[easy clean]

just knocked on a customers house and said,
"hi, window cleaner, come to collect payment"
she said, "your not my window cleaner, they was here on friday and i made them a tea and a coffee"
i replied with,"i am and i have been for the last 7 months"
to my amazement she then shouted well aint paying you so pi55 off and then slammed the door in my face. i couldn't believe how rude she was to me. i walked back over to the van i got her number out the file and called here. she was no different on the phone and continued to be aggressively rude towards me.

she owes me £54 (1 all round @14, 4 x front and side £10), most annoying the first clean of 14, i was let in the garden to do all the back then she said can i pay you next time as i didn't realise i haven't got any money.

where do i stand? can anbody help me.
many thanks

[poleman]

If you wont your money, send her a letter saying payment in 14 days or you will take her to court, then if she does not pay, then there is a online site where you can take her to court - from what I have been told its very easy to do

OR

Forget about it and move on - up to you

Andy

[danny mckim]

Take it on the chin mate. Nothing you can do about it. Met a few looneys like that. Try and not let her get to you. I know its hard but move on.

[pylofm]

Wait until Nov and egg the trouts house . . . 

[Biscute]

Me personaly m8 would go crazy, wait till her bloke comes ome then have it out with him if she has one. If that dont work throw a dog poop at the window window let the new fools clean that off, also post mice through the letter box l8 at night weeks l8r they will be over run.  simple and sweet

[Matthew Speakman]

check this site out very cheap. never used them though.

http://www.thomas-higgins.co.uk/

[julianbiggs]

Go and wash her windows traditionally but don't squeegee them...Obviously she needs to be out to do this, but WHAT  a mess it will leave!!!!!!

[TVCS]

Write to her regarding the debt.  Mention that if settlement is not received in so many days you will sell her debt onto a debt collecting agency.  
I have never had to do this myself but have read on the forum somewhere that someone did and they paid up straight away.
Or by a box of crickets from the local pet shop and pour them through the letter box.  These little sods breed like mad things and they are almost impossible to shift.

[julianbiggs]

This is really nasty but you could go round one day when theyre out and if you don't do the neighbours either side of them then park around the corner...walk to their neighbours house knock on the door all angry like and ask when her or her husband will be back cause you want to speak to them about her having a lesbian relationship with your wife...or him having a relationship with your 15 year old daughter...Scandal like that would spread sooooo quickly.

It is wrong, childish and immature...but she should have thought about that before she was an a*** hole!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bazzy1999]

Easyclean is it worth the stress and yes i know its £54..
It seems to me that the bill has got so high she doesnt want to pay it so you could give her a letter and say she can pay a bit off each month untill the £54 is paid and you wont be cleaning the windows until then.
The only question is why did you let it build up that high, if it was me its 2 cleans then on stop till they paid up..


Bazz...

[macmac]

I would be back round there mate ASAP, if still no joy then try the legal threat thingy, but i'd at least have one more go, stick your foot in the door before she can shut it then have it out with her.
If then she was still the same, leave it about 6-7 weeks then give her car a quick squirt with paint-stripper one night!!!

tony

[Paul Coleman]

I just find it hard to believe some of the things I am reading on here so assume that it's all a bit tongue-in-cheek.  Sure I've had a few fantasies about what to do to non payers but they are just that - fantasies.  Having said that, I once knew a builder who knocked down the extension he had built and recovered some of the materials.
Keep it legal and hold your head high.  Show you're above it.  Nothing wrong with trying the court threat though.

[SherwoodCleaningSe]

Same thing happened to me years ago. I found out where she worked and then put a note through the door saying that I'd call back for the money at her work if I had no success at her home.  She then paid up no problem.

Simon

[EasyClean]

Just a little tip. Leave a SAE each visit. If not paid by the 3rd clean, STOP cleaning it completely until paid in full. If persistent bad payer, dump them and replace with a new customer. You're running a business, not a charity!!!

[DaveWilkinson]

I knew a plumber who fitted a garden tap for a household and the cheque bounced, he wrote letters etc and got no reply, in the end he went round to there house late one night conected there garden hose to the tap he fitted, took it around to the front of the house and put it through the letter box and turned it on and went home with a smile on his face.

I of course do not condone this type of revenge.....

DAve

[Easyclean Windows]

Go to your small claims court pay £80 then she can either pay you out of court plus costs or you could get her a county court judgment either way i would do it even if its to mess her credit rating up.

[DASERVICES]

This is a big problem which is happening country wide, you just have to look at the Police websites to see warnings of bogus window cleaners. Here is one recently :- http://www.citylocal.co.uk/cities/Fife/news/article/3676/

It seems to be a lot happening lately where these guys will just trun up on your patch and give the householder some story that you are no longer doing their windows. They do the windows , take the money and then run. Always educate your customers that no one else will ever do your round.

With regards to small claims you may find it hard to win this one.

Doug

[simon knight]

I agree with Doug. Any court business is time-consuming and for £54 I can't see it's worth the hassle....also you have to win!

Print off an A4 leaflet to the effect of:

                       
THIS IS TO WARN ALL TRADESMEN THAT:

MRS XYZ

HER ADDRESS

TAKES THE SERVICE AND THEN REFUSES TO PAY. THINK TWICE BEFORE GIVING HER CREDIT.

Then take it round to her and say that you'll print off dozens of these and attach them to every lamp post, tree and letter box within a 250 yard radius of where she lives.  My mate did this and was paid on the spot
                       
                     

[Paul Coleman]

I agree with Doug. Any court business is time-consuming and for £54 I can't see it's worth the hassle....also you have to win!

Print off an A4 leaflet to the effect of:

                       
THIS IS TO WARN ALL TRADESMEN THAT:

MRS XYZ

HER ADDRESS

TAKES THE SERVICE AND THEN REFUSES TO PAY. THINK TWICE BEFORE GIVING HER CREDIT.

Then take it round to her and say that you'll print off dozens of these and attach them to every lamp post, tree and letter box within a 250 yard radius of where she lives.  My mate did this and was paid on the spot
                       
                     

But if you can't prove it, you can be sued for libel.
It sounds like the sort of person who probably would not turn up at a small claims hearing so you would probably win by default?  However, winning the case and getting your money are still two totally different propositions - especially if the person isn't bothered about her credit rating.

[pjulk]

Hi Jon

Sorry to hear about your bad customer but we all get them.
I have a commercial im actually taking to court at the moment as they owe me a lot of money.

If you have an accountant get him to put it down as a bad debt when he does your tax return.

Thats if you don't have any joy any other way.

Also you should consider leaving SAE to your customers if they are not in when you clean.
Then virtually all of them will send you a cheque within a week or two so stops there bill ammounting up and thats when they get a bit funny as no one wants to pay for 4 or 5 cleans.
Also by leaving SAE you will have no more collecting to do

Paul