[jo5hm4n]

So i currently have a "bad" debt list of about £300, all from ex customers cleaned since the start of this year.  Basically customers that messed me about, bad payers, or cancelling service when i turn up etc the list goes on.  These are mainly new customers who started off okay, but have messed me about since after the first few cleans.

They still owe me money, i'm sick of waiting and when they say "oh sorry i'll get it paid ill tell the wife or the husband to sort it."

I've had enough now.  I'm going to be sending Thomas Sanderson letters to all of them.  Legally i need to give them 7 days notice of my terms to receive payment before i take matters further, how would you personally enforce this. 

Send a text message with 7 days to pay?
Send them my own letter with payment options and 7 days notice?
Not going round knocking, done that tons before gets nowhere and just makes my anxiety worse tbh.

Need to toughen up there is some right messers out there, make empty promises for payment, but never see it.

[The Jester of Wibbly]

Just send your own letter before action letter. Plenty of templates on the net.

[p1w1]

Don't waste your time focusing on the negative even if you send these letters out how many do you need? how much do they cost? even then that does not guarantee you'll get your money. You can bang on about it's the principle etc but all your doing is wasting your time and more money and if you have let people build a few cleans worth of debt up then its your fault for letting it happen learn from it and move on (not being nasty here). Just send your own letter if it works then great if it doesn't just move on. If it was a few thousand then yes pursue but its just a few hundred. 
By all means toughen up but do it from now on looking forward 1 clean 1 payment dont let anybody build up debt...slow payers offer them only gocardless if they want to continue using your services. Also isn't it Thomas Higgins you need to be using? sending a Thomas Sanderson letter will only offer them a conservatory valet 
Its bloody annoying when these things happen but letting it consume you doesn't do you any good.  Perhaps look into getting a card payment reader like some others have done were you can take the payment while your there next time you see them.

[dazmond]

So i currently have a "bad" debt list of about £300, all from ex customers cleaned since the start of this year.  Basically customers that messed me about, bad payers, or cancelling service when i turn up etc the list goes on.  These are mainly new customers who started off okay, but have messed me about since after the first few cleans.

They still owe me money, i'm sick of waiting and when they say "oh sorry i'll get it paid ill tell the wife or the husband to sort it."

I've had enough now.  I'm going to be sending Thomas Sanderson letters to all of them.  Legally i need to give them 7 days notice of my terms to receive payment before i take matters further, how would you personally enforce this. 

Send a text message with 7 days to pay?
Send them my own letter with payment options and 7 days notice?
Not going round knocking, done that tons before gets nowhere and just makes my anxiety worse tbh.

Need to toughen up there is some right messers out there, make empty promises for payment, but never see it.

dont bother with any of that.....just turn up on their doorstep with a card reader and bang on their door........i bet most of them will pay there and then.......

[The Jester of Wibbly]

So i currently have a "bad" debt list of about £300, all from ex customers cleaned since the start of this year.  Basically customers that messed me about, bad payers, or cancelling service when i turn up etc the list goes on.  These are mainly new customers who started off okay, but have messed me about since after the first few cleans.

They still owe me money, i'm sick of waiting and when they say "oh sorry i'll get it paid ill tell the wife or the husband to sort it."

I've had enough now.  I'm going to be sending Thomas Sanderson letters to all of them.  Legally i need to give them 7 days notice of my terms to receive payment before i take matters further, how would you personally enforce this. 

Send a text message with 7 days to pay?
Send them my own letter with payment options and 7 days notice?
Not going round knocking, done that tons before gets nowhere and just makes my anxiety worse tbh.

Need to toughen up there is some right messers out there, make empty promises for payment, but never see it.

dont bother with any of that.....just turn up on their doorstep with a card reader and bang on their door........i bet most of them will pay there and then.......

Completly agree.  'Checkmate' Mr customer.

[Dry Clean]

Customers who cancel when you turn up to clean don't legally owe you anything, you could be breaking the law by chasing money you are not legally entitled to.

[Johnny B]

I know how frustrating it can be to have 'customers' who don't honour their part of the agreement to pay for services rendered. It's happened to me often enough.

But life is too short and stressful enough to worry about chasing a few quid, even if it's 'the principle of the thing'.

