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Best way to deal with none payers?

CleanTeamDerby

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9
Location
Burton on Trent
What is the best way to deal with none payers? 

Is is there a certain way to approach them, as I have sent them 4 texts with in two days asking for 3 months worth off money. They said last week they would pay yesterday but had no reply since. 

Thanks in advance for any help 

 
I just text them and say if not paid in 5 working days it will be passed on to debt recovery. The few I've had to threaten paid, if they don't pay then there is a letter template, somewhere on here, threatening court action. After that it is then up to you, if you think it's worthwhile then take them to Small Claims Court or write it off.

 
I thought I saw a template on here somewhere before but I can’t seem to find, if anyone could attach it to this post that would be much appreciated as I’ve already tried the text. Thanks again 

 
I send this message as a final request.

9 times out of 10 payment is received immediately, however do be prepared to follow through with small claims court action, which can be easily done from there website. 

Dear Customer, 
This is a final request for outstanding payment.
Your bill is £
for window cleaning on xx/xx/2019
Despite repeated payment requests,  no payment has been received. Please note that unless payment is received by (insert date) an administration charge of £40 will be added to your bill and a claim will be filed with the Small Claims Court for recovery which will incur a further charge of £25 
Payments can be made at ( insert your payment details )
At this time we must withdraw our service due to non payment. 
Kind regards your name
Company name

 
Unfortunately it’s not as straight forward as it may first appear I have an on going issue with a building company owing me £725 , you have to first issue them with written action notice that you have to be able to prove has been delivered to them they are very cunning and refuse to sight fir any recorded delivery letter and this is needed as proof that you have served notice on them , then to register it with the court is £25 then ti go to the next stage it’s £60 so it’s a minimum of £85 to just get it to court , then when the court rules in your favour they may get to pay £10 per month they pay one month and stop paying and so the process goes on back to court . I currently have a Soliciters who is a customer dealing with this along with a debt collection agency and it’s still not resolved and Ime still out of pocket 8 months later , they are now looking at pinning the debt against his property but Ime still not hopefull of seeing anything . 

So taking someone to court for the odd £20 -30 seams a waist of time as it will cost more to try and get it back than you are owed , i makes my blood boil but it’s a difficult situation to know what to do .

The Tomas Higgins letter approach is also a waist of time as most people that owe money know it’s not worth the paper it’s written on . 

 
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The best way is to start being proactive yourself, and that's by making it a 100% gocardless round. So you do the cleans and debit that evening, all money in the bank within 5 days. How awesome does that sound? 

And you can make it happen. I gradually got our full round onto it and culled off old ones that wouldnt move over and replaced them with ones that would, all done in phases over a good 6 month period. 

 
What is the best way to deal with none payers? 

Is is there a certain way to approach them, as I have sent them 4 texts with in two days asking for 3 months worth off money. They said last week they would pay yesterday but had no reply since. 

Thanks in advance for any help 
My policy is 2/3 text reminders, then phone call, then visit (if I'm passing or in the area), then a letter, then a solicitors letter then court action.

 
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Unfortunately it’s not as straight forward as it may first appear I have an on going issue with a building company owing me £725 , you have to first issue them with written action notice that you have to be able to prove has been delivered to them they are very cunning and refuse to sight fir any recorded delivery letter and this is needed as proof that you have served notice on them , then to register it with the court is £25 then ti go to the next stage it’s £60 so it’s a minimum of £85 to just get it to court , then when the court rules in your favour they may get to pay £10 per month they pay one month and stop paying and so the process goes on back to court . I currently have a Soliciters who is a customer dealing with this along with a debt collection agency and it’s still not resolved and Ime still out of pocket 8 months later , they are now looking at pinning the debt against his property but Ime still not hopefull of seeing anything . 

So taking someone to court for the odd £20 -30 seams a waist of time as it will cost more to try and get it back than you are owed , i makes my blood boil but it’s a difficult situation to know what to do .

The Tomas Higgins letter approach is also a waist of time as most people that owe money know it’s not worth the paper it’s written on . 
I'm not certain but I doubt this applies for small amounts, the person has already acknowledged the debt and promised to pay so a simple application will suffice. He has the proof of acknowledgement and a promise to pay, that would win him the claim.

 
The time & money you lose chasing up small payments can’t always be justified. You do your days work, come home, washing to do dinner to cook, kids etc...you’ve gotta have time on your hands if you want to go through courts etc.

the old school solution from what i’ve heard was just to show up on the next round, soap the upstairs windows and not squeegee them, however this is a further waste of your time.

every trade has its methods. Plumbers will switch the water off in the street or i knew one lad who simply took the boiler back off the wall when the customer got itchy, the cash then suddenly appeared. i’ve heard of an electrician fitting concealed devices where the customer will never find it because he had a funny feeling they would be awkward for payment. Low and behold he was right and after 30 days he cut the electric supply off somehow. customer then rand and asked the electrician whats going on? electrician said when payment is delivered the electric will come back on etc.

Skip companies that dont get paid have been known to simply upturn the skips contents back on to the customers driveway ?‍♂️ 

We are generally talking about larger amounts of money for the above though.

showing up at 8pm on a sunday evening to knock the door i’ve heard works also as they’re almost guaranteed to be home then. But who can be bothered with that?!

A quick and simple solution and probably the one i would go for if it really got to me, would be to get an A4 sheet of paper, write “PAY UP” in big bold letters, put it in waterproof polypocket and stick it to an upstairs window they cant reach. (Assuming they dont of course have a ladder) im sure they wouldnt want to be seeing that thing on the window for very long ? you could additionally charge them to remove it maybe?

