[giftedk]

I was wondering if anyone has all their custys paying by bank transfer?, Am really fed up with doing all the work and not having the time to collect. Previously i would go collecting tues, thurs, and sat but its costing too much time and money, so am now looking at them paying on line.
Not sure if its gonna work and am interested in hearing from any of you who use this as their main method of payment.
I know it takes a few days too show up online and i will have to get them to quote their address so i know whos paid, and i will also probly have to get a mobile number from every customer so i can text them a freindly reminder if theyve not paid with in a week.

Any feedback greatly appreciated guys.

[Neil_A]

I dont do payment this way 'yet'

I dont think it's worth doing it this way if each of your customers pay  £5  to £15 a month

I have over 400 customers and i think loads of problems would come up each week, i would then have to follow them up and in some cases it would of taken less time to just collect the money by hand??

Or am i wrong? I have not yet tried this way of payment

[niceandclean]

I have about 5 % of my customers that pay this way, as they prefer it. All my other customers either pay on the day or get a self addressed envelope through the door. I have never been out collecting. 

[Paul Coleman]

I was wondering if anyone has all their custys paying by bank transfer?, Am really fed up with doing all the work and not having the time to collect. Previously i would go collecting tues, thurs, and sat but its costing too much time and money, so am now looking at them paying on line.
Not sure if its gonna work and am interested in hearing from any of you who use this as their main method of payment.
I know it takes a few days too show up online and i will have to get them to quote their address so i know whos paid, and i will also probly have to get a mobile number from every customer so i can text them a freindly reminder if theyve not paid with in a week.

Any feedback greatly appreciated guys.

I don't have many customers paying this way but I wish to increase it.
I'm with Abbey business banking.  Unfortunately, so far, the only point of reference I have is the customers' names.  I have to wait until the 1st of each month to see any reference number that I supply.  I phoned them only today to ask when they intended supplying the reference number in real time.  It is possible for them to do it because they do it that way on their personal accounts.
I give the customer a reference so I know who has paid.  For instance, if the customer lives at <fictional address>  47 Acacia Avenue and their postcode is RH1 1AA, their reference number becomes 47RH11AA.  I have a database set up to record payment reference numbers amongst all the other details (I'm sure George and other software must have a section where you could look up reference numbers).
Direct bank to bank transfers like this tend to be free as well.  If only Abbey would listen I could make this really easy for myself because I would be able to mark customers off as having paid instead of waiting till the 1st.  At the moment I keep it only to customers who have unusual surnames so it's easy to track.  In truth, it's unlikely that a customer would be charged the same amount and have the same surname but it's quite possible.  I need to know who has paid as I go because one day I may be wondering if a customer owes me for one clean or two.  The recent postal problems have highlighted a need for me to expand this side of my business.  The customer does not even need internet banking to pay this way.  Telephone banking is sufficient.

[giftedk]

I have about 5 % of my customers that pay this way, as they prefer it. All my other customers either pay on the day or get a self addressed envelope through the door. I have never been out collecting. 

Used to use this method (envelopes) but the banks are going to do away with cheques and this seems the way forward.

[niceandclean]

The banks are going to do away with cheques? News to me?

[Neil_A]

The banks are going to do away with cheques? News to me?

Yeah my eyes popped out of my head for a moment 

[supernova77]

60% of my customers post a cheque.

30% pay via bank transfer and use the first line of there address as a reference.

10% pay online via my website (http://www.scs.uk.com/payments)

Andy

[giftedk]

Was discussing things with my business manager the other day and he said to me that banks are going to be phasing out cheques, as they cost too much to process and they want all payments to be electronic.However he did not give me a date as when by.

[niceandclean]

If it does happen, i cant see it happening for a very long time.

[Majestic]

I hope they do do away with cheques , they take to long to clear..
With all that can be done on the internet now banks should be able to process your payment quicker than they do

[pingu]

All bar about a dozen pay me via internet banking...I have no problems other than the same 'few' who always pay late...

When the customer makes the transaction, they also put their postcode & house number in the comments field...

As of yet have not had any problems with this style of payment...

I never go out and collect and infact I actively encourage the cash payers to pay via internet banking...

I log onto my internet bank every other day and just mark them as paid in George...what could be easier...I do not leave the house, waste time, fuel etc...

