[creggan]

recently i have become fed up collecting from my custies,time consuming,fuel costs all add to this. what options are out there and how do i put something in place to get payment to me,postal is not an option

[p1w1]

bank transfer, paypal on a website, if you cant have postal going to where you live then get a p/o from the post office box and have it sent there.

[robertphil]

good idea the P O box.    a fair bit of the mail coming to me never gets here,a crooked postie? perhaps

after all my vans visible so they can guess money comes here

[paul saunders]

Just do em for free, 

[combat1]

Like most others I hate collecting. I either leave a stamped addressed envelope, which is costly, especially when a hooky postman in Southampton stole around £600 before they caught him!
or just lately am asking all new customers about bank transfer and almost all are willing and pay up ok.
For outstanding debts I text a reminder and if no joy I send a statement, still no joy and I send the letter ' despite numerous attempts to collect your debt remains unpaid. This letter is to inform you that as from .... the debt will pass out of my control, with the associated costs and actions'
I normally manage to collect all outstanding.
Hope this helps.

[bobplum]

STANDING ORDERS,for new customers from this moment

try and get existing customers on to it then the BACS option

do this for about 3 months and by winter you will have halved your collecting

i came home one Sunday from collecting,with nothing had a issy fit,next day told customers THIS IS HOW ITS GOING TO BE those that Dont comply,if you can dump

[Granny]

Hi Creggan
Going through this myself.
BACS is great - try and get a phone number to txt reminder - you will have to!
Try and get a phone no. for every customer then at least you can arrange a time to collect and save wasted speculative trips.
Get them to leave money in pre-arranged place at certain time.
Hopefully we will reach a point when we only take on new customers who are prepared to pay online or make arrangements to suit us - like the woman who drops a cheque off at our house.
G.

[Banbury Window Cleaning]

I got absolutely sick of collecting a few months ago and now my custies have the following options:
leave payment in a safe place as i text/call the night before (this should be it really as no excuse caus i have told them i am coming)
bank transfer - all new custies are told either leave money in a safe place or pay online within 5 days
last resort for the few who dont leave cash out or bank online i leave a addressed envelope for cheques to be sent)
I intend to completely stop collecting in Jan and any custies who dont comply are going to be dropped!! or price doubled for me to come and collect
seems to be working at the min tho 

[jim bean]

I dont do collecting, most of my works is 5-10miles out. I leave a SAE, however as stamps have gone up ive started only leaving it for £10+ jobs and leaving one every two cleans for £6-£9.
It can affect your cash flow some months if you get unlucky but then the next months gonna make it for it anyways...
None of my custys pay online or bank transfer as I feel that would complicate things further with having to check bank for payments etc whereas i just mark off in the book when done and cross them through when the check comes in

[AuRavelling79]

I dont do collecting, most of my works is 5-10miles out. I leave a SAE, however as stamps have gone up ive started only leaving it for £10+ jobs and leaving one every two cleans for £6-£9.
It can affect your cash flow some months if you get unlucky but then the next months gonna make it for it anyways...
None of my custys pay online or bank transfer as I feel that would complicate things further with having to check bank for payments etc whereas i just mark off in the book when done and cross them through when the check comes in

You're too kind Jim Bean - I just post a windows cleaned slip - no envelope, no stamp.

And all bank transfers leave surname and house number and I just tick them off every couple of days sat in front of the PC.

[Paddy Woods]

arrange a time to collect and save wasted speculative trips.
Get them to leave money in pre-arranged place at certain time.
Hopefully we will reach a point when we only take on new customers who are prepared to pay online

This is some good advice creggan!
The best is standing orders but u can't force all down this route so bacs & PayPal other option apart from above but please others correct me if  I'm wrong but u never can totally stop collecting?? (even calling back to pick it out of BBQ etc a form of collecting but it saves repeated trips!)

[Paul H]

You're too kind Jim Bean - I just post a windows cleaned slip - no envelope, no stamp.

And all bank transfers leave surname and house number and I just tick them off every couple of days sat in front of the PC.
[/quote]

Same ... or payment straight away if custy in... simple as

[mlscontractcleaner]

We have pay pal on our website; it's great logging on and finding some more money in your account; and all their details are there for you to see who's paid so there's no confusion.

[Frankybadboy]

We have pay pal on our website; it's great logging on and finding some more money in your account; and all their details are there for you to see who's paid so there's no confusion.

not so good when you see how much they charge

[Paddy Woods]

We have pay pal on our website; it's great logging on and finding some more money in your account; and all their details are there for you to see who's paid so there's no confusion.

not so good when you see how much they charge

Get the app on ur phone & it alarms u when u have payment!....& I don't think PayPal charge too much it is a service after all & people trust the brand .

[FCS]

I dont do collecting, most of my works is 5-10miles out. I leave a SAE, however as stamps have gone up ive started only leaving it for £10+ jobs and leaving one every two cleans for £6-£9.
It can affect your cash flow some months if you get unlucky but then the next months gonna make it for it anyways...
None of my custys pay online or bank transfer as I feel that would complicate things further with having to check bank for payments etc whereas i just mark off in the book when done and cross them through when the check comes in

You're too kind Jim Bean - I just post a windows cleaned slip - no envelope, no stamp.

And all bank transfers leave surname and house number and I just tick them off every couple of days sat in front of the PC.

Ditto that for me.. Done that for years, just pop a (nicely printed) slip through the door stating the address, date(s) cleaned, and amount owing, and sit back and wait for the cheques to come through the letterbox.
I've taken paypal payments on my website for years too, but you pay a percentage on these payments, increasingly more and more of my customers have adopted the BACS payment straight into my bank though. If you offer more ways of paying they're more likely to pay imo...