Gocardless

[Bradley's HG Services]

I have been recommended to get gocardless to save running round after payments.

Has anybody had much use from this and is it helpful and work with no issues?

Please can you let me know your experiences.

Thanks guys

 

[Bart90]

I have been recommended to get gocardless to save running round after payments.

Has anybody had much use from this and is it helpful and work with no issues?

Please can you let me know your experiences.

Thanks guys

My advice would be don't bother. An efficient sytem of ticking off bank payments with the occasional follow up text combined with refining a round to good payers is all that's needed. If you get it right it's a huge saving over gocardless with minimal effort. I do my banking once a week and it takes 15 minutes.

 

[Bradley's HG Services]

My advice would be don't bother. An efficient sytem of ticking off bank payments with the occasional follow up text combined with refining a round to good payers is all that's needed. If you get it right it's a huge saving over gocardless with minimal effort. I do my banking once a week and it takes 15 minutes.

Okay mate thank you! I've heard all sorts of stories about it. Reading all different reviews on it

 

[Bart90]

Okay mate thank you! I've heard all sorts of stories about it. Reading all different reviews on it

You're welcome. The other issue with third party companies like go cardless is you're completely at their mercy if they hike the prices, and they will once they get big enough.

Don't get me wrong, there are probably some advantages, but if i can have an efficient set up with minimal effort that makes a huge saving, I'll keep it in house. I'm the same with round apps etc. I work off spreadsheets, always have and always will. £0 per month. Best of luck whatever you chose.

 

[Pjj]

You're welcome. The other issue with third party companies like go cardless is you're completely at their mercy if they hike the prices, and they will once they get big enough.

Don't get me wrong, there are probably some advantages, but if i can have an efficient set up with minimal effort that makes a huge saving, I'll keep it in house. I'm the same with round apps etc. I work off spreadsheets, always have and always will. £0 per month. Best of luck whatever you chose.

Totally agree ime exactly the same as you . Using GC would cost me a fortune i could afford it but won’t pay there exorbitant prices and be at their mercie with what ever increase they may choose to bring out , I have several friends that started using it and now are regretting it ,but it’s very difficult to change if you have hundreds or thousands of customers on it .

 

[DeLaCruz]

for me the squeegee app is a massive time saver and i wouldn't do it again without it - i tried the GC app but was a pain and found quite a few of my smaller local customers were put off / were unsure of the process of signing up to it - all i do now is get their detail i the app, tick off the payments when they are in - its so easy and saves me so much time typing out invoices on excel its a no brainer ( i still do a few for big jobs on excel where i wanna make it personalised for the work i have done in terms of a detailed explanation) - i still put the big jobs through the app for accounting as well so the reports are all correct

 

[Toffee]

I have been recommended to get gocardless to save running round after payments.

Has anybody had much use from this and is it helpful and work with no issues?

Please can you let me know your experiences.

Thanks guys

I use it. Works great and never had a problem with it.

 

[JohnDoeWindows]

You've also got to think that it's hard to get customers when starting out anyway, it's even harder in this current climate and I would imagine it would be almost impossible to build a round from scratch of people signed up to GC.

These big firms you've seen doing it have done it in stages, small groups at a time + any new clients coming on would be signed up, when you're starting out you can't afford to be that picky.

 

[Bradley's HG Services]

You've also got to think that it's hard to get customers when starting out anyway, it's even harder in this current climate and I would imagine it would be almost impossible to build a round from scratch of people signed up to GC.

These big firms you've seen doing it have done it in stages, small groups at a time + any new clients coming on would be signed up, when you're starting out you can't afford to be that picky.

I did say something similar to this to the lad who recommended me to it. He's very well established

 

[johnny bravo]

ive only a few pay via gocardless now . commission keeps creeping up . Bacs or Standing order or cash and a few on PayPal

Prefer the cash .
Ive dropped a few late payers lately
Sick of reminding them after 3/5 cleans .

 

[Bradley's HG Services]

for me the squeegee app is a massive time saver and i wouldn't do it again without it - i tried the GC app but was a pain and found quite a few of my smaller local customers were put off / were unsure of the process of signing up to it - all i do now is get their detail i the app, tick off the payments when they are in - its so easy and saves me so much time typing out invoices on excel its a no brainer ( i still do a few for big jobs on excel where i wanna make it personalised for the work i have done in terms of a detailed explanation) - i still put the big jobs through the app for accounting as well so the reports are all correct

Oo I haven't heard of that app!

ive only a few now . commission keeps creeping up . Bacs or Standing order or cash and a few on PayPal

Prefer the cash .
Ive dropped a few late payers lately
Sick of reminding them after 3/5 cleans .

