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Scottish Cleaning Service

  • Posts: 648
Re: Advice needed on slow / non payers
« Reply #20 on: December 24, 2024, 09:18:02 am »
The sooner you dump the here and now mob then the better you will feel. You run your business not them. When I started up I let my new customers order me about because I only had 10 customers. Now I have over 100 and have the bottle to dodge folk and don't even return their calls. Got one in posh area and she said the guy that covers the area didn't come back I asked did you pay him, yes was her answer. So I did it and got paid and I thought another good customer on my books then the next month she failed to pay so I dodged her. She even had the cheek to text me to clean before Christmas. I text back, okay pay the one you owe and another one and I will come and clean them, I'm still waiting.
What I do with messers, I ask them to set up a DD and I will continue and they usual fail to do it and I'm set free. Too busy to even talk to these people now but I'm established and don't even need to advertise now.
Good luck.

You say you're doing really well. What's your average price per job? Just wondering 🤔

Last week was my best week but I do add-ons. Monday £400, tue,wed,thur £200 each, Friday £600, sat & sun £400, I have certain runs I have to complete and can make £300 but when I get £200 the novelty wears off and I want to go home for the horse racing. Boxing day is good with 12 meetings on. Will begin laying a monoblock path out at my lock ups where we have a much deteriorated public path. I have 10 sq metres of expensive monoblock I need to get rid and half ton of sand so will dig up the path and lay the block paving, neighbours know what I'm doing. I do all the maintenance where I stay for free and they let me park my van at the lock ups. Win win situation, they don't want me to move but I'm running out of room.
You are going to mono block a public path? Bash on, it’s only a matter of time before the council come along and rip up the expensive mono block!

A new guy has moved in and as luck would have it, he is the boss of roads and lighting for the council. He looked into who owns the paths so we could get it retarred from the council but we own it and its also communal. So we would all need to chip in and pay for it. So that's the reason they like me doing it because I don't charge them. I save about £200 a month on storage because everything is stored at my place. 2 huts and a lockup full of stuff and they don't mind. The moment they complain then I will have to move or rent a container. I clean all their windows and clean all their wheelie bins which I get paid for. We had a grass cutter who kept falling when cutting mine and the neighbour's grass which is on a hill. I asked the neighbour to half me in buying astro turf and I built 2 large wooden frames, sunk them down and drove long wooden pegs in and used angle brackets to join them together. In 4 years it will have paid for itself and no falling grasscutter. I always follow the KISS method, keep it simple sam because it seems to work.

Scottish Cleaning Service

  • Posts: 648
Re: Advice needed on slow / non payers
« Reply #21 on: December 24, 2024, 09:59:58 am »
I'll give you the best advice regarding non payers. This is what I do and it tends to work. Remember folk forget once but they don't usually forget twice unless they don't want to pay. I clean and post a card after I clean and next month I clean again and post a card or text telling them they owe double. Next time I just post card with balance and don't clean if I don't want to clean then I don't go back and am happy to lose the price of 2 cleans. This is how I do it and it works for me but it took 6 years to work it out.

