[neiljoust]

what is bacs and how do you set it up please

[Mr.G]

bank transfer.
you just give the customer your bank account number and sort code
and they pay the money into your account, using internet banking.

[Spruce]

You don't set it up, the customer does.

He will open his online bank account and add your bank account as a payee. So he will need your sort code and account number. He will also have a section for a reference. We ask them for their surname and first line of their address.

When you do the clean, then your customer goes into his online bank account and transfers the cost of your windowing bill/ticket to your account. It usually takes just a few minutes for the money to hit your account.

It isn't like a direct debit or stop order where they set up an amount to pay you automatically a preset amount on a preset day every month. Works great for us. I wish everyone paid the same way.

Mr. G got there first. 

[neiljoust]

thank you do they need the my name and my bank name aswell

[Paul Coleman]

thank you do they need the my name and my bank name aswell

Possibly.  Some banks ask the payer for the bank name so that they can check the sort code is right.  It's important to supply the reerence number because I know one bank (there may be more) never supplied the customer's name (it was IF Bank).  They did show the reference though.

[neiljoust]

so if i get some cards printed up with details on them be fine

[Mr.G]

on my leaflets I have "PLEASE REFERENCE ANY PAYMENT WITH FIRST LINE OF YOUR ADDRESS" in big red letters

but still get payments from "Mr Smith" etc, and have no idea which house it was for

[neiljoust]

being checky what else is on your card and is a7 size

[TheWindowManChris]

on my leaflets I have "PLEASE REFERENCE ANY PAYMENT WITH FIRST LINE OF YOUR ADDRESS" in big red letters

but still get payments from "Mr Smith" etc, and have no idea which house it was for

Or the ones who call to say Its Mrs Johnston and I need my windows cleaned.

I do same system of BACs or Cheque you must put your details.

[robertphil]

on my leaflets I have "PLEASE REFERENCE ANY PAYMENT WITH FIRST LINE OF YOUR ADDRESS" in big red letters

but still get payments from "Mr Smith" etc, and have no idea which house it was for

Or the ones who call to say Its Mrs Johnston and I need my windows cleaned.

I do same system of BACs or Cheque you must put your details.

what do you do if theres no details?   iv about half a dozen regulars  or more who never put the details

[Spruce]

on my leaflets I have "PLEASE REFERENCE ANY PAYMENT WITH FIRST LINE OF YOUR ADDRESS" in big red letters

but still get payments from "Mr Smith" etc, and have no idea which house it was for

Or the ones who call to say Its Mrs Johnston and I need my windows cleaned.

I do same system of BACs or Cheque you must put your details.

what do you do if theres no details?   iv about half a dozen regulars  or more who never put the details

This becomes a problem.

If you have 3 or 4 customers like this who ommit to tell you their details for what ever reason, then it can be very time consuming trying to track them. If they are good customers otherwise, I would leave the first £8.00 house as £8.00, the second as £7.99 and the third as £7.98.

I had the same issue in the motor trade with my fuel card. Sometimes the vehicle progressor would borrow my fuel card to put fuel into a sold car but would forget to allocate it off my account. So the easiest way for me to identify my fuel was to fill up with a figure of 0.49 pence at the end (£35.49). Although we gave the vehicle registration number with every fuel purchase, they were too stupid to include that against every fuel purchase on the statement which would have made things so much easier.

Their solution wasn't to correct the problem, but to tell me that I shouldn't give my card to anyone to fuel up another car that wasn't mine - a solution made by an person who had no idea on the application of customer care.

[Spruce]

on my leaflets I have "PLEASE REFERENCE ANY PAYMENT WITH FIRST LINE OF YOUR ADDRESS" in big red letters

but still get payments from "Mr Smith" etc, and have no idea which house it was for

We get that as well. We have 99% of the customer's names on our round. What did get us once was a cheque that arrived for a clean that was done but the name didn't exist on our customer list.

I still banked it and kept the details in my cash tin. Next clean we cleaned the house it turned out to be and on this slip we noted the previous cleans non payment. This triggered an indignant  phone call when they got back home. The cheque came from her mother. I knew it was definitely our cheque. We trade under Cameron's Window Cleaners, but all cheques are made payable to my personal bank account.

Anyway, I now have a note of mothers name in the notes.

In the past 9 years we have cleaned windows, we have never been paid for something and never found who paid it. It always comes out in the wash eventually.

[dazmond]

im finding BACS to be a pain for some customers.yes they put "mr smith" or "windows" instead of address sometimes.

i also find it gives them chance to delay payment.dont forget to get their mobile number so you can send them a text reminder after 14 days if payment not received.

for bigger paying jobs(£50+)its great but its the cheap £7-£12 jobs that seem to drag their heels.im getting fed up with some of them.some of my customers pay 6 months in advance which is great.others wait until they owe 3 cleans before paying.

I REPEAT!DONT FORGET TO GET THEIR MOBILE NUMBERS WHEN THEY ARE PAYING BY BACS!

[andyM]

I've only a handful that pay by bacs at the moment, as all other payments are made by cash or cheque.
I have considered that if I switch a larger number of customers over to bacs I will tell them that their payment will only be recognised if they ensure the first line of their address is used as the reference.
Maybe that will condition customers to ensure they comply?
 

[tlwcs]

so if i get some cards printed up with details on them be fine

Bank Details are fine on your leaflets for your customers or intended customers.
But be careful of putting them on your website. I had mine on and within the first month I had to letters from my bank asking me to confirm my signature. One was a mortgage company who had sent a mandate to my bank for £650. a month, followed by a loan company for a similar figure.
I rang the bank who said its common for these companies to trawl the net and to take my details off.
Tony

[TheWindowManChris]

For BACs account we simply have account called

Pay in Account so basically money can only be paid into the account.

I operate as if you don't put your details on BAC or Cheques then we send a text saying
'You have a outstanding bill, Please call xx to make payment'   they always quick to call to say I paid X on X Date via cheque or via BACs.