My default position is to take little nonsense from custies as "it does my head in" to use the professional term; however...
I have a long term custy from my trad days - a large bungalow set in 4 acres of Gloucestershire countryside which I cleaned at £30 every month along with their elderly mother's house at £10 a pop.
This custy is a surgeon and frankly I wouldn't want him anywhere near me as if the state of his untidy disorganised and unkempt house is anything to go by he'd probably leave half his tools inside me at the end of the op!
Anyhooooo, I stopped last year in June after 3 months non payment from custy and one month from elderly mother (who had been a prompt payer but who was now incompetant and relying on her son and d-i-l).
Anyway I knew they'd shout at some point as a similar event happened about five years ago and I took them back and put my price up from £20 to £30 with promises from them to be better payers. They are simply completely disorganised rather than malicious.
I have passed on work there to a window repairer friend who did a great job putting in new patio door cills and repairing misty panes and who got paid immediately and my daughter cuts the hair of the females in the house with no trouble - so an unusual situation calling for a more reasoned approach.
Anyway after about eight months, Dan the Man says to me something along the lines of "heard anything from Drs' XXXXXXX? Nope says I.
Last month my daughter tells me that they have spoken to her and realise their windows haven't been paid but that the elderly mum died and they wonder how much they owe.
I'm in hissyfit mode and thinking stuff'em - irritating ingrates, grrr etc. But Dan the Man says why don't you just drop them a letter outlining the debt and sorry mum's died etc.
So I do. It's for a £100. They ignore it. Yesterday I said to DtM what a waste of time that was and that if it wasn't for them being my daughter's hairdressing clients I'd tell 'em where to go etc.
Just looked at my on line payments and they've settled the account in the sum of £100.00.
Now ... do I take 'em back on?