Or you can just sit back, relax, and accept that karma will work its own “what goes around, comes around” etc. 

 
I saw a carpet fitter on FB he had driven all the way up to the Lake District to fit some carpets for a client. Anyway the client did not pay up up as planned and slammed the door in his face, told him where to go. So he went to the local pet shop and bought a few trays of grass hoppers and other bugs and posted them through her letterbox before heading home.....

I personally don't clean again if last months bill has not been settled.

 
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The best way is to start being proactive yourself, and that's by making it a 100% gocardless round. So you do the cleans and debit that evening, all money in the bank within 5 days. How awesome does that sound? 

And you can make it happen. I gradually got our full round onto it and culled off old ones that wouldnt move over and replaced them with ones that would, all done in phases over a good 6 month period. 


I have a customer soon to be ex customer who is a GoCardless customer. I had a notification that GoCardless were taking a sum of money out of my next payment as the customer disputed setting up a direct debit so the “six” payments I had already recieved over the last five months were taken out of my account. I’ve been to their home and recorded the conversation ( don’t know if it allowed but I don’t care did it to cover my back if they gob of to neighbors) 

She promised her husband would get back to me ASAP, didn’t believe here but gave benefit of doubt as said she had a few issues with other direct debits bla bla bla. Anyway long and short of it they have committed fraud by claiming the money back saying they hadn’t sing up to something they clearly did.

I love GoCardless but don’t be fooled, stupid Chavs will take advantage of anything they can so not fool proof of hassle.

 
I have a customer soon to be ex customer who is a GoCardless customer. I had a notification that GoCardless were taking a sum of money out of my next payment as the customer disputed setting up a direct debit so the “six” payments I had already recieved over the last five months were taken out of my account. I’ve been to their home and recorded the conversation ( don’t know if it allowed but I don’t care did it to cover my back if they gob of to neighbors) 

She promised her husband would get back to me ASAP, didn’t believe here but gave benefit of doubt as said she had a few issues with other direct debits bla bla bla. Anyway long and short of it they have committed fraud by claiming the money back saying they hadn’t sing up to something they clearly did.

I love GoCardless but don’t be fooled, stupid Chavs will take advantage of anything they can so not fool proof of hassle.
Yeah defo but what I do if any payments bounce is I email them directly from their gocardless email sign up. Also we get an email to say they have signed up. So its pretty hard for someone to then prove they didn't sign up.

Have had to threaten small claim on a few occasions here too but the paper trail attached to a final email demand for payment always works. 

 
Yeah defo but what I do if any payments bounce is I email them directly from their gocardless email sign up. Also we get an email to say they have signed up. So its pretty hard for someone to then prove they didn't sign up.

Have had to threaten small claim on a few occasions here too but the paper trail attached to a final email demand for payment always works. 




This is where cash is king do the job get paid cash no messing about and non refundable ???

 
This is where cash is king do the job get paid cash no messing about and non refundable ???
If everyone left our money in a safe place we wouldnt be going crazy eh lol. Tell you what though I have a lot less bother with gocardless than bank and paypal, it just attracts a better type of customer to sign up in the first place mostly 

 
If everyone left our money in a safe place we wouldnt be going crazy eh lol. Tell you what though I have a lot less bother with gocardless than bank and paypal, it just attracts a better type of customer to sign up in the first place mostly 




I don’t do gocardless , just cash ,cheque, bacs , I would personally prefer just one payment method as checking up all the difference ways people pay is a pain , 

 
I don’t do gocardless , just cash ,cheque, bacs , I would personally prefer just one payment method as checking up all the difference ways people pay is a pain , 
That was my biggest pain. Constant cross referencing, it's a nightmare and people dont realise how time consuming it is. Nor how easy to miss payments 

 
I have a customer soon to be ex customer who is a GoCardless customer. I had a notification that GoCardless were taking a sum of money out of my next payment as the customer disputed setting up a direct debit so the “six” payments I had already recieved over the last five months were taken out of my account. I’ve been to their home and recorded the conversation ( don’t know if it allowed but I don’t care did it to cover my back if they gob of to neighbors) 

She promised her husband would get back to me ASAP, didn’t believe here but gave benefit of doubt as said she had a few issues with other direct debits bla bla bla. Anyway long and short of it they have committed fraud by claiming the money back saying they hadn’t sing up to something they clearly did.

I love GoCardless but don’t be fooled, stupid Chavs will take advantage of anything they can so not fool proof of hassle.
Keep us updated on how this one goes.

I don't use GC but I have a card reader which'll come out when I'm chasing money. The card reader has contactless but I always make them insert the card and enter pin so they can't claim it was taken without their knowledge (like I found the bank card and ran it). 

 
I don’t do gocardless , just cash ,cheque, bacs , I would personally prefer just one payment method as checking up all the difference ways people pay is a pain , 


Yeah that's what i'm doing too - they can't claim they didn't pay it that way and reverse it. I was asked yesterday if i take paypal - my immediate answer was no!

 
No GoCardless no window clean at all, yes as above people can cancel or dispute but when it's less than 1% out of 100's of clients and 1,000's of payments  it's far less hassle and it's only happened once in over 4 years, typically people won't sign up to a direct debit unless they want a regular service @BigFoot I am guessing in your case they have hit money troubles and instead of been upfront and decent they thought it best to try and rip you off.

 
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