[R W C]

Did anyone watch this last night on itv.

[Ian Lancaster]

I saw a program called 'Cowboy Customers' - did you mean that?

We always lose a hundred quid or so every year to scumbags who book you with no intention of paying.  Commercial customers are the worst - I did a double glazing factory that let me carry on and do another clean before they paid me for the last one, knowing they were going into administration.

All they had to say was 'Sorry, we're closing down so don't do them again, and I'm afraid you may not get paid for the one you're owed'

I would have let it go, these things happen and the poor s**s who worked there lost an awful lot more than I did, but they let me carry on, knowing I wouldn't get paid - the finance director even had the gall to say 'Good morning' as he got into his merc and drove off.

I put in a claim to the administrators, but never heard anything.

That's why we tend to do very little commercial - most domestics pay up on time and the odd one who turns us over doesn't affect us enough to worry about.

Sometimes the attitude makes you laugh - we had one who had their windows cleaned twice without paying anything.  We stopped doing them pending payment, and three months later, after several requests for payment I sent my standard 'Pay up or it's Small Claims Court' letter.

They phoned to complain about us 'harassing' them :

I managed to catch them in and got the money out of them, and the wife said: 'We're going to tell all our friends about what a crap service yours is'

[chosker]

I didnt see the cowboy customer programme but my 2 colleagues did and have both been talking about it, well laughing, as it happens a lot to us (we are domestic cleaners though, not window cleaners).
We have an initial period of 3 months and payment is by standing order... the amount of people who's standing order doesnt go through and then cancel after a month because they are moving is ridiculous! They obviously want a clean to get it ready for moving then disappear 

We unfortunately lose a fair bit more than £100 a year.

I think the worst is when you allocate someone one of the best cleaners on your books and they come back with a list of complaints after 5 cleans and cancel their payment - we KNOW sometimes that the cleaner has done a good job and often the clients live in a sty but there's not a lot we can do!

[mark dew]

Do you write the money off or chase them to their new address?
The postman isn't allowed to pass on their new address, but can find out if they ever wanted to. 

[chosker]

Let's say the average is £50.00 owed... you have to weigh up staff time/effort spent chasing it with the money your going to get at the end of it. We will spend a bit of time chasing but it often isn't worth it. Thing is, we probably get one or two clients a month pulling a fast one through various reasons - some blame the company but others are very blatant about not paying.

Apparently in the cowboy programme the guy was trying to get changes through parliament to make it easier for small businesses to get their money back... we shall see 

[mark dew]

Yeah i know what you mean. I have let a couple go in the past. But they were good customers beforehand and i gave them the benefit of the doubt.

[ftp]

My whole round is based on cowboy customers.

[chosker]

LOL. Sometimes I feel all our work is too - but really it's just a few problem ones. 

[s.hughes]

If I have to right of £10 a year it would be alot

[Blue Frog Systems]

I had one customer not pay. It was my very first job as a window cleaner. I did a cracking job and was there a good hour making sure it was perfect.

I may be moving house in the next few years, ill make sure she remembers she didn't pay me before I leave