What I do is keep a note of what is owed, suspend my service to the offending party and wait for them to approach me in the future to restart (some actually do). Some pay, some don't. It actually amuses me now when they play cat and mouse, so it leaves me in a better place than if I were to get steamed up over it!

John

[John Mart]

Customers who cancel when you turn up to clean don't legally owe you anything, you could be breaking the law by chasing money you are not legally entitled to.

Which law would that be? As long as there were no menaces?

[jo5hm4n]

Don't waste your time focusing on the negative even if you send these letters out how many do you need? how much do they cost? even then that does not guarantee you'll get your money. You can bang on about it's the principle etc but all your doing is wasting your time and more money and if you have let people build a few cleans worth of debt up then its your fault for letting it happen learn from it and move on (not being nasty here). Just send your own letter if it works then great if it doesn't just move on. If it was a few thousand then yes pursue but its just a few hundred. 
By all means toughen up but do it from now on looking forward 1 clean 1 payment dont let anybody build up debt...slow payers offer them only gocardless if they want to continue using your services. Also isn't it Thomas Higgins you need to be using? sending a Thomas Sanderson letter will only offer them a conservatory valet 
Its bloody annoying when these things happen but letting it consume you doesn't do you any good.  Perhaps look into getting a card payment reader like some others have done were you can take the payment while your there next time you see them.

I'm not actually bothered about the principle.  The fact is i am owed around £300 total.  Even if it costs me £20 in sending debt letters out with Thomas Higgins(not sanderson haha)  Then even if just a few pay, i will have got my costs back if nothing else.

I only let the cleans build up to 2 cleans outstanding.  For all new customers its 1 clean outstanding.  These are some customers who paid no problem at all for the first 3 or 4 cleans, so building up to 2 cleans often is not a big problem for me, most pay up.  These ones however haven't which is why i am chasing the debt.  I wont waste much time, sending out Thomas higgins letters wont take much effort.

I have a card payment reader but these are customers who are a nightmare to catch at home, and im not making the effort to go at times they are in to collect if it doesnt suit me.  That is too much to ask!

I wouldn't be so bothered but now that i am employing the £300 outstanding to me is technically a days wage for one of my employees for the cleans and van fuel and costs.  So instead of losing £300 of potential earnings it has physically cost me money on costs if i dont recoup these outstanding customers.  Not expecting to get all of them, even if just half pay up i will be happy.

Moving forwards i will be toughening up with bad payers, i have got alot better than i used to be but clearly there is still room for improvement on my part!

[Dry Clean]

Customers who cancel when you turn up to clean don't legally owe you anything, you could be breaking the law by chasing money you are not legally entitled to.

Which law would that be? As long as there were no menaces?

I would say conning a customer into thinking they still owed you money for a cancelled clean would fall under theft, if you had offered and done a freebie for a set amount of cleans and they cancelled before that set amount was completed then as long as you had a contract to prove it you could still chase the cost of the freebie but nothing more, I'm surprised you dont know this.

[windowswashed]

Another good reason to charge double on first cleans to weed out chancers and not to let debt run up. Customers lie, dump you, have a hidden agenda like selling a house after one clean, etc.  If it feels dodgy .....it  probably is

[John Mart]

Customers who cancel when you turn up to clean don't legally owe you anything, you could be breaking the law by chasing money you are not legally entitled to.

Which law would that be? As long as there were no menaces?

I would say conning a customer into thinking they still owed you money for a cancelled clean would fall under theft, if you had offered and done a freebie for a set amount of cleans and they cancelled before that set amount was completed then as long as you had a contract to prove it you could still chase the cost of the freebie but nothing more, I'm surprised you dont know this.

That would be a civil matter. I’m surprised you’d think otherwise.

[Stoots]

It all depends what's in the contract.

I'd you have agreed to 4 weekly and tbey cancel after the first then you would have thought you would have a case


However it's also a cancel at any time contract, unless you set a clear start and end date to the contract then they can cancel anytime.

However if you have cleaned as agreed and not been paid then you are a winner... You would just need to prove what you agreed in court. That's why you must always get full name address and preferably a text or email conversation on what was agreed.