I have spent nearly every penny I earned on new equipment and 20% of the stuff I have binned of resold and found it to be a total waste of money. But like in the fire engine going to an alarm. I was told we never go to false alarms but we come back from plenty of them. I have 6 big scaffold frames that cost £300 each and now they are obsolete because they have brought out the Mark 2 frame which hinges and can be place in my van rather than on my roof rack. Because I have both mark 1 &2 frames folk often say what a waste of money those big frames are and why did you buy them. I reply, I bought the complete new tower and only the mark1 frames were made and came with it. Then customers kept complaining they were too big and didn't fit in their vans so they brought out the mark 2 frame. We all had to buy the new mark 2 if we wanted to fit them inside our van. It was a money spinner for the scaffolding merchants who made the mark 2 frame.
This is what they mean by gaining wisdom? Wisdom is purely just experience and it can only gained by constantly trying out new stuff that comes onto the market and trying out different techniques of working. I do this all the time in window cleaning. I have many streets with 3 houses next to each other and I will begin at the far away one and work my way back to the van. Other times I will start at the nearest one or the middle one and time myself to see which way is the quickest. One customer asked why I clean the middle house first and I told them that's the quickest way to do it. They seemed confused but the reason is quite simple. When I clean the middle first round the back, I can also clean the top windows of either side of it when the pole is extended.
If you study a Postman when they are delivering letters you some times see them walking along backdoors of tenements with no fences between them.
I have a field out my back door which sometimes has cows in it. they all run down the hill and have a drink from the stream at the bottom but they never go straight back up the hill for milking they all travel at 45 degrees to one edge and then turn and do the same like a zig zag motion. I can only think that it saves them a ton of energy and that's why they do it.
Another example that's always baffled me. Why do roofers always load a roof with stacks of roof tiles before they tile the roof? I asked a roofer and he said it's the simplest way to do it. Once loaded you only need one person to sit there and fit all the tiles in place and the other guys can load the other side at the same time. Its the fastest and safest way to do it which now makes perfect sense. After decades of tiling roofs they have all came to the same conclusion and all use the same method. fwiw

PHILIP HARDY

  • Posts: 195
Re: Advice needed on slow / non payers
« Reply #22 on: December 24, 2024, 10:09:08 am »
You could just try the sensible non-over reactive method,
Speak to them and let them know that to run your business efficiently and be able to keep prices low, you require a prompt payment system, ie before 7 days,  If you have not been paid after 8 days send a simple reminder text " Hiya xxxx Don't forget window payment is due" . If after 14 days a sightlier sterner message, " Window cleaning payment is overdue".
When next clean is due skip them , after that you or they have made a long term decision. 
They pay prompt you keep
They don't pay and you can dump.
Always remember, a non-paying customer is not a customer. But a slow paying customer can be trained !!
The Stupid Neither Forgive Nor Forget
The Naive Forgive And Forget
The Wise Forgive But Don't Forget

Spruce

  • Posts: 8581
Re: Advice needed on slow / non payers
« Reply #23 on: December 24, 2024, 10:21:43 am »
You could just try the sensible non-over reactive method,
Speak to them and let them know that to run your business efficiently and be able to keep prices low, you require a prompt payment system, ie before 7 days,  If you have not been paid after 8 days send a simple reminder text " Hiya xxxx Don't forget window payment is due" . If after 14 days a sightlier sterner message, " Window cleaning payment is overdue".
When next clean is due skip them , after that you or they have made a long term decision. 
They pay prompt you keep
They don't pay and you can dump.
Always remember, a non-paying customer is not a customer. But a slow paying customer can be trained !!

Agree ^^^^

I also remain very patient and calm when dealing with a non payer. The goal is to get payment for the last clean. If you threaten them with discontinuing cleaning their windows, they probably won't pay us.

Once I get paid I will just stop going. They will know the reason. If a neighbour asks why I'm not cleaning the house next door, my response is to ask them.
Success is 1% inspiration, 98% perspiration and 2% attention to detail!

The older I get, the better I was ;)

dazmond

  • Posts: 24293
Re: Advice needed on slow / non payers
« Reply #24 on: December 24, 2024, 10:36:31 am »
I'll give you the best advice regarding non payers. This is what I do and it tends to work. Remember folk forget once but they don't usually forget twice unless they don't want to pay. I clean and post a card after I clean and next month I clean again and post a card or text telling them they owe double. Next time I just post card with balance and don't clean if I don't want to clean then I don't go back and am happy to lose the price of 2 cleans. This is how I do it and it works for me but it took 6 years to work it out.

