[Deep Cleaning Solutions]

I have just had my first bounced cheque  . I had a bad feeling to be honest about it. I will try to cut a long story short. -
Did a short notice job about 2 weeks ago, flood problem, guy wanted his kitchen one off cleaning and 2 room carpets and a hallway extracting and cleaning.The guy came over as some bigshot on the phone and said he runs his business from home and that we had to be carefull with things that are in order ect.With this in mind and the fact he wanted it doing the same day meaning me and my helper would be working late afternoon/evening i gave him an estimate of £150.00/£200 , he was happy with this and tbh i had in my mind i was going to charge the higher amount until i viewed his house  . One of the biggest sheet holes i have seen, you could hardly see the carpet for rubbish and this bigshot sells Avon for a living, he was still acting like the big i am though!!! Tbh i was thinking of walking and thought there is know way he can afford to get it cleaned, but he kept saying  i don't care how much it costs as long as it is done.In the end i decided to charge him £150.00 and it took me and my worker about 1.5hrs to do, so i was pretty happy.He wrote me a cheque, but the next day i lost my wallet, so gave him a bell to sort out the cheque.It took a full week to get another cheque out of him, we went about 5 times, never in when arranged and even said he would leave it under the mat at the front, i got it eventually and put it in the bank. The cheque has bounced, which does not suprise me, as i thought he was stalling in the first place untill he had enough money in the bank. The thing is that has suprised me though is that it has turned out the bank he used with the cheque is closed ( he does not have a bank account ). He must of known that the cheque he sent me was from a closed account. Is it classed as fraud, if he knew it was a closed account.I have spoke to him and he say's he is going to pay me next Thursday the 27th dec, when he gets paid. If it is classed as fraud i will use it to threaten him by taking it further, so i can get payed by him, as i not totally convinced he is going to pay next week.

[AshWhite]

Sounds dodgy, but you might as well wait til next Thursday as nothing would likely happen between now and then anyway.

[Deep Cleaning Solutions]

He will pay me, if he stays there.The only thing that bothers me if he only had it cleaned to get his deposit back and he moves out.I have only had 2 problems in the past with payment, one for £90 who owed money to a few cleaning companies and they gave up, i tried every trick in the book and did get payed after about 4 months lol.I also had a customer who paid £10 less than they should.I hounded them for weeks until they paid me, is does not matter if it is £1 or £1000, i will pursue it everyday until they are completly sick of me.

[wynne jones]

Well good luck with it, but after Christmas even honest people are skint. 

[gwrightson]

I wasnt paid been owed nearly 4k early this year,  not a chance now  i might get a few quid eventualy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  knocked me right back  ,but managed to survive it and back on feet .
Yes I know my own fault for letting the amount get so much , but always paid inpast .
Live and learn.   at least you may recieve your money and no matter what amount its bloody annoying .
Geoff

[Hilton]

Yes its fraud.....but does not mean it will help getting paid knowing that.

He probably knows the routine, it will cost you too much to take it any further than a letter before action (Higgins & Co)

Just keep badgering him for the cash.....and let as many people as possible know, that he is a scum bag.

I suspect he will be gone before long with no forwarding address, he's just dragging the time out until then.

[Deep Cleaning Solutions]

I am going to be skint at this rate, lost money when i lost my wallet, lost out on this cheque and to top it off smashed my new mobile screen yesterday. They say bad luck comes on three's! I have not even got the wife a prezzie yet. I was planning to get a new motor and upgrade the wifes car after xmas, but i will have to see what's left, but at least we will save on ale this year as i've been T Total since Jan  

[wynne jones]

I always look for a to rent sign in cases like this and signs of packing. 

I had a similar thing with the cheque books. A women gave me a cheque and got a letter back from the bank just saying account closed. When I went round there she showed me two identical cheque books and said it was a mistake. Paid up no problem.

Personally I would say to the guy if he's got the money on 27th you will get the cash off him that day. Otherwise he will just bounce another one on you and say he's had an expensive Christmas.

[Russ Chadd]

Cheques are nothing but trouble... either cash, credit/debit card or bank transfer...
You can now accept card payments through your smart phone!
Go with your feelings... if he looked dodgy or something just didnt feel right you have the right to refuse to carry the work out unless cash is paid.... who these days cant withdraw £150 before you arrive?

