[Steve Weatherley]

Got a call from a builder who does general maintenance for an estate agency a while ago.......would I quote for carpet cleaning in one of the flats they are working on. Did the quote same day and he agreed for me to do the clean.
On the day of the clean one of his workers who was supposed to meet me onsite called me to say he had to go somewhere else so would it be okay if he dropped the keys off to my home - to which I agreed. I did the clean and called the builder to say all done. He said he would get his man to call round to collect the keys and pay me.
The next day the man came for the keys but with no payment. I know it may seem foolish but I gave him the keys back and accepted his explanation that the payment would be forthcoming that week. 3 weeks on I am still waiting to be paid. Whenever I phone the builder I get the answerphone and he doesn't return my calls. His office is a flat above a shop so I can't gain access.
Does anyone have any ideas (sensible please) that are effective in getting this customer to pay up.

[Nigel_W]

Steve,

Try using the online county court system,

http://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk

Nigel

[Len Gribble]

Steve

Have a word with the estate agent if it was one of there’s jobs you may have some luck.

Builders are devils in carnet; the same can be applied to customers who say the builder will pay you!

Know this may not be of any help to you, but I bet you wont do this again the word cash springs to mind!

Len

[Cloverleaf]

I would send him a letter saying that if debt not paid within x amount of days legal procedings will be taken which may affect his ability to obtain credit in the future.

If you use money claim online it will cost you over £100 and you may loose this. For a small debt under a few hundred quid It may not be worth the hastle and you may have to write it off.

I would also try to find his home address, so that you know he is recieving your corespondence.

In my experiance builders should be checked out thoroughly before doing any work for them.

John

[darrenlee]

JUST TO ADD TO ABOVE, ALL LETERS KEEP A COPY FOR YOURSELF AND SEND RECORDED DELIVEREY.
BUT TO BE HONEST THINK YOU WILL HAVE TO WRITE IT OF
AND PUT IT DOWN TO EXPERIENCE.

MYSELF CASH WOULD HAVE BEEN THERE, OR DIRTY WATER
WOULD HAVE GONE BACK FROM WHERE IT CAME.

AWFULL TO SAY THIS BUT YOU CANT TRUST ANYONE,
BIT SAD REALLY

DARREN

[magic_carpet]

hi. i've just been through a non-payment thing and got the cheque this week..after 3 months..firstly if it's a builder then 3 weeks probably doesn't seem to long to them..probably thinks it is commercial so 30 days is fair..45 day's and he'll pay..
if you have your terms on your bill and they are clear then send a seven day notice of action via recorded mail  stating that any extra fee's well be added to the unpaid e.c.t then you can file online at the county court site..you are also allowed to charge onto £40 for admin fee's once filed...
i'm in the FSB (The Federation of Small Businesses) and they have a great fee legal help line. really helps with stuff like this..
good luck
jim

[Karl Wildey]

You have to rerturn the keys, you can not hold someone elses property, so you were not foolish. You have to give some time for payment and 30 days is the norm, so he has a week left.
The longer you are in business the easy and less fightening this becomes.  I work the insurance flood/fire trade for years and would be owned 10k's at any time, worse it got to was 50k, but it is part of the package.

As for getting paid don't panic, its pretty straight forward. Send him a letter after 30 days saying payment is due, give him a week/10 days to settle, (I give 30 days, cos I'm lasy at chasing bad debts too).
Then send a second letter by recorded delivery saying payment is now due cough up in 14 days or go to the County Court. Cheque will soon arrive. No one wants a court court judgement  (CCJ) againist them, as it goes on their file and any further credit checks made againist that person, the CCJ will be there, and they will score bad credit points. As your client is a builder he will know all of this already, and thats why you soon get paid.
Don't worry you will get paid, but you may have wait a bit.

[des]

Just to add my bit what i do is phone around all the other carpet cleaners in the area and give the name of the company This company will then find it very hard to have any more carpets cleaned in the future  des

[Nigel_W]

John at Cloverleaf -

It will not cost over £100 to claim through Money claim online. That is incorrect advice you have given.

The minimum fee is £30 for small claims. This rises depending on the value of the claim. For example it cost £80 for a claim of £1000. So the amount paid rises with the value of the claim.

I recently made a claim for £211.50 and I can confirm the cost was £30. The client paid immediately they received the paperwork from the Court service.

As Karl says most people are very nervous about county court judgements. Using moneyclaim online cuts out all the bull. Your builder can either pay, defend himself or accept a ccj.

Just make sure you exhaust all normal means of collection first as it is unlikely you will have (or want ) a business relationship with this person after you force him to pay.

I have used the service about 5 times in the last 3 years. On each occasion I have been paid by return. Well worth the fees.

Nigel