[dazmond]

Don't waste your time focusing on the negative even if you send these letters out how many do you need? how much do they cost? even then that does not guarantee you'll get your money. You can bang on about it's the principle etc but all your doing is wasting your time and more money and if you have let people build a few cleans worth of debt up then its your fault for letting it happen learn from it and move on (not being nasty here). Just send your own letter if it works then great if it doesn't just move on. If it was a few thousand then yes pursue but its just a few hundred. 
By all means toughen up but do it from now on looking forward 1 clean 1 payment dont let anybody build up debt...slow payers offer them only gocardless if they want to continue using your services. Also isn't it Thomas Higgins you need to be using? sending a Thomas Sanderson letter will only offer them a conservatory valet 
Its bloody annoying when these things happen but letting it consume you doesn't do you any good.  Perhaps look into getting a card payment reader like some others have done were you can take the payment while your there next time you see them.

I'm not actually bothered about the principle.  The fact is i am owed around £300 total.  Even if it costs me £20 in sending debt letters out with Thomas Higgins(not sanderson haha)  Then even if just a few pay, i will have got my costs back if nothing else.

I only let the cleans build up to 2 cleans outstanding.  For all new customers its 1 clean outstanding.  These are some customers who paid no problem at all for the first 3 or 4 cleans, so building up to 2 cleans often is not a big problem for me, most pay up.  These ones however haven't which is why i am chasing the debt.  I wont waste much time, sending out Thomas higgins letters wont take much effort.

I have a card payment reader but these are customers who are a nightmare to catch at home, and im not making the effort to go at times they are in to collect if it doesnt suit me.  That is too much to ask!

I wouldn't be so bothered but now that i am employing the £300 outstanding to me is technically a days wage for one of my employees for the cleans and van fuel and costs.  So instead of losing £300 of potential earnings it has physically cost me money on costs if i dont recoup these outstanding customers.  Not expecting to get all of them, even if just half pay up i will be happy.

Moving forwards i will be toughening up with bad payers, i have got alot better than i used to be but clearly there is still room for improvement on my part!

so you cant be bothered to go and knock on their door to get paid......if you go one evening youll catch most of them in i bet......

[John Mart]

Don't waste your time focusing on the negative even if you send these letters out how many do you need? how much do they cost? even then that does not guarantee you'll get your money. You can bang on about it's the principle etc but all your doing is wasting your time and more money and if you have let people build a few cleans worth of debt up then its your fault for letting it happen learn from it and move on (not being nasty here). Just send your own letter if it works then great if it doesn't just move on. If it was a few thousand then yes pursue but its just a few hundred. 
By all means toughen up but do it from now on looking forward 1 clean 1 payment dont let anybody build up debt...slow payers offer them only gocardless if they want to continue using your services. Also isn't it Thomas Higgins you need to be using? sending a Thomas Sanderson letter will only offer them a conservatory valet 
Its bloody annoying when these things happen but letting it consume you doesn't do you any good.  Perhaps look into getting a card payment reader like some others have done were you can take the payment while your there next time you see them.

I'm not actually bothered about the principle.  The fact is i am owed around £300 total.  Even if it costs me £20 in sending debt letters out with Thomas Higgins(not sanderson haha)  Then even if just a few pay, i will have got my costs back if nothing else.

I only let the cleans build up to 2 cleans outstanding.  For all new customers its 1 clean outstanding.  These are some customers who paid no problem at all for the first 3 or 4 cleans, so building up to 2 cleans often is not a big problem for me, most pay up.  These ones however haven't which is why i am chasing the debt.  I wont waste much time, sending out Thomas higgins letters wont take much effort.

I have a card payment reader but these are customers who are a nightmare to catch at home, and im not making the effort to go at times they are in to collect if it doesnt suit me.  That is too much to ask!

I wouldn't be so bothered but now that i am employing the £300 outstanding to me is technically a days wage for one of my employees for the cleans and van fuel and costs.  So instead of losing £300 of potential earnings it has physically cost me money on costs if i dont recoup these outstanding customers.  Not expecting to get all of them, even if just half pay up i will be happy.

Moving forwards i will be toughening up with bad payers, i have got alot better than i used to be but clearly there is still room for improvement on my part!

so you cant be bothered to go and knock on their door to get paid......if you go one evening youll catch most of them in i bet......

