[Transitions]

What do you normally do...... take payment before or after job is finished ? or does it depend on the customer you have.........

[Aquakleen Restoration Services]

After...I always ask if they are happy first. John

[Joe H]

The only time I have taken payment before is if arriving at the job they say they going to work and they leave money then - either cheque or cash.

[Neil Williams]

Is this really a serious question

[Hilton]

What do you normally do...... take payment before or after job is finished ? or does it depend on the customer you have.........

I think its a perfectly reasonable question to ask,

I have seen lots of posts on here where cleaners have carried out the work only to find they can not get paid for one reason or another, there was one a few weeks back where the chap cleaned a restaurant and they kept fobbing him off for payment.

Under normal circumstances in a domestic situation you would be paid at job finish, however even here ,sometimes you might come across a situation that just does not feel right such as in let properties when it might be prudent to ask for the money up front, I know we have.

But in commercial situations such as a one off clean always pro forma. When a relationship has been built up and even then have set terms & conditions.

[james roffey]

If i asked for payment before doing the job.

1. It would suggest i do not trust the customer and rather p... them off, it would me.

2. suggest i was not going to do a very good job.

3. sabotage any prospect of them using me ever again.

I cannot see any good reason for doing this. 99.9% of customers are fine the work you would lose by doing this far out weighs the 0.1% of customers who would refuse to pay

Is this really a serious question  as it borders on the suicidal.

I would never ever use a tradesman under these circumstances it screams "COWBOY"

[derek west]

i'm totally in agreement with every word james says. spot on james me old china, or young china.

[Neil Grainger]

Only time I take payment before is if they are Landlord and wont be going to property at all.

If I recieve payment for other jobs before I do the work, for some strange reason it feels as if I am doing the Job for nothing.

[james roffey]

i'm totally in agreement with every word james says. spot on james me old china, or young china.

 I will let you be the judge Derek   but today when i went in with the hairdryer to dry the stain she gave me a odd look so i said its not for me, using one of these for drying my hair is a long and distant memory oh by the way i'm the one on the left in the picture

[Hilton]

If i asked for payment before doing the job.

1. It would suggest i do not trust the customer and rather p... them off, it would me.

2. suggest i was not going to do a very good job.

3. sabotage any prospect of them using me ever again.

I cannot see any good reason for doing this. 99.9% of customers are fine the work you would lose by doing this far out weighs the 0.1% of customers who would refuse to pay

Is this really a serious question  as it borders on the suicidal.

I would never ever use a tradesman under these circumstances it screams "COWBOY"

What a complete over reaction, 'borders on suicidal;  : your post screams paranoia.

In certain circumstances you have to protect your back, its good business sense  to make sure you are going to get paid and if necessary walk away if it  doesn't feel right.

In this game you are there for the taking at times and I guarantee before long some one on here will be posting soon they have been knocked on a job and asking for advise on how to get their money.

[Joe H]

Looking for the contact of that company in Liverpool (I think it is) that sends a letter to companies that owe money.
Been "knocked" on a job and looking for advice how to get my money.

Seriously.     But rather then going thro small claims court thought I would give this firm in L'pool a go, but cant remember who it was.

[Hilton]

There you are what did I tell you although I wasn't expecting it that quick. 

Joe;

The company you are looking for are called 'Thomas Higgins'  you can find them here:

www.thomashiggins.com


They are very reasonable in price and once registered as a customer they will help you all the way.

[Joe H]

Thanks

[terrymaloy]

Thankyou Hilton for that contact.
I'm the guy who cleaned the restaurant upholstery over 2 months ago and am still getting fobbed off.
Will give them another couple of weeks then contact the debt recovery company in Liverpool.

[james roffey]

If i asked for payment before doing the job.

1. It would suggest i do not trust the customer and rather p... them off, it would me.

2. suggest i was not going to do a very good job.

3. sabotage any prospect of them using me ever again.

