually forget twice unless they don't want to pay. I clean and post a card after I clean and next month I clean again and post a card or text telling them they owe double. Next time I just post card with balance and don't clean if I don't want to clean then I don't go back and am happy to lose the price of 2 cleans. This is how I do it and it works for me but it took 6 years to work it out.
I have spent nearly every penny I earned on new equipment and 20% of the stuff I have binned of resold and found it to be a total waste of money. But like in the fire engine going to an alarm. I was told we never go to false alarms but we come back from plenty of them. I have 6 big scaffold frames that cost £300 each and now they are obsolete because they have brought out the Mark 2 frame which hinges and can be place in my van rather than on my roof rack. Because I have both mark 1 &2 frames folk often say what a waste of money those big frames are and why did you buy them. I reply, I bought the complete new tower and only the mark1 frames were made and came with it. Then customers kept complaining they were too big and didn't fit in their vans so they brought out the mark 2 frame. We all had to buy the new mark 2 if we wanted to fit them inside our van. It was a money spinner for the scaffolding merchants who made the mark 2 frame.
This is what they mean by gaining wisdom? Wisdom is purely just experience and it can only gained by constantly trying out new stuff that comes onto the market and trying out different techniques of working. I do this all the time in window cleaning. I have many streets with 3 houses next to each other and I will begin at the far away one and work my way back to the van. Other times I will start at the nearest one or the middle one and time myself to see which way is the quickest. One customer asked why I clean the middle house first and I told them that's the quickest way to do it. They seemed confused but the reason is quite simple. When I clean the middle first round the back, I can also clean the top windows of either side of it when the pole is extended.
If you study a Postman when they are delivering letters you some times see them walking along backdoors of tenements with no fences between them.
I have a field out my back door which sometimes has cows in it. they all run down the hill and have a drink from the stream at the bottom but they never go straight back up the hill for milking they all travel at 45 degrees to one edge and then turn and do the same like a zig zag motion. I can only think that it saves them a ton of energy and that's why they do it.
Another example that's always baffled me. Why do roofers always load a roof with stacks of roof tiles before they tile the roof? I asked a roofer and he said it's the simplest way to do it. Once loaded you only need one person to sit there and fit all the tiles in place and the other guys can load the other side at the same time. Its the fastest and safest way to do it which now makes perfect sense. After decades of tiling roofs they have all came to the same conclusion and all use the same method. fwiw
What a load of drivel. Forum will be dead by Spring if this nonsense carries on.
Totally agree with this, it is after all a window cleaning forum , what has all the above to do with slow/non payers ?
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What's insulting about telling the bloke that's he's talking about himself? Sheesh.
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Another about turn from Dazmond😆
Just last week you were saying you don’t understand why people are getting so angry with Scottish, now you want to block him😂
It's gone well beyond the odd add on job and suchlike.the guy is worse than NWH.at least he was genuinely funny sometimes!🤣👍
Was he banned from the other forum? as I don't see him posting on there anymore thank God!
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Drop the slow payers a email saying starting the new year your moving to direct debit, ie gocardless. I did this a few years ago, but only those handful that were slow at paying. Also introduce at the end of the month everyone got a statement requesting payment. This reduced my dept list from around £5,000 to £800 on average.
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At Auv ravelling it's Scottish posts that need removing. It's him that's winding all of us up. You remove my posts where I tell him off but you allow his posts to remain where they are absolute drivel and nothing to do with the thread. Do your job and moderate. I'll be off if this nonsense carries on. The bloke wound them all up on the other forum to a point they banned him. He's a narcissist. End of.
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I have used George for years. But if a new software program had the option to send statements after seven days automatic, I would change.
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I'll give you the best advice regarding non payers. This is what I do and it tends to work. Remember folk forget once but they don't usually forget twice unless they don't want to pay. I clean and post a card after I clean and next month I clean again and post a card or text telling them they owe double. Next time I just post card with balance and don't clean if I don't want to clean then I don't go back and am happy to lose the price of 2 cleans. This is how I do it and it works for me but it took 6 years to work it out.
