[Mr BSF]

Hi honey - nice to talk once again

You know me - pick holes where I can!  

I have a clause, much like you, stating much the same about non payment - like all swiched on companies!

My advice to Sarah is - have the clause, don't use it if poss, change your invoicing terms, if you really can't work with the company then give proper notice, they have not (from the info in your post) withheld payment long enough for a court to grant you full notice payment for breach of contract.

Fox  

 

Nice to talk Fox, ive missed you

[DP]

Ahh isn’t that sweet, however slightly disappointing BSF, surely your stand up straight backed righteous quest for truth and honour amongst cleaners in the face of so much criticism, doesn’t have a weakness does it? It cant be as simple as "Hi honey" that turns you into a girl thingycat can it! (lol I actually wrote a different word, big brother watch out)

If it is , then aren’t some people gonna have fun with you sweetie

Having made the decision on one occasion of pulling 12 specialist cleaners from a site (without adequate notice) due to none payment and then being dragged through a very rapid legal process because of it, I can tell you its not as simple as you think.

It appears that the law do not favour anyone who would cause deterioration of hygiene, welfare or the environment in general within a work place and especially over money.

As far as they are concerned you as a contractor should have your act together and have mechanism's in place to resolve all issues without bringing about such a situation. In the event that agreement cannot be found, then you must provide an adequate notice period, to enable replacement.

All this of course depends on who has knowledge of the likely outcome should it become legal, and therefore posturing and threats only have any real effect with idiot to idiot and are usually caused by an inadequate contract if any at all.

However the odd bluff still works now and then   

 

[acleanerplace]

Hi Sarah


We put in our contracts interest charges  bank of england base rate most people pay up after first month of fines

Hope this help

[Mr BSF]

Ahh isn’t that sweet, however slightly disappointing BSF, surely your stand up straight backed righteous quest for truth and honour amongst cleaners in the face of so much criticism, doesn’t have a weakness does it? It cant be as simple as "Hi honey" that turns you into a girl thingycat can it! (lol I actually wrote a different word, big brother watch out)

If it is , then aren’t some people gonna have fun with you sweetie

Having made the decision on one occasion of pulling 12 specialist cleaners from a site (without adequate notice) due to none payment and then being dragged through a very rapid legal process because of it, I can tell you its not as simple as you think.

It appears that the law do not favour anyone who would cause deterioration of hygiene, welfare or the environment in general within a work place and especially over money.

As far as they are concerned you as a contractor should have your act together and have mechanism's in place to resolve all issues without bringing about such a situation. In the event that agreement cannot be found, then you must provide an adequate notice period, to enable replacement.

All this of course depends on who has knowledge of the likely outcome should it become legal, and therefore posturing and threats only have any real effect with idiot to idiot and are usually caused by an inadequate contract if any at all.

However the odd bluff still works now and then   

 

Hi DP,

If it clearly states in your terms and conditions that you reserve the right to suspend the service due to non payment, then I or anyone else wouldn’t/shouldn’t have a problem in doing it.

The threat of this has always worked for me, I was just trying to advise people on a very common method of being paid on time, which does work.

No, the honey thing doesn’t win me over DP sorry to dissatisfy I assume their was some mockery in that particular post, I was just going with the flow, but hey it is ok to be nice sometimes

Regards

BSF

[Mike Jones]

could this be  the first time BSF has made a sensible and usefull response 

[shelton]

Anyone remember the Simpsons episode where Homer stores all his anger up . ..  I sense something similar . ..

[DP]

Thank heavens BSF I thought you were playing the part of the stereo typical male for a moment then " blow them a kiss and watch them turn into something pathetic". I’m not dissatisfied, I’m relieved 

As mentioned the bluff does work. but try it on someone who knows their stuff and they will dismiss you out of hand with their only real fear being that you maybe just stupid enough not to know the consequences if you try it.

Most grown up facilities managers will be aware of this, and if they have proper issues with you, any kind of threat will hold no relevance to them.

I am the first one to advocate that terms and conditions are binding (more then people understand) however having been through the mill on this one, I can tell you that unless you give an adequate notice period, then you better have a healthy bank account if someone calls your bluff. Your T&C,s will only hold up legally if they include a reasonable notice period, and if they do then there wouldn’t be a problem.

BSF you went from a very assertive post:

Invoice on the start day, with 35 or 44 day terms, if you include what I have posted in future terms and conditions you wont have a problem, ie: we reserve the right to suspend… etc… etc..

To:

If it clearly states in your terms and conditions that you reserve the right to suspend the service due to non payment, then I or anyone else wouldn’t/shouldn’t have a problem in doing it.

Which actually reads to me as "I really don’t know, but it should be ok"

Well it is as long as it remains a bluff. My little experience cost me nearly £3k and we had to return to site (or face considerable additional costs) without any preconditions and still without payment for another 10 days.

BSF
Its fine to be nice to people but dangerous to mislead them as you know! Remember CMS?

[Art]

DP,

 You said about an adequate period of notice if it did come to the point of withdrawing cleaners.
What amount of notice would you have to give?

Arthur

[DP]

I have deliberately stayed away from the actual time issue, as its a bit of a grey area. It appears that 3 months is an acceptable period either way and is common with many commercial cleaning contracts as in our own. However what I cant tell you is what is an acceptable amount (tried and tested) less than this, although I believe it could be as little as one month.

I cant even reflect on my own incident because we were viewed as the offending party, we were ordered back to work indefinitely (or face endless costs), until our client could make other arrangements. Although from memory it wasn’t long I think about 2 weeks.

However no doubt we would of had a case, had they taken too long.

[Art]

Thanks DP

[Paul_Ashworth]

Hi Sarah,
Im Glad you got the payments sorted, i see your not that far away from me.

Do you just do cleaning or are also involved in carpet cleaning ?

[Mr BSF]

Hi DP,

Thanks your post is very interesting and helpful to me and other members,  I have only ever used it as a threat and it has always worked.

Regards

BSF

[Mr BSF]

could this be  the first time BSF has made a sensible and usefull response 

Hi Mr Jones,

I have been giving advice for a couple years on this forum (not always as this user name) and many other forums for a lot longer, not always about cleaning/business matters though, as I do have other strings to my bow

kind regards

BSF

[Sarah S & P Cleaning]

Hi Paul,
At the moment we just do cleaning, mainly Office contracts and recreation centres which is where most of our experience is based.
I have tried carpet cleaning in the past but it was a sub contract for banks and building societys and just didnt quite like it.
I guess im not supposed to like everything i do and moneys money but at least it leaves more carpet cleaning work around for people like yourselves.