Okay mate, I will look into avoiding them then

 

[BigFoot]

You've also got to think that it's hard to get customers when starting out anyway, it's even harder in this current climate and I would imagine it would be almost impossible to build a round from scratch of people signed up to GC.

These big firms you've seen doing it have done it in stages, small groups at a time + any new clients coming on would be signed up, when you're starting out you can't afford to be that picky.

I set up a round on Gocardles from scratch and I don’t think it made life any harder to secure customers. Takes two mins there on the doorstep. @Bradley's HG Services Im no evangelist for the company even though they have been very good for my circumstances but the ease of automation was and is appealing to me. What you need to decide is do you want an automated payment system with minimal overview or one you need to monitor more closely because that’s effectively what your paying for. Personally I like it, it’s down to preference.

 

[Bradley's HG Services]

I set up a round on Gocardles from scratch and I don’t think it made life any harder to secure customers. Takes two mins there on the doorstep. @Bradley's HG Services Im no evangelist for the company even though they have been very good for my circumstances but the ease of automation was and is appealing to me. What you need to decide is do you want an automated payment system with minimal overview or one you need to monitor more closely because that’s effectively what your paying for. Personally I like it, it’s down to preference.

Okay buddy thanks for that! It's interesting everyones opinions. I will have a look into it

 

[ched999uk]

A couple of things to consider.
How are you going to manage your customers appointments? Squeegee and Cleaner Planner are probably the biggest players and are both similar prices at about £18 to £20 a month. If you are using one of these then GoCardless connects nicely (I use Squeegee so comments based on that). On completion of a job you just just click charge GoCardless and that's it - payment in your bank (99 times out of 100 - customer no funds etc) in about 7 days. Yes there is a charge but a lot of banks will charge for each transaction as well.
Even if your customer pays by BACS a lot of banks charge a fee so what ever system you use there will probably be fees. Might be worth choosing your bank wisely as there are a few who do free business banking - I didn't have much of a choice as in early 2021 the effects of Covid where kicking about and most banks had 12 weeks + to open an account! Otherwise I would have chosen a 'free bank'!

Personally I offer BACS, Stripe (credit card online), or GoCardless, cash (but try and persuade other methods, as always takes extra time to collect cash at end of job) - customers choice. I probably have about 5% of customers on GoCardless.

 

[Bradley's HG Services]

A couple of things to consider.
How are you going to manage your customers appointments? Squeegee and Cleaner Planner are probably the biggest players and are both similar prices at about £18 to £20 a month. If you are using one of these then GoCardless connects nicely (I use Squeegee so comments based on that). On completion of a job you just just click charge GoCardless and that's it - payment in your bank (99 times out of 100 - customer no funds etc) in about 7 days. Yes there is a charge but a lot of banks will charge for each transaction as well.
Even if your customer pays by BACS a lot of banks charge a fee so what ever system you use there will probably be fees. Might be worth choosing your bank wisely as there are a few who do free business banking - I didn't have much of a choice as in early 2021 the effects of Covid where kicking about and most banks had 12 weeks + to open an account! Otherwise I would have chosen a 'free bank'!

Personally I offer BACS, Stripe (credit card online), or GoCardless, cash (but try and persuade other methods, as always takes extra time to collect cash at end of job) - customers choice. I probably have about 5% of customers on GoCardless.

Ahh okay, I'm not to clued up on it and how it works in all fairness. My business bank account offers me free transactions as I pay like £9.99 a month with Tide or something like that they offer.

I will definitely be looking into this now then. I did say earlier I was going to avoid it but from what you've said it sounds like it's a very handy tool to have.

I need to look at Squeegee then because just now as I've only got a small round, I have it just reminding in my phone the day every 2 weeks.

Thank you mate!

 

[Toffee]

I did say something similar to this to the lad who recommended me to it. He's very well established

I built a round from scratch on it and turned away a few at first who wanted to pay cash. I finished off my round a lot quicker by eventually accepting cash and it’s now approximately half and half.
The bonus of it is you don’t have to wait to be paid or chase anyone. It cost pennies and if you can’t make a profit on a clean to worry about a few p then you’re either greedy or doing something wrong.
They won’t hike their prices as some kind a truck because they are in competition with other providers. If they ever did you can just go elsewhere, it’s not difficult.
I have lots of cash customers but any new one I always try to get them on GC first.

 

[Bradley's HG Services]

I built a round from scratch on it and turned away a few at first who wanted to pay cash. I finished off my round a lot quicker by eventually accepting cash and it’s now approximately half and half.
The bonus of it is you don’t have to wait to be paid or chase anyone. It cost pennies and if you can’t make a profit on a clean to worry about a few p then you’re either greedy or doing something wrong.
They won’t hike their prices as some kind a truck because they are in competition with other providers. If they ever did you can just go elsewhere, it’s not difficult.
I have lots of cash customers but any new one I always try to get them on GC first.

