[lee_dewing]

hi   all

anyone use a debt collecting agency ,

have a few messers, i can knock em up.

but wondered if debt collecting agencies would entertain us as small amounts?

see a post on hear a while back about a company; i sent em an email and heard nothing back.

Any ideas; customers in question cleaned twice, owe about £25 each.
sent them reminders in the post to say i'm due again soon but they will be out; please can ou send paymet.

still nothing due to clean one of em this week, will leave payment reminder which says have not cleaned windows due to unpaid  monies.

what do you guys do, i will knock, but what then, if no joy?

If i have to right off i will, but if i can pass the debt over to agency i would even if they kept most of it.

any advice thanks lee.

[Klean07]

For small amounts like that I wouldn't bother. I had a similar one earlier this year for £28. At the time I thought like you and wanted peace of mind that custie hadn't pulled wool over my eyes etc. But now I've put it down to experience and moved on.

[Ian101]

Had one last month which I sorted yesterday.

£10 nice easy job last month "sorry got no cash on me today" ... no problem send me a cheque "ok" says the lady. ........... no cheque within last month so went to do the road yesterday and knocked on her door ... everything ok with the last clean asks me "yes fine" she replies ... just that never received a cheque "oh I dont have a cheque book these days"   :  :  :

"I will go to cash point now and get you the £20 then were all straight" was about to tell her that I do online payment but thought best get my money first so let her drive to town to get my money and told her when she got back 

[kate1]

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/

Hi OP

Can I suggest the above site, Im nothing to do with it, apart from a member.

But there are accountants and debt advisors on there that maybe able to help you.

[Steve CM]

i have tried a few and they said they would but then no cigar. it seems the amounts are to small for them to worry about.

Could i suggest a mix of egg and flour in a supersoaker as way of compensation?

[mlscontractcleaner]

Unless they've signed a contract or some other type of agreement how can you chase them for money through the courts?

Surely they can just deny any knowledge of you ever doing their windows and never asked you to do them in the first place.

Isn't it just our word against theirs

[darren clarke]

cut losses and move on,  and learn from lesson

[rg1]

A debt collector can only send letters asking for payment or turn up on the doorstep and ask for payment. If the customer refuses to pay, debt collectors have no powers to do anything other than walk away.

You would then have to pursue the claim in court. (if you can afford to)

[lee_dewing]

looks like i'l have to get on the door knocker

blue monkey, i'l cut my losses if i have to but what is the lesson to be learned?

steve always here about the eggs and flour.
Whats the theory of getting onto the windows, always wondered
(I wouldn't)

just wondered if anyone has took revenge on a small scale

thanks lee

[Ian Lancaster]

I've found this to be very effective - modify to suit


Dear Ms ,

Re: Window Cleaning Services at............................ 
Following your original request for window cleaning services at the above address, you accepted our offer of service on a regular six monthly basis at a price of £30 per visit.  We cleaned them initially on the 24th of April 2009, for which payment was subsequently received. 

Our second visit in accordance with the contract was on the 22nd October and our invoice was submitted to Norman Road as required.

No payment has been received and three telephone requests for payment have been ignored.

We must now insist on full payment within 14 days of the above date.  The sum required is the invoice total of £30 plus a late payment additional charge of £10 to cover our costs in chasing this debt.

If we do not receive a cheque in the sum of £40 by Friday the 15th January 2010 we will take one of the following actions:

1.     We may apply to the Small Claims Court, this action will incur additional costs, and we have access to expert legal assistance via the Federation of Small Businesses which could involve further costs to be borne by you.

2.    We may sell the debt to a professional debt collection agency.  This will involve you in considerable extra expense.


Yours sincerely,



Ian Lancaster
Director: Ian Lancaster Window Cleaner Ltd.

www.ianlancaster.co.uk



Please forward a cheque for the full amount of £40.00 made payable to “Ian Lancaster Window Cleaner” to the above address.

