[paul mather]

Went to clean a 3 storey town house on my round yesterday, to find the place empty & I was still owed £20 from the last clean.
 

Just wondered what's the most you have lost in unpaid bills?

[Paul Coleman]

Went to clean a 3 storey town house on my round yesterday, to find the place empty & I was still owed £20 from the last clean.
 
Don't suppose I should be too surprised as my customeer was none other than Derek Hatton. Guess I'm in good company, me & the whole of Liverpool City Council!!!

Just wondered what's the most you have lost in unpaid bills?

My biggest loss was a £70er.  He sent a letter with the cheque number saying that he had paid.  I replied with a photocopy of every cheque he had ever written me.  In spite of my proof he wouldn't pay.  I had enough to go to small claims but I just couldn't be bothered with it all.
About 18 months after he diddled me, I heard he was taken for 6 million.  What goes around comes around it would seem.
Gloat?  Who? Me? 

[Grafters Cleaning Services]

£20

[JM123]

£20 - I wish!

How about £480 on window cleaning services and ......

£1550 on equipment!

Lesson learned.

[pylofm]

100quid...I have just put this down to expereince and and very valuble lesson has been learnt.

Dave.

[Lizzy]

i get any money owed to me eventually.   

Last lad ripped me off, went to prison for something else, came out & used to drive past me grinning.   One day I snapped, chased him, forced him off the road and dragged him out of the window of his car.  He paid me the £10.

another company bounced a £400 cheque on me.  I went to their factory & did a sit in till they paid in cash.  Director had to go over the bank to get money out to pay me off.  3 days later they went bust.

It was never the actual money with me.  Its the principle.  I hate disrespect of that kind.

[Spiceworld]

i get any money owed to me eventually.   

It was never the actual money with me.  Its the principle.  I hate disrespect of that kind.

Same here Lizzy

I had a private school tell me he wasn't going to pay my last bill of £700, so i told him i would see him on his open day. He phoned the police and sent them round to see me for threatening him. Told them that they could arrest me on the day and that was what i wanted. He paid me same day.

Richard

[brett walker]

I bet its well over a 100 quid over the years in bits and bobs

Worst thing is when you do a house, theres nets up at all the front windows you finish off on the patio door which is the only window in the house where you can see in and then you notice theres no furniture.

Last year i was doing a property he moved out owing me 20 quid i later found out he was a police officer,  :

Brett

[Paul Coleman]

I bet its well over a 100 quid over the years in bits and bobs

Worst thing is when you do a house, theres nets up at all the front windows you finish off on the patio door which is the only window in the house where you can see in and then you notice theres no furniture.

Last year i was doing a property he moved out owing me 20 quid i later found out he was a police officer,  :

Brett

If the question is about how much I've been done out of over the years that's not so easy to answer.  At a guess I would say about £400 in 15 years - the biggest being the £70 I mentioned earlier.  Most of that estimated £400 has been since I stopped doing doorstep collections.  I have probably saved a lot more than that £400 by not doing collections though.
Sometimes it's been a case of me getting fed up with a bad customer and them not sending the cheque.  I've regarded the £10 or £15 lost as an investment because it removes a bad customer from my business and makes room for a good one.  Losing a bad customer for so little money really can be a big bonus.  It's less likely to happen now because I would usually free myself from such a customer at a time when I was owed no money.

[Highrise]

Did a job on a council estate and customer said she had no money this week so I said don't worry pay me next time. It went on for 4 mth and told her you owe me £ 32 thats £ 8 per clean.... Come back wednesday and I will pay you she said, So I go round and see her every wednesday ( for the last 4 mth now) and when i see her in the supermarket or on the high street I always make a point of TALKING LOUD to her so everyone around can hear me. Flakey Customers I call them. She still hasn't paid me, But everytime I she her I pull her up and TALK REALLY LOUD.... I wont give up chaceing my money..... I now is only £ 32 but I can't stand flakey customers.........

[choice.clean]

just had 2 refuse to pay one owed £136 tried to threaten court action no go though
what annoys me is that most of my customers pay me in advance so usually not a problem.
but one the other day hadn't signed up for regular service and after we called said we had damaged conservatory roof i took the fault on board and paid out £127 to get it repaired, did he continue the service you guessed no. if some of these non payers had a liability claim you can bet they wouldn't hesitate to claim. FROM NOW ON MY PHILOSOPHY IS NO CONTRACT NO JOB(we now make them agree to use service for 3 months that sorts them out, YOU'D BE AMAZED HOW MANY OF THESE DISLIKE COMMITMENT. but i do take consolation from the philosophy what goes round comes round that is what life has taught me. I NEVER GLOAT BUT WHEN THEY ASK YOU TO DO THERE HOUSE AGAIN AND YOU REMIND THEM OF THE WAY THEY LET YOU DOWN, great when they can't find a cleaner and your the only one in the street. Just bide your time you'll see.

[M & C Window Cleaning]

Some years ago I handed over £16.50 change from a score to an old couple for a £3.50 job. They then swore blind that they had already given me the 20, and refused to give my change back. Nothing I could say could sway them from the belief they'd already given it to me. In effect I ended up paying them £16.50 to clean their windows. They seemed to have taken a holiday from reality for a moment as they had always been first rate custies and genuinely seemed to believe they had payed me.

Lesson: Always make sure you've got the custies money in your hand b4 handing out your change.

Over the years the accumulated losses from people moving or dying and relatives not settling accounts are probably in the hundreds.

Having said that I have had some that have gone out of their way to make sure that I've been paid. One new householder actually insisted on paying the debt of a previous householder as they wanted me to carry on with the service.

[pylofm]

I have been done recently and am now putting it down to experiance but from now on....nobody get more than one clean on credit....they have 14 days to pay via bank transfer and this is enough time.

I am running a business and customers need to pay bills.

Dave.

[Londoner]

If you think window cleaning is bad you should try being a taxi driver. I'v had all sorts from "Stop at that cash point" and them watched them run down an alley to "Oh dear I have come out without my wallet"

One bloke came up to my cab late at night asking if I knew of an all night chemist, which I did. There is only one but it was miles away.
On the way he made a big story of saying how his little boy was sick and how they had waited hours for the emergency doctor. Now he's got to get a prescription for the boy.
You can guess the rest. The emergency chemist had two doors. It was just a scam. Mug I am not but they still catch you because its the ones you don't expect.   

[Trevor Knight]

In the early days we used to get stung with people saying "I cancelled last month" having just watched us clean the windows.

Now we stopped that by telling customers they must notify us in writing to the office and also get a cancellation reference back from us for the cancellation to be agreed. This stops people doing the dirty on us, it's in our T&C's and when we send them a letter with the term highlighted explaining we WILL take them to court if they don't pay, we get paid.