[homenclean]

Cleaned the carpets in October for a letting agent with the tenants permission and didn't get paid despite a text from her promising to pay. No dispute  ovrer the work.

Couldn't get her to respond to any communication after this so having got her new address from agents issued county court proceedings. Got in to night after a good day on the wand and a letter from the court saying she intends to defend the claim, not a fortune £120 plus costs. The bloody cheek of it. Wanted to go round but wife talked me out of it.

The best part is when I looked back in my diaries it showed I had an issue getting money out of her x partner at a property they used to rent 3 years ago .

I a now you aren't ment to swear on here but not been taken for a t ..t  by her  we got done 3 times last year  now we don't mess straight to court no softly softly any more in nearly 24 years not had issues with customers paying like in the last 12 moths.

Even sent her a message saying if cash tight over Xmas let me know and wouldn't mind having to wait until end of January as she has kids and is now on her own. Seems like she's taking me for a mug.
John

[neil 47]

John

I've had this kind of thing happen twice this week and as mad as it gets you , when pepole seem to think you are a mug .

The best thing to do is move on quickly learn from it and avoid people like this in the future .

[Len Gribble]

Am a bit lost? Who owes you the money? Commissioning agent or tenant!

[Robin Ray]

Call her bluff she will pay before it goes the whole way.

[Mike Gwilliam]

When taking on work from estate agents it's important to clarify if the agent is responsible for payment say from a deposit or if the tenant or landlord are responsible. If the agent sends you work you should ask who the contract is with, if it's the tenant then you should send a quote to them. If they accept the quote then that way you have a contract. And as always payment is required on completion of work if not before, if they live away or their new address is unknown.

As this woman has sent you a text agreeing to pay, probably this could bee seen as having a contract so I can't see how she could defend it.

[Darran Pryce]

I always stipulate to tenants cash on the day or BACS transfer after the job is complete.  If custy pays by BACS, they pay and show me its left there account.  Never any issues this way. If the landlord/letting agents or other commercial companies contact me then I ask for 14 days in my terms.  If payment is not received, a letter will be sent with which will cost an additional £25 (admin charges), stating payment to be received in 7 days from date on letter otherwise another letter will be sent £25 (admin charges), then if payment is not received for a further 7 days (from date on letter) without further warning we will pass on your details over to our debt collector.

Above are our terms  included on quotes/invoices.

It works for us.

[C o z y]

To avoid this situation, we have every job, private or commercial signed off on a work docket. It sates the work was completed to a satisfactory standard on date(s). Name printed under signature to avoid claims of false sig. Copy to customer and copy for your file.

Can't be disputed then. Keep it simple.

[Ian Gourlay]

Makes you think all tenants cleans should be paid in advance  After all we cannot make a claim against house#

[Doug Holloway]

Hi guys

Although I like to trust customers it can be a problem with eot's.

I had a couple who were emigrating to NZ who were arranging for a friend to let me in when they would already be on the flight.

When I asked about payment she said she would do a bank transfer once she got her deposit back.

I replied that was between her and her landlord and nothing to do with me but I would do the job if she lodged the cash with the letting agent. She said yes but then changed her mind so I told he to find someone else.

I bet the airline didn't agree to take payment once she had got to NZ!

Cheers

Doug

[Hilton]

Would not advocate doing this but a cleaner I know got into a dispute with an agent at a let property over payment, he wanted paying there and then the agent said he would only be paid once they had cleared their deposit..he wasn't having it and emptied the waste tank on his machine over the carpets..

[Paul Moss]

Lol , old wives tale

[Simon Gerrard]

Just because she is going to defend it doesn't mean you'll lose, far from it. In fact she probably won't even turn up so pursue it and hopefully get a ccj against her name, that way she won't even be able to get a mobile phone contract in the future.

Simon

[C o z y]

Just because she is going to defend it doesn't mean you'll lose, far from it. In fact she probably won't even turn up so pursue it and hopefully get a ccj against her name, that way she won't even be able to get a mobile phone contract in the future.

Simon

Good point. Revenge is a dish.............. 

[homenclean]

Thanks for the responseses, unfortunately couldn't get signicture or guarantee from agent as it was a last minute job and I had no reason to foresee a problem as this is a company I have worked for , for a while.

Will pursue this all the way and issue ccj and the bailiffs is called for.

John

[Shaun_Ashmore]

It's a bad bad industry the lettings market I've had similar I once had a lettings agents owner lie to me 3 times telling me to come in for the money every time I went to fetch it he was never in the woman he used to screen his visitors was very good at deferring suitors so I waited until he was going for his dinner and dived into the office and confronted him, I got so frustrated I started to take me shirt off and offered to fight him not very professional but I did get my money.

Shaun

[COLIN BRIGHT]

i'll fight ya

[Mike Halliday]

It's a bad bad industry the lettings market I've had similar I once had a lettings agents owner lie to me 3 times telling me to come in for the money every time I went to fetch it he was never in the woman he used to screen his visitors was very good at deferring suitors so I waited until he was going for his dinner and dived into the office and confronted him, I got so frustrated I started to take me shirt off and offered to fight him not very professional but I did get my money.

Shaun

So you started to take your clothes off, he probably thought you said you were going to f#ck him not fight him ..... No wonder he paid up!

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I think I was hyperventerlating I'd really got myself worked up.

Shaun

[Hilton]

Lol , old wives tale

Lol, no its not, he did it.

[Dave_Lee]

Thing is the further you go with the court thing, the more it costs. Sure you can add all that to her bill, but if she hasn't the money, you are not going to get it. Sending in the bailiffs will again cost you more and if she refuses to let them in, there is nothing they can do. I went through all this some years ago. Eventually paid to send in the bailiffs. They got refused entry, so I paid again for the supervising bailiff. He also was refused entry. When I questioned why they had been unsuccessful, I was told that they can't force an entry and if the defendant refuses them entry there nothing they can do. I had to face it, that was as far as I could go. I had not only lost the price of the work but also all the costs of pursuing it through the country court.
Dave.