I have spent nearly every penny I earned on new equipment and 20% of the stuff I have binned of resold and found it to be a total waste of money. But like in the fire engine going to an alarm. I was told we never go to false alarms but we come back from plenty of them. I have 6 big scaffold frames that cost £300 each and now they are obsolete because they have brought out the Mark 2 frame which hinges and can be place in my van rather than on my roof rack. Because I have both mark 1 &2 frames folk often say what a waste of money those big frames are and why did you buy them. I reply, I bought the complete new tower and only the mark1 frames were made and came with it. Then customers kept complaining they were too big and didn't fit in their vans so they brought out the mark 2 frame. We all had to buy the new mark 2 if we wanted to fit them inside our van. It was a money spinner for the scaffolding merchants who made the mark 2 frame.
This is what they mean by gaining wisdom? Wisdom is purely just experience and it can only gained by constantly trying out new stuff that comes onto the market and trying out different techniques of working. I do this all the time in window cleaning. I have many streets with 3 houses next to each other and I will begin at the far away one and work my way back to the van. Other times I will start at the nearest one or the middle one and time myself to see which way is the quickest. One customer asked why I clean the middle house first and I told them that's the quickest way to do it. They seemed confused but the reason is quite simple. When I clean the middle first round the back, I can also clean the top windows of either side of it when the pole is extended.
If you study a Postman when they are delivering letters you some times see them walking along backdoors of tenements with no fences between them.
I have a field out my back door which sometimes has cows in it. they all run down the hill and have a drink from the stream at the bottom but they never go straight back up the hill for milking they all travel at 45 degrees to one edge and then turn and do the same like a zig zag motion. I can only think that it saves them a ton of energy and that's why they do it.
Another example that's always baffled me. Why do roofers always load a roof with stacks of roof tiles before they tile the roof? I asked a roofer and he said it's the simplest way to do it. Once loaded you only need one person to sit there and fit all the tiles in place and the other guys can load the other side at the same time. Its the fastest and safest way to do it which now makes perfect sense. After decades of tiling roofs they have all came to the same conclusion and all use the same method. fwiw

One paragraph on the subject and five about me me me.

Unbelievable.

I'm starting to get really irritated by Scottishs posts. Is there a function on here to hide his posts?so I don't have to read them?
price higher/work harder!

KS Cleaning

  • Posts: 4076
Re: Advice needed on slow / non payers
« Reply #25 on: December 24, 2024, 11:23:01 am »
Another about turn from Dazmond😆
Just last week you were saying you don’t understand why people are getting so angry with Scottish, now you want to block him😂

AuRavelling79

  • Posts: 26298
Re: Advice needed on slow / non payers
« Reply #26 on: December 24, 2024, 11:33:12 am »
Just don't read Scottish's posts if you find them irrelevant or whatever.

Insulting post from Bungle towards him removed.

To Scottish - try to be a little more self aware. This is a window cleaning (and associated jobs to an extent is fine) forum. If you want to talk about other stuff take it to the any other business section where Tosh reigns supreme.  ;D
It's a game of three halves!

deeege

  • Posts: 5103
Re: Advice needed on slow / non payers
« Reply #27 on: December 24, 2024, 01:07:15 pm »
I'll give you the best advice regarding non payers. This is what I do and it tends to work. Remember folk forget once but they don't usually forget twice unless they don't want to pay. I clean and post a card after I clean and next month I clean again and post a card or text telling them they owe double. Next time I just post card with balance and don't clean if I don't want to clean then I don't go back and am happy to lose the price of 2 cleans. This is how I do it and it works for me but it took 6 years to work it out.