I have spent nearly every penny I earned on new equipment and 20% of the stuff I have binned of resold and found it to be a total waste of money. But like in the fire engine going to an alarm. I was told we never go to false alarms but we come back from plenty of them. I have 6 big scaffold frames that cost £300 each and now they are obsolete because they have brought out the Mark 2 frame which hinges and can be place in my van rather than on my roof rack. Because I have both mark 1 &2 frames folk often say what a waste of money those big frames are and why did you buy them. I reply, I bought the complete new tower and only the mark1 frames were made and came with it. Then customers kept complaining they were too big and didn't fit in their vans so they brought out the mark 2 frame. We all had to buy the new mark 2 if we wanted to fit them inside our van. It was a money spinner for the scaffolding merchants who made the mark 2 frame.
This is what they mean by gaining wisdom? Wisdom is purely just experience and it can only gained by constantly trying out new stuff that comes onto the market and trying out different techniques of working. I do this all the time in window cleaning. I have many streets with 3 houses next to each other and I will begin at the far away one and work my way back to the van. Other times I will start at the nearest one or the middle one and time myself to see which way is the quickest. One customer asked why I clean the middle house first and I told them that's the quickest way to do it. They seemed confused but the reason is quite simple. When I clean the middle first round the back, I can also clean the top windows of either side of it when the pole is extended.
If you study a Postman when they are delivering letters you some times see them walking along backdoors of tenements with no fences between them.
I have a field out my back door which sometimes has cows in it. they all run down the hill and have a drink from the stream at the bottom but they never go straight back up the hill for milking they all travel at 45 degrees to one edge and then turn and do the same like a zig zag motion. I can only think that it saves them a ton of energy and that's why they do it.
Another example that's always baffled me. Why do roofers always load a roof with stacks of roof tiles before they tile the roof? I asked a roofer and he said it's the simplest way to do it. Once loaded you only need one person to sit there and fit all the tiles in place and the other guys can load the other side at the same time. Its the fastest and safest way to do it which now makes perfect sense. After decades of tiling roofs they have all came to the same conclusion and all use the same method. fwiw
What a load of drivel. Forum will be dead by Spring if this nonsense carries on.
Completely agree.
We could all go to the forum he left/got banned from.
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What's insulting about telling the bloke that's he's talking about himself? Sheesh.
It was on the back of you calling him names in a previous post.
Have patience and see how it plays out. Scottish is wearing my patience thin too.
For context I am doing my job and responding to the reports to moderators received about YOUR posts against Scottish.
As to your threat to leave - and I hope you don't - that's up to you.
Scottish had a reminder earlier today and he hasn't posted since. Keep your fingers crossed he heeds it.
In the meantime if you keep asking him questions - however pithy - don't complain if he replies.
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What's insulting about telling the bloke that's he's talking about himself? Sheesh.
It was on the back of you calling him names in a previous post.
Have patience and see how it plays out. Scottish is wearing my patience thin too.
For context I am doing my job and responding to the reports to moderators received about YOUR posts against Scottish.
As to your threat to leave - and I hope you don't - that's up to you.
Scottish had a reminder earlier today and he hasn't posted since. Keep your fingers crossed he heeds it.
In the meantime if you keep asking him questions - however pithy - don't complain if he replies.
If you're a big head you deserve to be called Humpty Dumpty I think. And people getting upset on behalf of Scottish? Give me a break. Have we gone all woke?
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What's insulting about telling the bloke that's he's talking about himself? Sheesh.
It was on the back of you calling him names in a previous post.
Have patience and see how it plays out. Scottish is wearing my patience thin too.
For context I am doing my job and responding to the reports to moderators received about YOUR posts against Scottish.
As to your threat to leave - and I hope you don't - that's up to you.
