[C & S]

Best Job I love it.
However at times my blood boils...
Why do some make it so difficult..
Sending my first ever few thomas higgins letters out monday for non payments from a few customers...

We work hard so bloody pay us...

The problem is I think its the small amounts thats ppl simply just dont bother to pay. Dont get me wrong 90percent of my customers are fantastic its just the 10percent problem ones which I am sure we all have..
Cull is coming soon once I have replacements for them.
Im not even polite anymore to people who mess me about, they take the p@*s and they know it so I tell them straight. It does make me feel better.
Rant over

[Stoots]

I'm getting lots of none payers at the minute as building quite quickly.

I've 10 debt letters that need to be posted out and I ve a few more that look like potentials.

I must have written off about 500 quid in the last 2 years. All small jobs 10-15 quid window cleans.

Just part of the game I'm afraid.

I know what you mean though it's really hard to bite your tongue when dealing with these scum bags.

[duncan h]

I was going to do the  Thomas Higgins letters, until it asked me to sign for Standing Order/ Direct Debit. Why cant you pay by card.
It sonly £35 to go to small claims. You get interest, lost pay and they get ccj.
I was going to take one to court, for the simple fact he was giving me bull for months that he paid.Messing with bank etc. In the end I didn't bother because I though he would be given my address. He doesn't have it and cant find it. I can egg his windows, he cant egg mine

[dazmond]

i write off less than £100 a year.some years its less than £50.most customers are good payers.even the slow ones pay eventually.ones that dont pay usually move or die.(no i dont kill them! )

my debt list is usually larger at this time of year due to holidays.its currently £1063.50 which is pretty good.over £750.00 of this is BACS/cheque payments.the rest cash.itll come in slowly over the next few weeks.over £400 is commercial jobs which always take at least a month to get paid.

im not waiting for it.i treat my debtlist like money in the bank.

[Stoots]

I was going to do the  Thomas Higgins letters, until it asked me to sign for Standing Order/ Direct Debit. Why cant you pay by card.
It sonly £35 to go to small claims. You get interest, lost pay and they get ccj.
I was going to take one to court, for the simple fact he was giving me bull for months that he paid.Messing with bank etc. In the end I didn't bother because I though he would be given my address. He doesn't have it and cant find it. I can egg his windows, he cant egg mine

Mine get small claims letters.  I've treated probably a dozen with them and got paid for maybe half. The rest I wrote off but at the moment it's a few hundred quid so I need to start following through on the debts.

And yes a bit of revenge as a last resort.

[Susan Dean (1stclean)]

for small amounts we finding that going back with a mix of dirty water and egg and fairy all mixed togather then brushed on to the window makes you feel loads better , done 3 houses , 1 block of flats and a hotel this year so far

[duncan h]

for small amounts we finding that going back with a mix of dirty water and egg and fairy all mixed togather then brushed on to the window makes you feel loads better , done 3 houses , 1 block of flats and a hotel this year so far

Too many with cameras on the street.

[Johnny B]

I no longer stress about slow or non-payers.

Most of my customers are genuine and pay me when I see them the next time I am around. The ones who take the wee wee: I just wait for them to contact me (which most of them do eventually when they have either exhausted the local supply of window cleaners or think I have forgotten their debt.

John.

[Stoots]

for small amounts we finding that going back with a mix of dirty water and egg and fairy all mixed togather then brushed on to the window makes you feel loads better , done 3 houses , 1 block of flats and a hotel this year so far

haha so professional 

I agree though, no one should be allowed to take the urine.
If they dont pay one way they must pay another way.

I once heard of someone throwing a dart into a massive inflatable paddling pool in a backyard 

[P @ F]

for small amounts we finding that going back with a mix of dirty water and egg and fairy all mixed togather then brushed on to the window makes you feel loads better , done 3 houses , 1 block of flats and a hotel this year so far

haha so professional 

I agree though, no one should be allowed to take the urine.
If they dont pay one way they must pay another way.

I once heard of someone throwing a dart into a massive inflatable paddling pool in a backyard 

I wonder who that was 

[Dry Clean]

Guys when you pay x amount to advertise do you throw a wobbly if it doesn't pay out, non payers are part of building a round,
horrible people but not worth chasing through the courts, there's nothing business like about revenge.
The only people who make this business difficult are window cleaners.

[AuRavelling79]

Mod note: Posts with swear words removed.