I have spent nearly every penny I earned on new equipment and 20% of the stuff I have binned of resold and found it to be a total waste of money. But like in the fire engine going to an alarm. I was told we never go to false alarms but we come back from plenty of them. I have 6 big scaffold frames that cost £300 each and now they are obsolete because they have brought out the Mark 2 frame which hinges and can be place in my van rather than on my roof rack. Because I have both mark 1 &2 frames folk often say what a waste of money those big frames are and why did you buy them. I reply, I bought the complete new tower and only the mark1 frames were made and came with it. Then customers kept complaining they were too big and didn't fit in their vans so they brought out the mark 2 frame. We all had to buy the new mark 2 if we wanted to fit them inside our van. It was a money spinner for the scaffolding merchants who made the mark 2 frame.
This is what they mean by gaining wisdom? Wisdom is purely just experience and it can only gained by constantly trying out new stuff that comes onto the market and trying out different techniques of working. I do this all the time in window cleaning. I have many streets with 3 houses next to each other and I will begin at the far away one and work my way back to the van. Other times I will start at the nearest one or the middle one and time myself to see which way is the quickest. One customer asked why I clean the middle house first and I told them that's the quickest way to do it. They seemed confused but the reason is quite simple. When I clean the middle first round the back, I can also clean the top windows of either side of it when the pole is extended.
If you study a Postman when they are delivering letters you some times see them walking along backdoors of tenements with no fences between them.
I have a field out my back door which sometimes has cows in it. they all run down the hill and have a drink from the stream at the bottom but they never go straight back up the hill for milking they all travel at 45 degrees to one edge and then turn and do the same like a zig zag motion. I can only think that it saves them a ton of energy and that's why they do it.
Another example that's always baffled me. Why do roofers always load a roof with stacks of roof tiles before they tile the roof? I asked a roofer and he said it's the simplest way to do it. Once loaded you only need one person to sit there and fit all the tiles in place and the other guys can load the other side at the same time. Its the fastest and safest way to do it which now makes perfect sense. After decades of tiling roofs they have all came to the same conclusion and all use the same method. fwiw

What a load of drivel. Forum will be dead by Spring if this nonsense carries on.
"....and it's lend me ten pounds, I'll buy you a drink, and mother wake me early in the morning."

Jay Le Huray

  • Posts: 676
Re: Advice needed on slow / non payers
« Reply #28 on: December 24, 2024, 01:24:42 pm »
I'll give you the best advice regarding non payers. This is what I do and it tends to work. Remember folk forget once but they don't usually forget twice unless they don't want to pay. I clean and post a card after I clean and next month I clean again and post a card or text telling them they owe double. Next time I just post card with balance and don't clean if I don't want to clean then I don't go back and am happy to lose the price of 2 cleans. This is how I do it and it works for me but it took 6 years to work it out.

I have spent nearly every penny I earned on new equipment and 20% of the stuff I have binned of resold and found it to be a total waste of money. But like in the fire engine going to an alarm. I was told we never go to false alarms but we come back from plenty of them. I have 6 big scaffold frames that cost £300 each and now they are obsolete because they have brought out the Mark 2 frame which hinges and can be place in my van rather than on my roof rack. Because I have both mark 1 &2 frames folk often say what a waste of money those big frames are and why did you buy them. I reply, I bought the complete new tower and only the mark1 frames were made and came with it. Then customers kept complaining they were too big and didn't fit in their vans so they brought out the mark 2 frame. We all had to buy the new mark 2 if we wanted to fit them inside our van. It was a money spinner for the scaffolding merchants who made the mark 2 frame.
This is what they mean by gaining wisdom? Wisdom is purely just experience and it can only gained by constantly trying out new stuff that comes onto the market and trying out different techniques of working. I do this all the time in window cleaning. I have many streets with 3 houses next to each other and I will begin at the far away one and work my way back to the van. Other times I will start at the nearest one or the middle one and time myself to see which way is the quickest. One customer asked why I clean the middle house first and I told them that's the quickest way to do it. They seemed confused but the reason is quite simple. When I clean the middle first round the back, I can also clean the top windows of either side of it when the pole is extended.
If you study a Postman when they are delivering letters you some times see them walking along backdoors of tenements with no fences between them.
I have a field out my back door which sometimes has cows in it. they all run down the hill and have a drink from the stream at the bottom but they never go straight back up the hill for milking they all travel at 45 degrees to one edge and then turn and do the same like a zig zag motion. I can only think that it saves them a ton of energy and that's why they do it.
Another example that's always baffled me. Why do roofers always load a roof with stacks of roof tiles before they tile the roof? I asked a roofer and he said it's the simplest way to do it. Once loaded you only need one person to sit there and fit all the tiles in place and the other guys can load the other side at the same time. Its the fastest and safest way to do it which now makes perfect sense. After decades of tiling roofs they have all came to the same conclusion and all use the same method. fwiw

What a load of drivel. Forum will be dead by Spring if this nonsense carries on.
Totally agree with this, it is after all a window cleaning forum , what has all the above to do with slow/non payers ?

