What steps do you take when a customer refuses to pay?

[Petefinny]

Hi i have a customer who idid some work for, i had no complaints while i did the work for them but now it has come time for them to pay the bill they are coming up with excuses not to pay me, what do i do now, i cant let them get away with it, anyone had this problem before?

 

[michael c]

there are a couple of threads on this mate try to search bar

 

[Whn1]

What did you do? What excuses are they making?

 

[Petefinny]

I fitted new washers and seals to and a new expansion vessel to there alpha boiler

 

[michael c]

so why wnt they pay

 

[southcoastboile]

I send out late payment letters once over the 28 days. The terms and conditions are set out on the jobsheet which they sign on job completion.

Say if they owe me £40 the late payment letters will be sent out saying outstanding balance in red writing £70.

It is a £30 admin fee. This fee will be canceled if payment is recieved within the next 5 working days. If not the new total is now payable. The last 3 I have had go over the 28 days have all paid up straight away. Its suprizing how many people have been on holiday for a month and thats why they didnt pay in the required time.

 

[Barry98]

Do you want this in the open forum ?

 

[Leo21]

Put Something in writing for a start.

 

[Keefy]

Hi i have a customer who idid some work for, i had no complaints while i did the work for them but now it has come time for them to pay the bill they are coming up with excuses not to pay me, what do i do now, i cant let them get away with it, anyone had this problem before?

What are the excuses so far?

 

[southcoastboile]

Do you want this in the open forum ?

If you are on about my post then yeah, it can only be a good thing that customers know they will have to pay and it may stop them from messing around with the payment. Its completely fair to charge an admin fee as you have to generate more paperwork which takes time, the cost of postage, paper ink etc. I thought I would share it as I have found it usefull and if it does go to court you can claim more money back.

 

[Keefy]

Be good to have a resident legal expert on the forum.

 

[southcoastboile]

Be good to have a resident legal expert on the forum.

Im definitly not a legal expert, far fom it but if banks can do it why cant we ?

 

[Petefinny]

Yes can you put it in the open forum, i fitted the vessel and i left saying that it is fine and i asked them to keep an eye on it, i will be back and sort the bill out once we know everything is fine, the reason why it had the leaks in the first place is because the customer left the filling loop open and it was constanly filling, so i disconnected the filling loop, she said that when i left i did not explain what i had done yet the job was planned two days before and i told her i ordered her expansion vessel and was fitting it as soon as it arrived, she is saying i rushed out the door after fitting it and never explained what i had done and that she was panicking yet she did not ring me once to ask me any questions and the only time they complained was when i gave them the invoice!!

 

[Keefy]

Yes can you put it in the open forum, i fitted the vessel and i left saying that it is fine and i asked them to keep an eye on it, i will be back and sort the bill out once we know everything is fine, the reason why it had the leaks in the first place is because the customer left the filling loop open and it was constanly filling, so i disconnected the filling loop, she said that when i left i did not explain what i had done yet the job was planned two days before and i told her i ordered her expansion vessel and was fitting it as soon as it arrived, she is saying i rushed out the door after fitting it and never explained what i had done and that she was panicking yet she did not ring me once to ask me any questions and the only time they complained was when i gave them the invoice!!

Panicking over what? Well they don't seem to be complaining about anything so they have no reason not to pay you. How come they didn't pay you upon finishing the job?

 

[lame plumber]

could be she is just a panicker, why not go round, talk her through the whole process slowly and check shes happy, when she nods ask for payment. I have one custard, service her boiler annually, tell her its ok, get paid and within one or two days get a call fm her saying the red light was on on the boiler and shes turned it off at the mains. Round I go , turn it all on again, check the supply on light is showing, tell her off and leave! she does it every year!! took a week to be called last month