[Matthew JN]

Anyone had any of their long standing customers give you BS that they have paid you when you know for certain that they have not. I have three of these customers invoices for cleans in April - 2 say they paid me cash at the door - and another claims she posted cash.  - WTF ??

Ideally you don't want to lose them so the approach has to be softly softly - but really i just want to level with them and say pay up or service cancelled.

[Craig 72]

Posted cash!That's a new one.I think if I was 100% sure the customer was trying to fiddle me I would give them the elbow whether they have been good in the past or not.Not too many other proffessions would put up with that crap.I've had a couple of customers argue that they only owe me one clean when it's two but after that I ask to to make a note in their diary when I come in the future.I don't think that's them playing silly buggers it's just their memorys bad.

[Tom White]

I regularly get posted cash where the price is a round note; a tenner usually.

[cozy]

Anyone can make mistakes when collecting or checking payments. Win some lose some. If I'm 100% sure they haven't paid and they think they have, I don't let go.If it's over 20 quid they pay or we go all the way upto CCJ. (Done postal in Germany) If I'm not 100% sure I try and meet them halfway or hit a compromise, but collecting cash is open to mistakes.
Sometimes I've remembered them paying after I've said they owe, and it's embarrassing. Been trying to think of a fool-proof way of collecting. Great ideas, but mistakes still happen.

[Spruce]

Anyone can make mistakes when collecting or checking payments. Win some lose some. If I'm 100% sure they haven't paid and they think they have, I don't let go.If it's over 20 quid they pay or we go all the way upto CCJ. (Done postal in Germany) If I'm not 100% sure I try and meet them halfway or hit a compromise, but collecting cash is open to mistakes.
Sometimes I've remembered them paying after I've said they owe, and it's embarrassing. Been trying to think of a fool-proof way of collecting. Great ideas, but mistakes still happen.

If you balance up every day then the only problem that can happen is if the wrong address for the same amount was ticked off the debt list. We use George and pocket George and have only had 1 person in the last 3 years who adamantly told us he owed us for a clean, but it didn't reflect on the debt list.
We also had one of those embarrassing situations of collecting from a customer who had already paid us - drawing to our attention that he had paid us at the same time he had given us a bottle of wine at Christmas time. This was the reason for checking ourselves at the end of everyday now and starting each new day with the exact float.

Spruce

[cozy]

Anyone can make mistakes when collecting or checking payments. Win some lose some. If I'm 100% sure they haven't paid and they think they have, I don't let go.If it's over 20 quid they pay or we go all the way upto CCJ. (Done postal in Germany) If I'm not 100% sure I try and meet them halfway or hit a compromise, but collecting cash is open to mistakes.
Sometimes I've remembered them paying after I've said they owe, and it's embarrassing. Been trying to think of a fool-proof way of collecting. Great ideas, but mistakes still happen.

If you balance up every day then the only problem that can happen is if the wrong address for the same amount was ticked off the debt list. We use George and pocket George and have only had 1 person in the last 3 years who adamantly told us he owed us for a clean, but it didn't reflect on the debt list.
We also had one of those embarrassing situations of collecting from a customer who had already paid us - drawing to our attention that he had paid us at the same time he had given us a bottle of wine at Christmas time. This was the reason for checking ourselves at the end of everyday now and starting each new day with the exact float.

Spruce

That sounds great Spruce, I used to do that when I worked till 5pm and was only local. Now we finish about 2pm so most aren't home. We work upto 40 miles away too so sitting about for hours or starting later doesn't fit our lifestyle really. Thanks for the tips though. By the way, I've had the bottle of wine and forgot to mark as Paid. Felt a real prat.

[richard jagger]

If the custie pays the correct business response would be to give a written recite to cover yourself and them. \If a custies posts cash the risk is theirs as the cannot prove they have paid and that it did not go lost in the post.This account is still outstanding.Even if the post a cheque and you loose it the they must pay as they cannot prove in a court of law that you received it.Only if you have deposited this cheque is the debt settled.

[cozy]

Thinking about the reciept idea.

[EWCServices]

Economic climate.

[bumper]

i have a few like that so next couple cleans i bump all upstairs,get money back that way,if they say ive not done them i say its been raining a couple of days so they will look dirty

[CLEANCARE WC]

i have a few like that so next couple cleans i bump all upstairs,get money back that way,if they say ive not done them i say its been raining a couple of days so they will look dirty

Forget Lex Luther..... Bumper greatest criminal mind of our time  you always make me smile bumper  p.s. im sending you an affro comb in the post.

[Small but perfectley formed]

Had one today its not practicle :Numpty

[EWCServices]

whats not practical?

[Matthew JN]

Update -

Went round and told the customer that her cash must have been nicked in the mail - as she said it was posted on 10/4.  She gave me the £20 cash.

One sorted 2 to go. 

[Small but perfectley formed]

Dont know whats practicle it must be having to pay

[AuRavelling79]

I get about one of these a year on average and three times in the past fifteen years has it been the same custy doing it twice and I reckon they were losing their marbles.

One I insisted he denied and I dropped; the other two I put down to a 1% possibility it was me getting it wrong the first time so I let it go and I just watched carefully with no further probs from them.

But, and this is the kicker, I reckon about three times a year someone says I owe you for two when I've only written down one!