Bungle

  • Posts: 2533
Re: Advice needed on slow / non payers
« Reply #29 on: December 24, 2024, 01:44:43 pm »
What's insulting about telling the bloke that's he's talking about himself? Sheesh.
We look at them, they look through them.

dazmond

  • Posts: 24293
Re: Advice needed on slow / non payers
« Reply #30 on: December 24, 2024, 01:46:01 pm »
Another about turn from Dazmond😆
Just last week you were saying you don’t understand why people are getting so angry with Scottish, now you want to block him😂

It's gone well beyond the odd add on job and suchlike.the guy is worse than NWH.at least he was genuinely funny sometimes!🤣👍

Was he banned from the other forum? as I don't see him posting on there anymore thank God!
price higher/work harder!

Roy Harding

  • Posts: 1983
Re: Advice needed on slow / non payers
« Reply #31 on: December 24, 2024, 01:48:25 pm »
Drop the slow payers a email saying starting the new year your moving to direct debit, ie gocardless. I did this a few years ago, but only those handful that were slow at paying. Also introduce at the end of the month everyone got a statement requesting payment. This reduced my dept list from around £5,000 to £800 on average.

Bungle

  • Posts: 2533
Re: Advice needed on slow / non payers
« Reply #32 on: December 24, 2024, 01:49:37 pm »
At Auv ravelling it's Scottish posts that need removing. It's him that's winding all of us up. You remove my posts where I tell him off but you allow his posts to remain where they are absolute drivel and nothing to do with the thread.  Do your job and moderate. I'll be off if this nonsense carries on. The bloke wound them all up on the other forum to a point they banned him. He's a narcissist. End of.
We look at them, they look through them.

Roy Harding

  • Posts: 1983
Re: Advice needed on slow / non payers
« Reply #33 on: December 24, 2024, 01:53:02 pm »
I have used George for years. But if a new software program had the option to send statements after seven days automatic, I would  change.

tlwcs

  • Posts: 2145
Re: Advice needed on slow / non payers
« Reply #34 on: December 24, 2024, 02:33:09 pm »
I'll give you the best advice regarding non payers. This is what I do and it tends to work. Remember folk forget once but they don't usually forget twice unless they don't want to pay. I clean and post a card after I clean and next month I clean again and post a card or text telling them they owe double. Next time I just post card with balance and don't clean if I don't want to clean then I don't go back and am happy to lose the price of 2 cleans. This is how I do it and it works for me but it took 6 years to work it out.

I have spent nearly every penny I earned on new equipment and 20% of the stuff I have binned of resold and found it to be a total waste of money. But like in the fire engine going to an alarm. I was told we never go to false alarms but we come back from plenty of them. I have 6 big scaffold frames that cost £300 each and now they are obsolete because they have brought out the Mark 2 frame which hinges and can be place in my van rather than on my roof rack. Because I have both mark 1 &2 frames folk often say what a waste of money those big frames are and why did you buy them. I reply, I bought the complete new tower and only the mark1 frames were made and came with it. Then customers kept complaining they were too big and didn't fit in their vans so they brought out the mark 2 frame. We all had to buy the new mark 2 if we wanted to fit them inside our van. It was a money spinner for the scaffolding merchants who made the mark 2 frame.
This is what they mean by gaining wisdom? Wisdom is purely just experience and it can only gained by constantly trying out new stuff that comes onto the market and trying out different techniques of working. I do this all the time in window cleaning. I have many streets with 3 houses next to each other and I will begin at the far away one and work my way back to the van. Other times I will start at the nearest one or the middle one and time myself to see which way is the quickest. One customer asked why I clean the middle house first and I told them that's the quickest way to do it. They seemed confused but the reason is quite simple. When I clean the middle first round the back, I can also clean the top windows of either side of it when the pole is extended.
If you study a Postman when they are delivering letters you some times see them walking along backdoors of tenements with no fences between them.
I have a field out my back door which sometimes has cows in it. they all run down the hill and have a drink from the stream at the bottom but they never go straight back up the hill for milking they all travel at 45 degrees to one edge and then turn and do the same like a zig zag motion. I can only think that it saves them a ton of energy and that's why they do it.
Another example that's always baffled me. Why do roofers always load a roof with stacks of roof tiles before they tile the roof? I asked a roofer and he said it's the simplest way to do it. Once loaded you only need one person to sit there and fit all the tiles in place and the other guys can load the other side at the same time. Its the fastest and safest way to do it which now makes perfect sense. After decades of tiling roofs they have all came to the same conclusion and all use the same method. fwiw