Okay mate thank you

 

[Chris34]

It is laughable when I hear of the reason why window cleaners won't use it is because of cost. It literally costs pennies and if you're running the business at even an average window cleaner turnover, the cost is a bit like saying you're trying to skimp on water to save money.

It's pennies for an easier life. Instead of waiting for the customer to pay you... and checking your bank account wondering when to send out that reminder for payment text... you just take it when 'you' want. It gives you much more control.

It saves you time and hassle. I've used it for 3 years from day one and don't regret it. I take cash, bank transfer and GC. My preference is GC because it caused virtually zero problems. Currently I've got cash payments waiting, bank transfers waiting but GC it's extremely rare to have any waiting / unpaid. Probably about 1 per year.

GC is very flexible. You can set up the direct debit to come out on the last day of each month, once every 4 weeks, once every 2 months, once every 8 weeks, you can take single one off payments like a first clean / fascia / gutter / conservatory roof clean. You can even take instant payments on it now.

I've got customers who are on tight budgets and for them the ability to set the direct debit to come out on a set date each month is a huge plus. Without that I'm sure I wouldn't have some of my customers. They like to have the direct debit going out on or just after pay day.

I think the old saying goes 'don't knock it till you've tried it'. Most on here who knock it haven't tried it.

 

[Chris34]

It is laughable when I hear of the reason why window cleaners won't use it is because of cost. It literally costs pennies and if you're running the business at even an average window cleaner turnover, the cost is a bit like saying you're trying to skimp on water to save money.

It's pennies for an easier life. Instead of waiting for the customer to pay you... and checking your bank account wondering when to send out that reminder for payment text... you just take it when 'you' want. It gives you much more control.

It saves you time and hassle. I've used it for 3 years from day one and don't regret it. I take cash, bank transfer and GC. My preference is GC because it caused virtually zero problems. Currently I've got cash payments waiting, bank transfers waiting but GC it's extremely rare to have any waiting / unpaid. Probably about 1 per year.

GC is very flexible. You can set up the direct debit to come out on the last day of each month, once every 4 weeks, once every 2 months, once every 8 weeks, you can take single one off payments like a first clean / fascia / gutter / conservatory roof clean. You can even take instant payments on it now.

I've got customers who are on tight budgets and for them the ability to set the direct debit to come out on a set date each month is a huge plus. Without that I'm sure I wouldn't have some of my customers. They like to have the direct debit going out on or just after pay day.

I think the old saying goes 'don't knock it till you've tried it'. Most on here who knock it haven't tried it.

Just to add, you can manually take the dd each clean which takes time. But you can automatically set it to come out once every month, once every 4 weeks, 8 weeks, on a set date each month, each other month...etc. I prefer the automated ones as I don't have to do anything at all. All I have to do is clean the windows. It's a bit like being employed and just expecting money to be in your bank without having to ask for it from your employer.

Next year if things get tough I'm going to offer the direct debits to come out automated on set dates as it's easier for me. I might offer them the end of the month and middle of the month.

I've actually got customers who are once every 2 months but I take half the payment every month automated. It just makes it more easy for them and I'm happy doing that because the clean is already paid for in advance when I go to clean.

 

[Iron Giant]

You're welcome. The other issue with third party companies like go cardless is you're completely at their mercy if they hike the prices, and they will once they get big enough.

Don't get me wrong, there are probably some advantages, but if i can have an efficient set up with minimal effort that makes a huge saving, I'll keep it in house. I'm the same with round apps etc. I work off spreadsheets, always have and always will. £0 per month. Best of luck whatever you chose.

They collect £ billion's globally on behalf of other businesses they have been big enough for a few years now, what suits one won't suit others all depends on individual circumstances,

I collect £1000's a month via GoCardless and have been doing so for over 6 years it takes the ? ache out of admin for me as I know my money is in the bank 5 working days after I don't need to go through over 100 jobs a week checking who has paid and sending out reminders when I can be doing what I want to do on an evening and weekends

 

[Bart90]

They collect £ billion's globally on behalf of other businesses they have been big enough for a few years now, what suits one won't suit others all depends on individual circumstances,

I collect £1000's a month via GoCardless and have been doing so for over 6 years it takes the ? ache out of admin for me as I know my money is in the bank 5 working days after I don't need to go through over 100 jobs a week checking who has paid and sending out reminders when I can be doing what I want to do on an evening and weekends

15 minutes a week doesn't interfere with my evenings and weekends.