Scottish had a reminder earlier today and he hasn't posted since. Keep your fingers crossed he heeds it.
In the meantime if you keep asking him questions - however pithy - don't complain if he replies.
If you're a big head you deserve to be called Humpty Dumpty I think. And people getting upset on behalf of Scottish? Give me a break. Have we gone all woke?
Nevertheless, that's how it is.
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Providing services on credit (allowing payment later) is generally considered Consumer Credit. Whilst the time allowed for payment of a clean maybe fairly ambiguous, what is not is to increase the debt outstanding by doing further cleans and allowing the debt to grow each month. I'll be gobsmacked if anyone here has a consumer credit licence.
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Providing services on credit (allowing payment later) is generally considered Consumer Credit. Whilst the time allowed for payment of a clean maybe fairly ambiguous, what is not is to increase the debt outstanding by doing further cleans and allowing the debt to grow each month. I'll be gobsmacked if anyone here has a consumer credit licence.
Got anything official/legal to support this?
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Providing services on credit (allowing payment later) is generally considered Consumer Credit. Whilst the time allowed for payment of a clean maybe fairly ambiguous, what is not is to increase the debt outstanding by doing further cleans and allowing the debt to grow each month. I'll be gobsmacked if anyone here has a consumer credit licence.
Got anything official/legal to support this?
Ah the Socrates reply, Still works 3000 years later AR ;)
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Providing services on credit (allowing payment later) is generally considered Consumer Credit. Whilst the time allowed for payment of a clean maybe fairly ambiguous, what is not is to increase the debt outstanding by doing further cleans and allowing the debt to grow each month. I'll be gobsmacked if anyone here has a consumer credit licence.
Got anything official/legal to support this?
https://www.gov.uk/offering-credit-consumers-law
Happy Christmas BTW
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Providing services on credit (allowing payment later) is generally considered Consumer Credit. Whilst the time allowed for payment of a clean maybe fairly ambiguous, what is not is to increase the debt outstanding by doing further cleans and allowing the debt to grow each month. I'll be gobsmacked if anyone here has a consumer credit licence.
Got anything official/legal to support this?
https://www.gov.uk/offering-credit-consumers-law
Happy Christmas BTW
Without more specific details for window cleaning late payment, I'll take my chances.
And thank you. I hope you have a great day and 2025 too.
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Providing services on credit (allowing payment later) is generally considered Consumer Credit. Whilst the time allowed for payment of a clean maybe fairly ambiguous, what is not is to increase the debt outstanding by doing further cleans and allowing the debt to grow each month. I'll be gobsmacked if anyone here has a consumer credit licence.
Got anything official/legal to support this?
https://www.gov.uk/offering-credit-consumers-law
Happy Christmas BTW
"You must show you meet FCA’s minimum standards to be authorised. This includes ensuring your firm has a suitable business model and is well run by ‘fit and proper’ people."
I'm out! ;D
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My MP ran up a 3 month bill but I knew he was good for it. Glad he never reported me for breaking the consumer credit rules so it was a win win situation. 😴
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Another about turn from Dazmond😆
Just last week you were saying you don’t understand why people are getting so angry with Scottish, now you want to block him😂
It's gone well beyond the odd add on job and suchlike.the guy is worse than NWH.at least he was genuinely funny sometimes!🤣👍
Was he banned from the other forum? as I don't see him posting on there anymore thank God!
Nigel passed away about a year ago Dazmond. Mrs H was on here selling his vw transporter.
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Sent out to two this morning, both paid on receipt
(http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/1735595687_IMG_9300.jpeg)
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Seems a bit desperate sending out payment reminders over christmas, and twice in 3 days :-X
I wont remind mine till after new year.
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Seems a bit desperate sending out payment reminders over christmas, and twice in 3 days :-X
I wont remind mine till after new year.