It's a bit old fashioned though. I'd just send a final notice.

[Dry Clean]

It all depends what's in the contract.

I'd you have agreed to 4 weekly and tbey cancel after the first then you would have thought you would have a case


However it's also a cancel at any time contract, unless you set a clear start and end date to the contract then they can cancel anytime.

However if you have cleaned as agreed and not been paid then you are a winner... You would just need to prove what you agreed in court. That's why you must always get full name address and preferably a text or email conversation on what was agreed.

A case for what ? you cant claim for work you didn't do,  a builder will draw up a contract because they will buy equipment, materials and so on before starting the job so could end up out of pocket if cancelled, but all they will get back is what they have lost and not what they would have made on completing the job.

[John Mart]

It all depends what's in the contract.

I'd you have agreed to 4 weekly and tbey cancel after the first then you would have thought you would have a case


However it's also a cancel at any time contract, unless you set a clear start and end date to the contract then they can cancel anytime.

However if you have cleaned as agreed and not been paid then you are a winner... You would just need to prove what you agreed in court. That's why you must always get full name address and preferably a text or email conversation on what was agreed.

A case for what ? you cant claim for work you didn't do,  a builder will draw up a contract because they will buy equipment, materials and so on before starting the job so could end up out of pocket if cancelled, but all they will get back is what they have lost and not what they would have made on completing the job.

You can if you've terms and conditions that were issued to the customer. If your terms state full price will be charged if gate locked then you can charge the full price. If you are a roll up in the mouth and flat cap kinda guy you'd struggle though. 

[Perfect Windows]

So i currently have a "bad" debt list of about £300, all from ex customers cleaned since the start of this year.  Basically customers that messed me about, bad payers, or cancelling service when i turn up etc the list goes on.  These are mainly new customers who started off okay, but have messed me about since after the first few cleans.

They still owe me money, i'm sick of waiting and when they say "oh sorry i'll get it paid ill tell the wife or the husband to sort it."

I've had enough now.  I'm going to be sending Thomas Sanderson letters to all of them.  Legally i need to give them 7 days notice of my terms to receive payment before i take matters further, how would you personally enforce this. 

Send a text message with 7 days to pay?
Send them my own letter with payment options and 7 days notice?
Not going round knocking, done that tons before gets nowhere and just makes my anxiety worse tbh.

Need to toughen up there is some right messers out there, make empty promises for payment, but never see it.

The only ones worth chasing are the non-payers.

Send out a Thomas Higgins* letter to them all, bank the payments that come in, forget the rest and move on.

You only have one life. Don't wallow in negativity.

Vin


*Definitely don't send a Thomas Sanderson letter to them. It just won't work.

[Dry Clean]

It all depends what's in the contract.

I'd you have agreed to 4 weekly and tbey cancel after the first then you would have thought you would have a case


However it's also a cancel at any time contract, unless you set a clear start and end date to the contract then they can cancel anytime.

However if you have cleaned as agreed and not been paid then you are a winner... You would just need to prove what you agreed in court. That's why you must always get full name address and preferably a text or email conversation on what was agreed.

A case for what ? you cant claim for work you didn't do,  a builder will draw up a contract because they will buy equipment, materials and so on before starting the job so could end up out of pocket if cancelled, but all they will get back is what they have lost and not what they would have made on completing the job.

You can if you've terms and conditions that were issued to the customer. If your terms state full price will be charged if gate locked then you can charge the full price. If you are a roll up in the mouth and flat cap kinda guy you'd struggle though. 

As you will have worked at the property then the locked gate price may be legally enforceable, ( I honestly dont know ) but when it comes to a customer cancelling your service your terms and conditions dont mean squat.
You can only claim for any loss incurred as a result of the early cancelllation and not for the loss of future custom.

[Smudger]

Forget any cancellations even if it was worth the time and hassle I doubt you would get anything - even going to court (yours t&c’s would be horrifically complicated and even then judged as unfair) and all for what £15 - just move on!

Those that actually  owe you for services rendered then a letter from yourself followed up by one from Mr Higgins - if that doesn’t work it’s a judgement call between what your owed against time and further costs pursuing the debt I really doubt anyone would find pursuing less than £50 worthwhile - certainly those that employ

Darran