What a load of drivel. Forum will be dead by Spring if this nonsense carries on.
Completely agree.
We could all go to the forum he left/got banned from.

AuRavelling79

  • Posts: 26298
Re: Advice needed on slow / non payers
« Reply #35 on: December 24, 2024, 03:09:06 pm »
What's insulting about telling the bloke that's he's talking about himself? Sheesh.

It was on the back of you calling him names in a previous post.

Have patience and see how it plays out. Scottish is wearing my patience thin too.

For context I am doing my job and responding to the reports to moderators received about YOUR posts against Scottish.

As to your threat to leave - and I hope you don't - that's up to you.

Scottish had a reminder earlier today and he hasn't posted since. Keep your fingers crossed he heeds it.

In the meantime if you keep asking him questions - however pithy - don't complain if he replies.
It's a game of three halves!

Bungle

  • Posts: 2533
Re: Advice needed on slow / non payers
« Reply #36 on: December 24, 2024, 03:27:48 pm »
What's insulting about telling the bloke that's he's talking about himself? Sheesh.

It was on the back of you calling him names in a previous post.

Have patience and see how it plays out. Scottish is wearing my patience thin too.

For context I am doing my job and responding to the reports to moderators received about YOUR posts against Scottish.

As to your threat to leave - and I hope you don't - that's up to you.

Scottish had a reminder earlier today and he hasn't posted since. Keep your fingers crossed he heeds it.

In the meantime if you keep asking him questions - however pithy - don't complain if he replies.

If you're a big head you deserve to be called Humpty Dumpty I think. And people getting upset on behalf of Scottish? Give me a break. Have we gone all woke?
We look at them, they look through them.

AuRavelling79

  • Posts: 26298
Re: Advice needed on slow / non payers
« Reply #37 on: December 24, 2024, 04:11:52 pm »
What's insulting about telling the bloke that's he's talking about himself? Sheesh.

It was on the back of you calling him names in a previous post.

Have patience and see how it plays out. Scottish is wearing my patience thin too.

For context I am doing my job and responding to the reports to moderators received about YOUR posts against Scottish.

As to your threat to leave - and I hope you don't - that's up to you.

Scottish had a reminder earlier today and he hasn't posted since. Keep your fingers crossed he heeds it.

In the meantime if you keep asking him questions - however pithy - don't complain if he replies.

If you're a big head you deserve to be called Humpty Dumpty I think. And people getting upset on behalf of Scottish? Give me a break. Have we gone all woke?

Nevertheless, that's how it is.

It's a game of three halves!

CleanClear

  • Posts: 15205
Re: Advice needed on slow / non payers
« Reply #38 on: December 24, 2024, 07:39:32 pm »
Providing services on credit (allowing payment later) is generally considered Consumer Credit. Whilst the time allowed for payment of a clean maybe fairly ambiguous, what is  not is to increase the debt outstanding by doing further cleans and allowing the debt to grow each month. I'll be gobsmacked if anyone here has a consumer credit licence.
*Status*--------Currently Online---------

AuRavelling79

  • Posts: 26298
Re: Advice needed on slow / non payers
« Reply #39 on: December 24, 2024, 11:08:53 pm »
Providing services on credit (allowing payment later) is generally considered Consumer Credit. Whilst the time allowed for payment of a clean maybe fairly ambiguous, what is  not is to increase the debt outstanding by doing further cleans and allowing the debt to grow each month. I'll be gobsmacked if anyone here has a consumer credit licence.

Got anything official/legal to support this?
It's a game of three halves!