[Dave Anderson]

I now use aworka software and it makes life a little easier in respect of the process of contacting customers who are late payers.... Create a few templates i.e your payment is late, 2nd request, 3rd request etc, etc

So you see who is late even by 1 day, then shoot off a template message with the invoice.... then wait.... failure then go to 2nd message template.... Ok it does'nt solve the situation where someone is just not going to pay you but it does help the process with the 'late payers'.

I used to be a little lax chasing payments and I suppose a little embarrassed chasing for money when its only a 20 job or a week or so late..... Trouble is .... if this allowed to continue the debtors will consider it their right to pay 'when they get around to it'....  We work hard for our money, no sick money, holiday pay, bonus's, toilets, etc, etc, etc ..... Most employed would have a fit if their employers didn't pay them on the stated day their companies say they put their wages in the bank.... So why should we be any different? , we work, they pay on time only seems fair right?

I think many of use get caught up in the 'friendly' problem, nothing wrong with being friendly and polite but we work and we should expect as a 'right' to get paid as per the agreement between the customer and ourselves.

So I for one now just chase .... once the 'grace' period is up and 'aworka' tells me money is owed.... debtor is chased for the money owed.... I now see a big difference between customer and debtor.

I am polite and appreciate that sometimes people just forget or some other reason occurs thats fine and that's life but after a time we should know our customers histories and this is where our decisions can be made upon facts..... Keep paying late and you will be regulated to paying on the day or perhaps required to pay for x amount of cleans in advance or perhaps put on a late payment fee account i.e after days days and no payment, 5 added to you bill for every x weeks/days etc.

There is always the fact the a customer may not like being chased and then dumps me but hey thats life too :-)

Paying late is a choice.... customer chooses to keep paying late thats fine but they will have to pay for those choices.... Don't get me wrong I would prefer never to have to do any of this... Life would be nice if we just turned up as agreed, cleaned and they pay as agreed... Thats how life should be and how I would love it to be.

Customer is someone who has paid all their bills and is scheduled for 'service'.
Debtor is someone who owes me and mine money and will not be serviced until outstanding balance is paid.

No exceptions..... I now think of things a little differently.... A customer is their own little business i.e their household finances, my business is me and mine .... I should not be expected to grant their business free credit, financial assistance or freebies without agreement or any gain.

We walk a fine line between 'cheeky chappie shiners' and being a fully fledged business... Nothing wrong with being human and being a nice guy but there has to be a line somewhere and its for each of us to set our own lines and then enforce them.

So now issues/problems are dealt with based upon the customers/debtors history with our terms and conditions being the bedrock which makes life easier for both the customer/debtor and myself as without these known terms and conditions how can either party abide by them?

This is a horses for courses game..... we all have our own way of running our work-lives what work for you may or not work for me.... but at the end of the day clarity will always make dealing with issues a much easier road to travel.
Cheers Dave.




 

[trippyboy]

What i lose per year on non payment i more than get back on tips

[dazmond]

I now use aworka software and it makes life a little easier in respect of the process of contacting customers who are late payers.... Create a few templates i.e your payment is late, 2nd request, 3rd request etc, etc

So you see who is late even by 1 day, then shoot off a template message with the invoice.... then wait.... failure then go to 2nd message template.... Ok it does'nt solve the situation where someone is just not going to pay you but it does help the process with the 'late payers'.

I used to be a little lax chasing payments and I suppose a little embarrassed chasing for money when its only a 20 job or a week or so late..... Trouble is .... if this allowed to continue the debtors will consider it their right to pay 'when they get around to it'....  We work hard for our money, no sick money, holiday pay, bonus's, toilets, etc, etc, etc ..... Most employed would have a fit if their employers didn't pay them on the stated day their companies say they put their wages in the bank.... So why should we be any different? , we work, they pay on time only seems fair right?

I think many of use get caught up in the 'friendly' problem, nothing wrong with being friendly and polite but we work and we should expect as a 'right' to get paid as per the agreement between the customer and ourselves.

So I for one now just chase .... once the 'grace' period is up and 'aworka' tells me money is owed.... debtor is chased for the money owed.... I now see a big difference between customer and debtor.

I am polite and appreciate that sometimes people just forget or some other reason occurs thats fine and that's life but after a time we should know our customers histories and this is where our decisions can be made upon facts..... Keep paying late and you will be regulated to paying on the day or perhaps required to pay for x amount of cleans in advance or perhaps put on a late payment fee account i.e after days days and no payment, 5 added to you bill for every x weeks/days etc.