I have nothing to hide from the taxman and I like this way of working, as when I get home I do not wish to get back into the car to knock doors and get cash ....

Its easy peasy lemon squeezy...

As for cheques...many european countries no longer use 'cheques'.....they will disappear or it will be made increasingly more expensive to process them...

[jdemarco]

I was wondering if anyone has all their custys paying by bank transfer?, Am really fed up with doing all the work and not having the time to collect. Previously i would go collecting tues, thurs, and sat but its costing too much time and money, so am now looking at them paying on line.
Not sure if its gonna work and am interested in hearing from any of you who use this as their main method of payment.
I know it takes a few days too show up online and i will have to get them to quote their address so i know whos paid, and i will also probly have to get a mobile number from every customer so i can text them a freindly reminder if theyve not paid with in a week. I also never collect unless im passing for any reason. 70% of my customers are in on the day and i always come home with mostly cash the ones that arent in send me a cheque. i always clean them 4 times without payment untill they pay but know more i never get any non payers. Probably helps that im a bodybuilder even though im soft as poope, but they dont know that. The best thing for you to do is write all your customers a letter explaining you will no longer be collecting as you have no time with your busy schedule and tell them you will clean them however many times you choose before you stop until they pay. Theyll be fine with this

Any feedback greatly appreciated guys.

[windowwashers]

I was wondering if anyone has all their custys paying by bank transfer?, Am really fed up with doing all the work and not having the time to collect. Previously i would go collecting tues, thurs, and sat but its costing too much time and money, so am now looking at them paying on line.
Not sure if its gonna work and am interested in hearing from any of you who use this as their main method of payment.
I know it takes a few days too show up online and i will have to get them to quote their address so i know whos paid, and i will also probly have to get a mobile number from every customer so i can text them a freindly reminder if theyve not paid with in a week.

Any feedback greatly appreciated guys.

if they pay by internet banking give ref as there postcode and house number, ask them to email once they have paid so you can cross reference it, looking at 20 emails or so a day is alot quicker than collecting IMO and does not cost you petrol either, paypal and nochex are another method to use you can set up a form for them to pay this way on yuor website (if you have one) if not email me. paypal send a receipt to you saying the person has paid not sure about nochex I guess they are the same.
standing order is anoth a good way I have about 30 cutomers paying this way all on same day each has a reference number and standing order is set at every 4 weeks.
Diect debit I looked into many where not happy about it and there are draw back to it, unless you have a few thousand customers then it would be spot on.

hope this helps

Ian

[kingfisher]

Paypal is quite easy to set up ive got a link on my website
kev

[giftedk]

dont paypal and nochex  charge commision ?, bank transfer is free as opposed to online card payments that banks want to charge me £350  for and charge per transaction.
Absolute liberty !.

[TVCS]

I wouldnt use paypal as each time they take commission its your money they are having. 
I use the cheque in an envelope approach at the moment but am thinking of trying to convert to internet payments, via website or straight to bank.  Either way I have never been out collecting and i dont intend to start.

[windowwashers]

I wouldnt use paypal as each time they take commission its your money they are having. 
I use the cheque in an envelope approach at the moment but am thinking of trying to convert to internet payments, via website or straight to bank.  Either way I have never been out collecting and i dont intend to start.

most business accounts charge a fee to bank a cheque, so the amount paypal charge is minimal and easy to get money, I use many different way and paypal is one of them beats collection any day of the week

[Russell Macdonald]

All bar about a dozen pay me via internet banking...I have no problems other than the same 'few' who always pay late...

When the customer makes the transaction, they also put their postcode & house number in the comments field...

As of yet have not had any problems with this style of payment...

I like the idea of that but is there a charge for each transaction & if there is what's the charge.

Macc

[windowwashers]

All bar about a dozen pay me via internet banking...I have no problems other than the same 'few' who always pay late...

When the customer makes the transaction, they also put their postcode & house number in the comments field...

As of yet have not had any problems with this style of payment...

I like the idea of that but is there a charge for each transaction & if there is what's the charge.

Macc

I think it works out about 50p unless it is a bigger amount than £10 then it is roughly 30p then 3 %, you could offset this by charging 50p to take this payment method (just like companies do when you pay with credit card they charge a small %