[billozz]

we are thinking of swopping as many custies over to d/d/ as possible, to lessen the ammount we have to collect each week, if any of you do this now how do you keep a check on whether they've paid do you have to do it or can you get the bank to advise you of payment or non payment, as we have a few hundred custies it would be a right pain to have to check them all, but faster than collecting foe a few hours a week. cant imagine that larger companies light british gas have to check who has and who hasnt paid
cheers guys
Bill

[Window Washers]

we are thinking of swopping as many custies over to d/d/ as possible, to lessen the ammount we have to collect each week, if any of you do this now how do you keep a check on whether they've paid do you have to do it or can you get the bank to advise you of payment or non payment, as we have a few hundred custies it would be a right pain to have to check them all, but faster than collecting foe a few hours a week. cant imagine that larger companies light british gas have to check who has and who hasnt paid
cheers guys
Bill

you will not be able to do direct debit unless you pay a compnay to do this for you, unless you turn over a serious amount of money and if this was the case you wouldnt ask on here.

the easy was to get people pay on line in via standing order or bill payment via their own online banking.

make sure you give them each a unique reference number (postcodes do not work if you have a tight round, nor does last names) mistakes I made a few years back, ref numbers are easy trust me.

it is as simple as logging into online banking and having someone mark them against your database, if you dont have a data base you could use a program like excel, or get a program like either george or window cleaner pro.

you will think collecting is from the dionosaur age when you start with online banking

[Paddy Woods]

I had a lot saying brillant will do that (standing order 60% hit rate)but then they don't do it about 35% did in end so don't expect everyone to go ahead   various reasons why they won't sign up but imo its they feel they lose control

Make sure they put first line of address as ref then u won't have much trouble who it is
DD is harder to do than standing order!... I had standing Oder mandate made up rest for them & I put in the ref I need to show up in
my account before I gave it to them(ie house no & first line of address)
Hope it works out  

[Total shine cleaning services]

I do the same I leave a payment slip saying " to keep my prices competitive we don't collect please pay online or post a cheque"  90% of my customers do this and the odd ones pay on 2 nd clean, they leave 1st line of address as a ref then I just tick the boxes in the George window cleaning software debt list and jobs a good un, I used to spend man hours on excel spreadsheets but the George system makes it so easy to track debts, hope this helps

Graham

[DMC Window Cleaners Ltd]

I do the same I leave a payment slip saying " to keep my prices competitive we don't collect please pay online or post a cheque"  90% of my customers do this and the odd ones pay on 2 nd clean, they leave 1st line of address as a ref then I just tick the boxes in the George window cleaning software debt list and jobs a good un, I used to spend man hours on excel spreadsheets but the George system makes it so easy to track debts, hope this helps

Graham

Glad its working for you 

[David Lingard]

paypal offer recurring payment services now...

[Tom White]

Bank transfer is good, however,  I've a few that pay by Standing Order, and if I'm late (i.e. I receive two payments but have only cleaned once in that period), when I next turn up to clean, I put a refund in an envelope and push it through their letter box.  It works quite well, though it still feels weird cleaning a property and then 'paying the customer'!

Many of my customers are elderly and don't use computers though.

[Paul Coleman]

we are thinking of swopping as many custies over to d/d/ as possible, to lessen the ammount we have to collect each week, if any of you do this now how do you keep a check on whether they've paid do you have to do it or can you get the bank to advise you of payment or non payment, as we have a few hundred custies it would be a right pain to have to check them all, but faster than collecting foe a few hours a week. cant imagine that larger companies light british gas have to check who has and who hasnt paid
cheers guys
Bill

you will not be able to do direct debit unless you pay a compnay to do this for you, unless you turn over a serious amount of money and if this was the case you wouldnt ask on here.

the easy was to get people pay on line in via standing order or bill payment via their own online banking.

make sure you give them each a unique reference number (postcodes do not work if you have a tight round, nor does last names) mistakes I made a few years back, ref numbers are easy trust me.

it is as simple as logging into online banking and having someone mark them against your database, if you dont have a data base you could use a program like excel, or get a program like either george or window cleaner pro.

you will think collecting is from the dionosaur age when you start with online banking

Postcode works fine if door number/abbr. of house name is used with it.
As you say, customer names aren't enough.  At least one bank (IF) won't show them (plus surnames can be duplicated too).

[Richard iSparkle]

Some companies use DDs.  They say they are better than SOs because you are informed if the payment stops, and also you can put up your prices by just informing the customer and then changing the DD yourself.

the downside is they are more expensive than standing orders, and you have to pay a setup fee which is around £2.50 i think, but you have to pay that again if the customer cancels the DD for some reason (they'll do this sometimes).

we use SOs ourselves currently and they work well, unless the customer stops paying you, if the SO doesnt work first time also you are waiting for the customer to let you know (which they dont always), and also putting up your prices is a reaql hassle as you are waiting for the customer to get around to doing it, which can take a while.

[SunShineCleaning]

Bank transfer is good, however,  I've a few that pay by Standing Order, and if I'm late (i.e. I receive two payments but have only cleaned once in that period), when I next turn up to clean, I put a refund in an envelope and push it through their letter box.  It works quite well, though it still feels weird cleaning a property and then 'paying the customer'!

Many of my customers are elderly and don't use computers though.

I get round about 10 times a year so in when putting my prices up this month and asking them to switch to SO I have worked out a round figure for them to pay.
This generally means that they have savd a few £'s over the year,plus I dont have to post them money.

[Erithwc]

we are thinking of swopping as many custies over to d/d/ as possible, to lessen the ammount we have to collect each week, if any of you do this now how do you keep a check on whether they've paid do you have to do it or can you get the bank to advise you of payment or non payment, as we have a few hundred custies it would be a right pain to have to check them all, but faster than collecting foe a few hours a week. cant imagine that larger companies light british gas have to check who has and who hasnt paid
cheers guys
Bill

you will not be able to do direct debit unless you pay a compnay to do this for you, unless you turn over a serious amount of money and if this was the case you wouldnt ask on here.

the easy was to get people pay on line in via standing order or bill payment via their own online banking.

make sure you give them each a unique reference number (postcodes do not work if you have a tight round, nor does last names) mistakes I made a few years back, ref numbers are easy trust me.

it is as simple as logging into online banking and having someone mark them against your database, if you dont have a data base you could use a program like excel, or get a program like either george or window cleaner pro.

you will think collecting is from the dionosaur age when you start with online banking

I use postcode and door number eg 34da93we works great for me