[Matthew JN]

Just get out there and knock on your debtors doors - i had to spend 2 hours last nite rounding up almost £300 quid from customers who had badly overdue accounts, and most are very apologetic.

I think its fair to say that peoples lives are fairly hectic these days and most peoples  bills are just taken care of automatically by direct debits - Window Cleaning is one of the few things that doesn't and people can genuinely forget to pay.

If you are going to cancel the customer then knock at late time like after 10pm or early like 7am, after all they have asked you to provide a service and then have inconnvenienced you by not paying - so why give them the courtesy of knocking at a reasonable hour.

[DaveG]

Ian, thats a great letter 

[prestige cleaners]

thats why i only do 1 clean if i havent been paid lee, been stung about 10 times in 3 years, i have managed to get a few to pay but that cost me a lot of time and stress knocking theyre door, but i did get peace of mind.

debt collectors dont want to know about small amounts, theyre a waste of time.

it is very tempting to go and dirty theyre windows, but ive never had the guts, plus you could inflame the situation, where they could find out it was you and do something worse, 

[lee_dewing]

thats why i only do 1 clean if i havent been paid lee, been stung about 10 times in 3 years, i have managed to get a few to pay but that cost me a lot of time and stress knocking theyre door, but i did get peace of mind.

dirty windows, i think this is how i will now do it for most of em now.

Thanks for your letter Ian, may use that! have you ever followed it through and taken someone to court or sold on the debt?

was thinking as others that debt collectors wouldn't be intrested, is this true?

thanks lee

[Ian Lancaster]

No, I've never followed it up.  My thoughts are that if that doesn't frighten them into paying, nothing will so at that stage I cut my losses and stop chasing the debt.

Having said that, the letter nearly always gets results

[bobby p]

i would never write,or get an agency,its just adding to your stress- simply knock on that door and by this it helps you understand the mentality of bad payers,this then makes it easy to spot a new one when you first meet them. they often drawl when talking and randomly they shout at their dogs/kids .  half completed garden decking projects is another sign of a potential bad payer 

[Ian101]

half completed garden decking projects is another sign of a potential bad payer 

  

Went collecting last night and get my 3 oldest outstanding debts ... only £28 but felt better for getting them collected and crossed off my list 

[KLEENAWAY]

I know bailiffs and debt collection people/companies through my old job  and i dont think they would touch small things like this unless every wc in your area put all your bad payers in one pot, have evidence and go at them that way. If that doesnt work then the eggs and flour idea sounds good to me.....maybe the odd brick "thrown" in depending on how much they owe     

Danny

[Johnny B]

Maybe I am a soft touch, or am just too laid back, but I have written off hundreds in the past, and will probably continue to get caught occasionally, although most of the dead wood has now gone.

I reach a point where I realise that I am not going to get my money without a load of stress and hassle, two things which I just don't want in my life, so I simply walk away and write it off.

I never think about exacting 'revenge'. Seems to me that two wrongs don't make a right, and furthermore I would only damage my reputation if I was seen to be deliberately defacing other peoples' property, particularly if such actions got back to my good customers. Definite career own goal, if not suicide, in my humble opinion, and not an ethical way of getting payment.

I do, however, wonder what these ex-customers will be thinking as they see me time and again cleaning their neighbours' windows, and bypassing theirs as they get ever dirtier.

John.

 

[Johnny B]

I have just remembered an ex-customer who had failed to pay me asked me for a price to clean her windows. She gave me the impression that she had never met me before, but I remembered her, and being ignored in the street by her when I last cleaned her windows.

Being a bit of a cowardly custard I didn't have the heart to tell her that she still owed me for the last clean (about 2 years ago).

Instead I gave her a ridiculously price to put her off. The price would have covered what she owed me, so potentially I was giving her another chance as well as recouping my loss. As I didn't want to do the job anyway I hoped she would say no. Fortunately that was the case, so although still out of pocket, hopefully she won't ask again.

John.