I agree to an extent but then there’s the other side of it……seems a bit disrespectful of customers not to pay before Christmas, knowing that the window cleaner is self employed and doesn’t get holiday pay.
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Get better customers that don’t need reminding is the best bet .
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Another about turn from Dazmond😆
Just last week you were saying you don’t understand why people are getting so angry with Scottish, now you want to block him😂
It's gone well beyond the odd add on job and suchlike.the guy is worse than NWH.at least he was genuinely funny sometimes!🤣👍
Was he banned from the other forum? as I don't see him posting on there anymore thank God!
Nigel passed away about a year ago Dazmond. Mrs H was on here selling his vw transporter.
Yes I know. I was referring to Scottish not NWH.
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Seems a bit desperate sending out payment reminders over christmas, and twice in 3 days :-X
I wont remind mine till after new year.
I agree. I also don't like the tone of his payment reminders. I wouldn't dream of sending anything remotely like that. I keep it more aloof and professional.
I'm only owed £150 now which is very low for me. I've actually got more money in than I've actually earned this tax year due to rolling debt.
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Desperate? If that’s what you think.
I’m similar in length of service and turn over to Dazmond and in that time I’ve made it my business to only have customers that value my service. The criteria is, I’m left access and paid within 7 days unless they tell me they are away or any other creditable reason. I will then chase and replace if I have to.
Communication is a 2 way street and I’m reasonable.
Current debt list is £15. (A shop front that closed for the holidays, perfectly acceptable) can screenshot that if needs be.
Running my business this way suits me and my tone. I don’t crash with mood swings because I run it how I see fit.
I posted the screen shot to see if it would be helpful to the original poster..
Anyhow, Happy new year guys.
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As I retired on 23rd December all my customers paid up apart from 2, one owes £15 and the other £18
and I'm sure they will both have paid by the end of this week.
If for any reason they do forget they will get a polite text message from me, this is the least I've been owed in all these years as it used to near £200 some months.
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Mu debt list is notmally between 500 and a grand, I'm only owed £200 now which is super low for me. Especially since I haven't sent a payment reminder for over a week.
I think you need a balanced approach to debt collection. I've seen window cleaners who let people go 3 or 4 cleans and I've seen the opposite where they are sending reminders the next day. Both extremes imo.
I only check my account once a week and send a reminder. I don't look at it again till the following week. If you are looking every couple of days and seeing they still haven't paid you'll drve yourself mad.
As long as they pay by next clean is my moto. If they don't then they are removed from the round.
I don't bother sending reminders over Christmas because it doesn't seem right, I'm not working I wouldn't reply to people trying to contact me this time of year so wouldn't put it on them. Plus what does it matter if I get a few extra quid in this week or next it's really no issue.
Besides which after today its back to normal so message away.
Happy new year all
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I have a limit of letting people get to 3 cleans then no more cleaning. It's not ideal, of course I'd much prefer to be paid promptly but looking at the big picture, in nearly 21 years, I've only had to write off approx £420, ie £20 a year and that includes customers who have sadly passed away, it's not all messers. I don't fret as much about debt as I used to, still annoying but I doubt there's many self employed occupations where they lose so little a year.
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I have a limit of letting people get to 3 cleans then no more cleaning. It's not ideal, of course I'd much prefer to be paid promptly but looking at the big picture, in nearly 21 years, I've only had to write off approx £420, ie £20 a year and that includes customers who have sadly passed away, it's not all messers. I don't fret as much about debt as I used to, still annoying but I doubt there's many self employed occupations where they lose so little a year.
Originally, I would start chasing outstanding debt after the second clean. I found that customers started to take advantage of this. When the credit crunch started in 2008, I revised that to one clean and stuck with it ever since.
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Well, fwiw, I used to feel customers who didn’t pay promptly, and I mean within a week if they were domestic, then that was rude and it would prompt a reminder from me from that point.
In all my years cleaning I’d say I could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times customers owed for more than one visit.