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Not impressed with gocardless

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Kleenwell

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124
Location
Weston super mare
Ok. So I only have 2 customers signed up to gc so far (newbie here)

first payment fine

second customer, failed payment

what I’m not impressed about is the time scale.  Being new and scraping every penny to survive, waiting for the payment to go through is bugging me.    I thought payments went through at the end of the week.  Not a week after submitting. 

The failed payment, if it goes through with re submition, will be paid out 2 weeks after doing the job.     I’d sooner wait till the customer is home and take a card payment or cash if I’m honest.  At least card is only 2 days and cash is instant.   

Oncei have enough coming in each week to pay the bills plus a little spare, I wouldn’t mind so much.  But a week/2 is just too long for me.    I had to borrow money to pay my insurance today     The failed payment (had it come in today) would have covered my shortfall. 

  Anyone else ever had a payment fail?

 
Good as gold but Cash is King. I just deal with cash and never had any problem. Take today, £8 first clean job and I charge double on first cleans. Woman gave me £20 and told me to keep the change, don't get that on cashless and we meet face to face.

 
Strangely I've only ever had 1 payment fail. They txt me the day before saying there wasn't going to be enough in the account and could I rearrange it? I told them I can only cancel it before 4pm 2 days before it comes out as it's submitted to your bank after that and out of GC's hands. It failed and I resubmitted for 5 days later no issues. 

It's helpful when you're struggling though as I think as a lump of cash 7 days later seems to go further than odds and ends trickling in over the course of a few weeks.

 
If it was gc’s fault then then fair play but tbh mate that’s just the way it is sometimes. I know that in your situation every penny counts but you gotta look at it as money in the bank. I have some commercial contracts that I have to send paper invoices via snail mail and then payment is processed 30 days after the invoice is received and then on top of that they only do their pay run at the end of the month so it can take two months to come through sometimes but like I said it’s money in the bank and with most self employed tradesmen you won’t always get a weeks pay that always matches exactly what you have done that week.


Sent using the Window Cleaning Forums mobile app

 
Bottom line is you needed to read how the payments are processed all the information is available on GoCardless website with guides explaining how everything thing works, failed to payments means your client has had insufficient funds in their bank account and the resubmission of a payment request takes days as is set out that the client has to be informed via email again not GoCardless to blame at all as their bank has to re-authourise the payment no different to a card payment which can take days to process and the money will to land in a bank account.

County Durham Lad

 
Once you have plenty of customers it makes life easier. Sooner or later you’ll have enough money coming in and you’ll be glad to have the extra time and no collecting. I understand every penny counts early on as I’ve been there, most of us on here have, just be confident and build the buisness you want tomorrow today.

 
Kleenwell said:
Ok. So I only have 2 customers signed up to gc so far (newbie here)

first payment fine

second customer, failed payment

what I’m not impressed about is the time scale.  Being new and scraping every penny to survive, waiting for the payment to go through is bugging me.    I thought payments went through at the end of the week.  Not a week after submitting. 

The failed payment, if it goes through with re submition, will be paid out 2 weeks after doing the job.     I’d sooner wait till the customer is home and take a card payment or cash if I’m honest.  At least card is only 2 days and cash is instant.   

Oncei have enough coming in each week to pay the bills plus a little spare, I wouldn’t mind so much.  But a week/2 is just too long for me.    I had to borrow money to pay my insurance today     The failed payment (had it come in today) would have covered my shortfall. 

  Anyone else ever had a payment fail?
Click to expand...


This has nothing to do With GC mate. If the customer has no funds to pay a D.D. what makes you think they have funds to pay on a card or even cash?  

 
Dave Shaw said:
If it was gc’s fault then then fair play but tbh mate that’s just the way it is sometimes. I know that in your situation every penny counts but you gotta look at it as money in the bank. I have some commercial contracts that I have to send paper invoices via snail mail and then payment is processed 30 days after the invoice is received and then on top of that they only do their pay run at the end of the month so it can take two months to come through sometimes but like I said it’s money in the bank and with most self employed tradesmen you won’t always get a weeks pay that always matches exactly what you have done that week.


Sent using the Window Cleaning Forums mobile app
Click to expand...
get the commercials to pay a clean in advance. that way no money issues

 
scottish cleaning service said:
Good as gold but Cash is King. I just deal with cash and never had any problem. Take today, £8 first clean job and I charge double on first cleans. Woman gave me £20 and told me to keep the change, don't get that on cashless and we meet face to face.
Click to expand...

Aye but what about having to go back at night in the freezing cold?


Sent from my iPhone using Window Cleaning Forums
Kleenwell said:
Ok. So I only have 2 customers signed up to gc so far (newbie here)
first payment fine
second customer, failed payment
what I’m not impressed about is the time scale.  Being new and scraping every penny to survive, waiting for the payment to go through is bugging me.    I thought payments went through at the end of the week.  Not a week after submitting. 
The failed payment, if it goes through with re submition, will be paid out 2 weeks after doing the job.     I’d sooner wait till the customer is home and take a card payment or cash if I’m honest.  At least card is only 2 days and cash is instant.   
Oncei have enough coming in each week to pay the bills plus a little spare, I wouldn’t mind so much.  But a week/2 is just too long for me.    I had to borrow money to pay my insurance today     The failed payment (had it come in today) would have covered my shortfall. 
  Anyone else ever had a payment fail?
Click to expand...


I’d advice to only use it when you’re getting sick of the collecting side of things. If you haven’t got much work I’d advice you to collect it in cash


Sent from my iPhone using Window Cleaning Forums
 
Cash flow will always be an issue when starting no matter what, but if you are that desperate then you need to go collecting i suppose.

Doesnt bother me at all if it takes a week or two for GC to clear, this week im getting paid for last week and next week ill get paid for this, doesnt make any difference.

Of course being cash only and collecting has a lot of benefits, but no matter how much money i could stick in my back pocket it wouldnt be worth the hassle of having to pound the streets 3-4 nights a week, sod that id rather stack shelves.

 
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