I cannot see any good reason for doing this. 99.9% of customers are fine the work you would lose by doing this far out weighs the 0.1% of customers who would refuse to pay

Is this really a serious question  as it borders on the suicidal.

I would never ever use a tradesman under these circumstances it screams "COWBOY"

What a complete over reaction, 'borders on suicidal;  : your post screams paranoia.

In certain circumstances you have to protect your back, its good business sense  to make sure you are going to get paid and if necessary walk away if it  doesn't feel right.

In this game you are there for the taking at times and I guarantee before long some one on here will be posting soon they have been knocked on a job and asking for advise on how to get their money.

For the very few times in a lifetime you are going to be "stung" you are suggesting that you treat customers as criminals or at the very least as people who wont honour payment, AND YOU SAY i'm PARANOID as i said the customers you would lose by being PARANOID by assuming they wont pay outweighs the ones you will keep because you behave civily with them its common sense isn't it
Its a bit like the customer that trusts you in the home leaving you alone you would not dream of doing anything untoward because they trust you, to me trust speaks volumes. i'm not being paranoid but someone is : OH and for the record i am not looking at the world through "rose tinted glasses" i was in debt recovery for two decades so i know about debtors they are a tiny minorIty and i will be glad to help any guy who does get stung but to tar the whole population as unscrupulous, because a tiny percentage might not pay you thats real paranoia.

[Hilton]

Thankyou Hilton for that contact.
I'm the guy who cleaned the restaurant upholstery over 2 months ago and am still getting fobbed off.
Will give them another couple of weeks then contact the debt recovery company in Liverpool.

Hi Terry

My pleasure,

Dont wait another 2 weeks, get a Letter Before Action sent by TH as soon as possible it will only cost you a couple of pounds and it tends to do the trick with out any further action and shows them you mean 'business' .

James;

I suggest you read my original post again, and point out where I say I treat the 'whole' population as unscrupulous.  :

Like I said paranoid .

But just for you and others and to set the record straight, if some one knocks us for payment we give them the opportunity to pay with in 14 days, we then issue a seven day notice before getting a LBA sent, we will   take them to court if need be but this has happened only once and that was a builder who took us for mugs and ended costing him an arm and a leg, so to speak.

Pro-forma are normal business practice I would encourage everyone to use them on one off commercial cleans where their accounts department would find this perfectly acceptable, if not don't work for them. Once you have worked for them and a relationship builds then put them on the usual 30 days, very very simple procedure.

I have asked on domestic situations (on a few occasions) for payment up front once a quote has been accepted, this is normally when on having asked how payment is to be made there has been some uncertainty, its a precaution nothing more and causes no offence if innocent. If they decline we assume it is going to be a problem job and move on.

Thats a commercial decision that we make 9 out of 10 times its not necessary.

How you conduct your business is up to you but if you think every customer is going to be like Mother Theresa you are going to come unstuck. 

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

On a slightly lighter note I'm sometimes asked this question when I am taking away a rug to be cleaned at my premises.

Customer"Would you like me to pay you now?"

Me"No thanks. If you pay me now I'll have no incentive to actually clean the rug. Pay me when I bring it back"

(Afterall they're trusting you already to actually bring the rug back in the first place.)

As Joe would say "I like happy customers."

Roger

[cleanability]

I think this post is called "a waste of ink" so to speak. In 11yrs I've never asked for payment up front and never had a problem. Some strange questions on this site.

[derek west]

imagine going into tesco's and at the door they say "hand over your credit/debit card then go do your shopping". or at a garage for a service, "park over there now that'll be £200 quid and we'll ring you when its finished"

i would never ask for payment up front unless i really smelt a rat, and so far ive never "smelt" (is that a word?) one.

[james roffey]

Happy customers = repeat business and referrals and i will take the risk! of being stung.
Of course if i suspected non payment my attitude may be different but to have a blanket attitude to ask for payment i think that would be crazy, and that was the point i was trying to make.
In business you have to speculate to accumulate i would rather take a small risk and keep my good customers happy then p them off.