[Mrs Nicholls]

i am cautiously posting this question...............

is there anything legally that can be done, like impose charges/fees on domestic customers?

[*Chris Browne]

I believe that you can impose a certain% on a late payement although iv e never had to,.... ive come close!.     Its a catch 22 situation when you have a good customer but they pay late,.. do a search for business link, i think its just businesslink.com, i think theres info on there covering this problem somewhere.

chris

[Mrs Nicholls]

everywhere i look it has info for commercial contracts but not domestic.

it was a one off clean as the client wanted us, then tried to bribe us with free hairdressing as she couldn't afford us every week.

We did one clean, and haven't been able to contact them since. Sent original invoice, reminder invoice and have given them until 30th may to make payment, or further action will be sought.

what that further action is, i dont know yet though 
maybe a letter to say we are in talks with solictor regarding non payment, that might make her pay, i don't know.

[Fox]

Hi Lisa

Send a letter saying you are going to take her to county court, give her seven days notice to pay and include that no further communication will be entered into.  Get some forms from your local court or download them (sorry haven't got the web address maybe someone else can help).  You will have to pay court fees up front but can claim them back when you win.

There are other threads on here about late/non payment I assume you have already done a search.

Fox

[www.crawleycarpetc]

I believe after thirty days of non-payment you are entitled to start charging interest on monies owed, i think its 4% above the bank of England base rate but not 100% sure.It would be cool if we could get a proffessional to answer a few of the grey areas that seem to pop up on here all the time?
Regards Rob.

[keith b]

Lisa,

Fox is right,

In my district (Romford County Court, Essex.) there is a section manned by lawyers that give free advice on legal matters relating to small claims, where they help and prepare the forms needed to proceed, i assume this is UK wide service.
So just pop into your local county court and tell them about your situation, im sure they will help you.

good luck
keith b

[Mrs Nicholls]

i thought that was just for commercial though. Terms were clearly stated 14 days from date of clean. so it was due 2 weeks ago. In the reminder i have given her until 30th to pay. can't say its very likely though that i'll receive the payment.

I'll pop in to the court, the money owing isn't much. but we did a fantastic job, she was well pleased, but hasn't yet paid.

Thanks for your help everyone

[www.crawleycarpetc]

Have you tried speaking to her face to face as you will get a better feel for what the problem is? She may be financially embarrassed and a friendly chat with a clear understanding may save a lot of heartache and stress on both parties! Also will help with your reputation as being an "understanding"
local business that cares about its customers! Just a thought Lisa but she wont be able to say you didn't communicate!!

[Mrs Nicholls]

no answer when i've been to see her, i feel like she is avoiding me, since we didn't take up her offer of free hairdressing to pay for cleaning services.

I'll try and catch her in this week, i'm going to keep trying, i'll ask if she wants to pay in installments of some sort.

[keith b]

Lisa,

Have just found some interesting info for you.

Before you do anything, go to www.mybusiness.co.uk, then click on "my finance & money" (left of screen), then scroll down to "small claims" (right/middle of screen) and read the sections, it will list pretty much what you want to know.

There is also advice on credit ratings and where to get access to previous court judgements on persons/businesses.

keith b

[Paul Forster]

Try and get new customers to pay by direct debit. Comercial work is invoiced either monthly or next day if a one off.

By and large most people pay on time and for domestic one off work we leave a stamped adress envelope.

Paul

[dianeo]

Hi Lisa,

How long has it been since you last cleaned them? Do they always pay late do you say this invoice should be paid with in Days.

Diane

[Mrs Nicholls]

we did the clean on 3rd may, gave 14 days to pay, customer very happy with our work, wanted us every week but can't afford us.

reminder invoice said to pay up by 30th, but can't get hold of her, so don't think will receive payment. it's only 40 odd quid but thats not really the point.

her house was a tip, and we worked hard to get it to sparkle.

[dianeo]

Send her a second reminder then try calling and asking if se received your invoice.

It may only be £40 it’s not the point you have done the work.

Regards,

Diane

[Trevor Knight]

If you take any customer to court for a debt you will ALWAYS have to have a contract that details exactly what you have agreed to do. You will need to show quotations and acceptance of quote letters. You will need a document to confirm you have completed your obligation as the cleaning company to the customers satisfaction.

If your agreement is only verbal you will not win the case  The customer can tell the court the work was not completed, not good enough in fact many different lies and unless you can prove otherwise you will not get judgement.

I know what I am talking about, I have taken many dodgy customers to court in our early days and learn't my lessons quickly. Now, all work is agreed, accepted in writing and finished off in writing giving me, the contractor the upper hand should we ever go to court.

Good luck 

[shelton]

Sound advice there, methinks.

I've certainly got the "before" sorted, just need to get a signature after I guess.  Not always that easy with domestics though, as most cleans are performed when the customer is not around.

Got any tips for that situation?

[Trevor Knight]

Yeah I understand what your saying about absent customers.

You may want include in your quotation that they sign and agreed to:

Work will be carried out as per our quotation detailed above. ANY complaints regarding the standard of work or any area that the customer feels has not been carried out to their satisfaction must be made in writing and sent recorded delivery only, to our office address within 7 days, otherwise we will accept no liability for any complaints made and the invoice will be payable in full. We will not accept telephone calls/messages or non recorded letters.


At least this puts the responsibility on your customer and not you. If you went to court the judge would want to see proof that they have sent the letter and complied with your terms and conditions. No proof then PAY UP!!

hope this helps,

best wishes, Trev

[andrew chrysler]

Don't worry about lack of contracts, quotes etc. A verbal agreement is quite sufficient for the small claims procedure.

Contracts might make it easier, but a verbal contract is still binding.

Anyway, you have sent invoices, and the client hasn't written to you to say "what are you billing me for?"

Dont forget,  unlike criminal court, you don't have to prove your case beyond reasonable doubt, just on a balance of probabilities.... the court will take the view that you wouldn't take court action if the money was not owed.

Take a look at www.courtservice.gov.uk

It only costs a few pounds to start proceedings, and the court cost gets added to the claim anyway.

Good luck, and don't let them get away with it!

[Trevor Knight]

Andrew,

I have been to court many times in my early years and out of 9 cases I won none.

The verbal agreement is worthless, the court WILL expect an agreed work schedule to confirm you have carried out what is expected of you. You go to court, pay yet more money out, the judge says "why haven't you paid" the defendant says"because all the work was not completed to my satisfaction"!

You then go through a 5 min debate which will end up with you arguing you have done the work and the defendant arguing you haven't. During this process the judge will ask for PAPERWORK, i.e. contracts, quotations, completion sheets. Then you will be told, this cannot be agreed, go back and do the work again, get the defendant to agree and sign the work is acceptable and then they will pay you.

FACT !!

If you don't want to do the work again, leave and kiss goodbye to your court costs, time and money.

Not having ago at you Andrew but have seen these type of people walk away scott free so many times, it makes my blood boil!!!!

[andrew chrysler]

Trevor, I've been to court chasing debts many, many times. Sometimes for £20, and sometimes for £4000.

Sometimes I had every document, sometimes a few, sometimes nothing on paper at all, other than the invoice.

I won on every occasion.... maybe I was lucky, maybe I just look honest!

Getting the CCJ (judgement) is the easy bit though.... the hard bit is getting the money out of a stone.

The question to follow "work not done to my satisfaction" asks the defendant whether they complained.... and if they didn't write to complain, they have no documents either.

It makes my blood boil too when people won't pay.... but 0 out of 9 sounds pretty unlucky to me!