In July 2012 I was asked to clean the gutters, fascias and windows of a mid-terraced house and, for the same woman, a the windows of a large detached house. We agreed the price would be £70. She said she'd send a cheque on but it never arrived. When I called her she said "Oh yeah, i've been in Tenerife but I posted the cheque yesterday" - it never arrived. Despite many phone calls and her assurance that "i'll put a cheque in the post" I ended up, after Final Demands, going to Thomas Higgins.
It was a bit of a dilemma in doing so because I knew her father had died recently and she was a single parent. In addition she was supporting her younger teenage sisters (with the help of her elder brothers). I figured that if she responded to the Thos Higgins Letter Before Action i'd cut a deal to take the money in instalments.
Unfortunately she didn't and it went to court. She didn't contest it and I won the case. By now it was Christmas and the amount she owed was £236... I got a request from her through the court to pay £20 / mth, which I was happy to accept. I was hacked off because on the court docs she said she didn't have a cheque book, so all those stories she told me were lies as I knew they were.
I didn't get a penny despite the court dictating the date the first payment should be paid. She then asked to pay £30 mth; again I agreed and again I got nothing....
Roll on to spring and she again asks to pay £20 / mth and again I agree (on advice from Thos Higgins). Amazingly she makes payments through to August on the 1st of the month regular as clockwork - happy days. Unfortunately that all stopped in September. Again I go back to Thomas Higgins, but this time i'm going for the lot - the remaining £116.
Happily I got en email last week saying Thos Higgns had received a cheque (presumably from a relative on her behalf) payable to them in final settlement and once it cleared they'd send one on to me. I got it on Wednesday.
Was I right to follow through? Despite being on a low wage this woman engaged me for work she never intended to pay for. She was happy to go to Tenerife on holiday rather than pay her bills. She lied to me about having posted payments. She would not return my polite calls or answer the door to me. I made every effort to make payment easy for her yet she ignored the opportunities I gave. Had she, at the beginning, said to me "I've made a foolish mistake and asked you to do work I can't pay for" I have dropped the matter there and then. Instead she's got a CCJ and she's paid hundreds of pounds rather than the £70 she owed, whilst I've been paid in full. It's worth the hassle of chasing them.