There is always the fact the a customer may not like being chased and then dumps me but hey thats life too :-)

Paying late is a choice.... customer chooses to keep paying late thats fine but they will have to pay for those choices.... Don't get me wrong I would prefer never to have to do any of this... Life would be nice if we just turned up as agreed, cleaned and they pay as agreed... Thats how life should be and how I would love it to be.

Customer is someone who has paid all their bills and is scheduled for 'service'.
Debtor is someone who owes me and mine money and will not be serviced until outstanding balance is paid.

No exceptions..... I now think of things a little differently.... A customer is their own little business i.e their household finances, my business is me and mine .... I should not be expected to grant their business free credit, financial assistance or freebies without agreement or any gain.

We walk a fine line between 'cheeky chappie shiners' and being a fully fledged business... Nothing wrong with being human and being a nice guy but there has to be a line somewhere and its for each of us to set our own lines and then enforce them.

So now issues/problems are dealt with based upon the customers/debtors history with our terms and conditions being the bedrock which makes life easier for both the customer/debtor and myself as without these known terms and conditions how can either party abide by them?

This is a horses for courses game..... we all have our own way of running our work-lives what work for you may or not work for me.... but at the end of the day clarity will always make dealing with issues a much easier road to travel.
Cheers Dave.

more and more seem to be paying late due to BACS payments.a lot just forget and just need a little nudge.others well what can i say?they wait until they get paid!

its a good job im not desperate for the money and have plenty saved up and to hand for day to day bills and stuff or id be up s*** creek without a paddle sometimes.

[Dave Anderson]

I get your drift Dazmond and can totally get it but... I have just turned a corner with my business and just want it run the way I want it and thats for the bills to be paid on time.

I appreciate others have their own way I have found if I let myself to be lax then that just becomes how I approach it all, so this is part of my way of keeping everything trim and tidy.

Cheers Dave.

[Dry Clean]

As has been said anybody can make the odd mistake but there is no excuse for being continually late with payment,
that said if somebody is monthly paid and wants to arrange to pay on that date then what's the harm, its being messed about
with payment and having to chase and almost beg for it that's soul destroying and should be nipped in the bud as quickly as poss.

[nathankaye]

Im renting a round of a mate whilst hes trying to take off in another business. But he had a customer who didnt want him cleaning her windows untill shes paid for last one. This would go on for a couple of months at a time. So when i took over i introduced myself to her and paying online which my mate didnt offer and she was well impressed. Told her i message b4 coming so she can open gate and again she was impressed.
Today i posted her a note explaining i cannot continue my services with her as these additional options that i gave her are not being taken advantahe of and i do not operate my business lime that and she would be better finding a new cleaner.

She lasted 2 months with me, i was chasing up for payments and twice she didnt open gate. Plus it helps that ive replaced her with a higher paying client!  Win win

[Dave Anderson]

I suppose that I have just had enough of debtors TTP  so after time I think most of us just say enough is enough at some stage.... Of course when I started I was very different... When building of course you have to wade through the murky waters of dross customers, one-offs, and general gankyness.

But as I have found out by my own experience.... If I let them pay late then why should they think I am bothered if they pay on time or not....  I have with some customers made a rod for my own back and fully admit it.

But now its a different story..... late by one day >>>>> chased, in the event previous clean is not paid >> No clean...

Repeat offenders go on the 'Find & Replace list..... Try and find 2 new customers then dump the repeat offender if they continue TTP.

Is my round perfect.... Not by a long way! but trying to make it better one step at a time.

Dry Clean ..totally agree if someone needs an alternative for some reason hey as long as if suits us both why not.

[Stoots]

Not paid by next clean then dont clean again is simple but effective.

I dont really care if they take a few days or a few weeks to pay as long as they do pay and they pay before the next clean is due.

What i have started doing is a few days before clean is due if they are still owing, i text them another payment reminder and that they are due very soon but wont be done if they dont pay. If they still dont pay then put them on hold and let them know, still no payment then small claims letter.

Still dont pay then you have to make the choice whetehr to go thru with small claims, take revenge or just let it go.

In the past ive been too easy on them and just let it go after bluffing with a court letter, but i cant let that continue, its getting  too expensive now to simply let people off, especially given that the worst offenders are from first cleans which you have slaved away over for an hour sometimes to get them perfect.