[Deep Cleaning Solutions]

" I suspect he will be gone before long with no forwarding address, he's just dragging the time out until then. "

Think you could be spot on with this, i know it's not a massive amount, but it's the way he has done it. I am pretty understanding and if someone has got in over their head and is struggling i would work with them to sort it out, but it looks like this guy has tried to shaft me and knew what he was doing before he called me. I don't think he even apologised when i called a couple of days ago.Years ago i would of just lost it and probably done something i regretted, but having had health problems at the begining of the year i am trying to keep calm, as it has took all year to get my BP to somewhere near normal. Never mind i should of gone with my gut instinct, you live and learn as they say.
4k, sad to hear that Geoff, it only takes one big job to go tits up and your fooked.

[Deep Cleaning Solutions]

His ears must have been burning, he just called me and said he has put £30 under his front door mat for me and will sort some payment out next week for me. At least he is talking on the phone, which is a good sign. He must think i offer payment installments for carpet cleaning!   

[richie]

years & years a go i did a job for a building company.  Paid me by cheque and it bounced.  Every time i called i couldnt get hold of him so i left a message saying i will go to his house for payment, i even sent letters.  I ended up going to his house, waited for him to arrive and asked why he was avoiding me.  He made excuses  and said he would go and get me a cheque, as he went through the front door he tried to close it so i put my foot in the way and said i wasnt leaving without a cheque.  He asked how much it was, i handed him a updated invoice showing interest charges.  He asked why and i explained the interest charges are what i lost out on if i had banked it and the cost of stamps / fuel for me trying to get hold of him.  He wrote the cheque and as he handed it to me i told him if it bounced i wold be back and VERY UPSET.  He then requested i dont put it in my bank for 3 days saying it will be ok after that date.  Lucky for HIM.......when i paid it in the bank on the date he requested it went through ok.

[Dennis]

The cheque bounced for my first ever job in July 1990, luckily it went through on re-presentation but it taught me a valuable lesson, never trust an estate agent and in 22 years I have only ever lost £40 and that was in 1991 to a scumbag end of tenancy who scarpered. His name was Emmerson and if our paths ever cross I'll have him, not that I bear a grudge or anything. 

[M.Acorn]

I am currently chasing a company in Bowburn called Esh build, proving to be a pain in the arris

[Kinver_Clean]

I had a major company refuse to pay £16 000 because they said I was charging too much per sq mt.  I had agred that with their rep. 
I had already paid out £8 000 to a subbie for his help on the job.
Got my money after 9 months plus extra expenses.

[Carpet Dawg]

£16,000! bejesus! What where you cleaning?

See, if there was away of knowing who the scumbag customers are before booking them in!! i.e. a customer black list site that I keep on badgering on about!

Cash is king as they say, BACs is also good but you need to trust the person has transfered the money and you only know that once your home or via your phone but the person has to bank at the same bank as you for it to be instant. I think thats correct?

Only ever been ripped off once, this horrible bitch from Kirkliston when I very first started. I was booked to clean her hall way and lounge carpets. When I got there she wanted me to clean a staircase, bedrooms etc. Anyway I told her how much it would be and she ok'ed it. Then she buggered off and left me in the house with two small kids!! She said she'd be back in 15 minutes. By the time I had finished she was still not back, she told me on the phone if I could pass round tomorrow for payment.
I called the next day to ask what time was good for her, she then went beserk at me on the phone saying that I had wetted her carpet!! No poo sherlock! The silly moo thought I was going to dry clean her carpets or something, yeah thats why you seen me fill up my steampro with several buckets of water before you left!

So she basicly said F you, your not getting any money and her husband said if I went round there he'd sort me out  

I wont mention happend to thier lovely red mini cooper or thier windows, or thier grass on a public forum but I will say revenge is best served after about a year   It would have been alot eaiser for them to have paid me my £160.

That job taught me alot of lessons about "the customer". You need  to have your wits about you, there's alot of bellends around.

[Simon Gerrard]

Kind of makes the case for not taking cheques and having a card machine, which is one of its big advantages.

Simon

[*Hector*]

don't get this grief with cash 

 

[Kinver_Clean]

Believe it or not 4000 sq mt office carpet over 6 long nights 120 miles away from base. Team of three.
Done with DF as they would not have wet carpets.

[clive ware]

£4.00 per m2