[Mike #1]

i have a commercial customer who even when i request for payment to be made within a certain time they are still late paying for instance, I last cleaned windows on 15/12/09 and asked if payment could be made within 7 days due to xmas holidays ,  I have contacted them since and i am still waiting to be paid this has happened 3-4 times now it is well priced and i do not want to lose it i was going to go there today and i am now considering informing them that i am going to charge them for late payment , what is a fair late payment charge , I was thinking 10%

[stephen s]

with commercial customers it can be very tricky as mosy prefer to pay after 30 days and some even go for 90 days.      which of course is not much good if your a small business.

if you know the facilities manager you could have a polite word and explain to them,   however as I stated most insist on a 30 day pay.

if its a well paid job then it may be that you just have to bite your lip as the last thing you want is to lose it.

[Mike #1]

it is a large office clean and i know the owner of the company in the past few months i have cleaned his own house windows always got paid within 3wks for the first 18 months it has just been the past few months they have let me down saying they will organise payment then not and it then totaling over £100 when they owe 2 months

[jonnyald]

i think this late paying thing is all about control, theres always a control freak behind it .  i learnt my lesson ,i let 4 cleans go by without getting my money and  then got stressed  as i really wanted the money for xmas , the guy owing me even told me to turn up at prearranged times to get paid ,but the doors were locked when i got there ,,yet i felt sure he was in there .  i did get paid in the end (he told me some of the cash he handed over might be fake!")and since then he has been tryin his darndest to get me cleaning still,  good money praps but no way am i doing it again

[Mike #1]

the funny thing is i did'nt see him the day i last cleaned his windows and he lives about 10 miles away but within 2 days i had a cheque from him for his house windows shame his staff were not a bit better at organising payment

[robbie72]

you can charge what ever you want for late fee but if they will not pay your late fee  would you stand your ground and make them pay and risk them staying with you. you can use a third party to chase all late customers for a small fee but when is a customer a  good customer when you have been paid on time with out all the stressed of chasing them

[The Jester of Wibbly]

I would send him.or hand him an outstanding bill letter..  What terms did you agree wt the start?

I would state on the letter that the late payment charge will only apply after 7 days giving them another 7 days to pay without stinging them.  

[elite mike]

they would be history, god i hate payers like that :

[R W C™]

Most commercial do admin once a month, think asking for payment within 7 days is a bit harsh, I do 14 with Domestic and some dont pay within that, its not like they rush out to post it, im the same with my milkman I send it when I get a chance 

[Jack Wallace]

Sorry but I think you are being too hasty here.
You are not in a job which pays every Friday, you are running a business.
Most businesses as stated above operate a 30, 60 or even 90 day payment, once your invoice hits there desk it will sit there till the time is ready to pay.
Similarly they will expect all invoices to be 30 day payment minimum.
If your cash flow cannot cope with that you should not be in commercial work.
Most window cleaners see commercial as the "holy grail" of work but it’s often not as easy as you would think.
If you want payment every Friday, stick with domestic.

[Mike #1]

cheers lads i suppose i was getting hacked off as until this week i have'nt worked for 3 weeks because of weather but you would think when i spoke to accounts and they said they would forward payment and they don't its annoying its a £60.00 job which takes 1hr 40 mins including a round trip of 20 miles so i don't want to lose it , i just don't like been let down and lied to

[Mike #1]

steady on jack who rattled your cage,  i was asking for advice not a telling off if you have'nt got anything decent to say keep it to yourself

[The Jester of Wibbly]

This is why I was asking what terms you agreed.  If you agreed x amount of days to pay they should stick to it and after that you have the right to zap a late payment charge.  You are running a business not a charity.

When I talked about 7 day, this was from the date of the term deadline therefore offereing them an additiona 7 days over the agreement to pay without charge.  Most corporate businesses use this process.

Hope this helps

[Jack Wallace]

steady on jack who rattled your cage,  i was asking for advice not a telling off if you have'nt got anything decent to say keep it to yourself

Sorry mate,

It was actually meant as constructive advice; I did not mean to sound patronising.

Although I stand by what I said.
I think people can be too hasty when getting into commercial and not realize it is a different way of doing business altogether.

[Mike #1]

no probs jack i apologise as well, things  been a bit ruff lately,  I do get what your saying been doing a small amount of commercial for about 8yrs now my other commercial custys are great payers never had any probs maybe i have just been spoilt

[leapstallbuildings]

Sorry but I think you are being too hasty here.
You are not in a job which pays every Friday, you are running a business.
Most businesses as stated above operate a 30, 60 or even 90 day payment, once your invoice hits there desk it will sit there till the time is ready to pay.
Similarly they will expect all invoices to be 30 day payment minimum.
If your cash flow cannot cope with that you should not be in commercial work.
Most window cleaners see commercial as the "holy grail" of work but it’s often not as easy as you would think.
If you want payment every Friday, stick with domestic.

Totally agree.  When you do a commercial job you have to fit in with their payment system.  I always ensure that the payment system is discussed before taking the job on.  It's only when they fail to adhere to their own system that I start chasing a bit harder.  I would struggle with the cashflow for commercial only.  That's why I've always stayed with a good mix of work.  If things are tight, sometimes it's very helpful to be able to target jobs where people are normally in and pay cash straight away - assuming the job is due of course.

[Mike #1]

they used to always pay within 3 wks now sometimes its 6-7 weeks

[elite mike]

they used to always pay within 3 wks now sometimes its 6-7 weeks

i had some who used to pay me by bacs

when i had no payment after 3 months

i went to the accounts office,and asked why no payment

they said it was a computer error : yeh right

this was not the first time either

when i eventually got paid

i got rid

the guys they got cleaning now are getting the same treatment.

i did warn them though

[dazmond]

ill stick to domestic and the odd small commercial.2 cleans then no more till i get paid.my 3 commercial jobs usually pay me on the day i clean.

i do think jacks right in that some u shouldnt expect payment for at least a month.domestic u expect to get the majority in within the month.i think bigger commercial is a whole different ball game.i prefer domestic and large domestic.loyal,better payers,good cash flow!!

[Londoner]

To them its peanuts. However, you have no real idea how sound financially these businesses really are in the present climate. Loads of companies are scraping along on a day by day cash flow situation that is dire.
One of my domestic customers seemed very well off, big house, collection of classic sports cars including a Ferrari, etc. He had two factories and a thriving business or so you would have thought. Then one day (according to him) bang. His bank had pulled the rug out from under him and the first he knew was when he was "raided" by a team of baliffs.
Apparantly they do it that way to stop people doing a moonlight and moving assets into lockup garages and the like. He said even the secretary's handbag was searched before they let her out of the building and wouldn't let anybody drive off until they had checked who owned the cars.

Its a big problem these days.