Problems getting paid

[Hugh Potter]

i’ll start at 50p, I might go to £90p if you can wrap it in carbon phiber init.

[Gary Birch]

Fair Play to you phill … Not many would do that…. I know I wouldn’t!!

🙄

[Lynn Normington]

We did that once at first the customer always paid on collection, then the old excuses I forgot my cheque book, so we said ok they paid fairly fast at first, then longer and longer to pay and many many phone calls !!! anyway
the day comes they need another van doing (still owing us money) so we say ok fetch it round, and who ever picks it up must have a cheque for this van and the balance of what you owe, needless to say the driver arrives cheque less, so van with held, a very irate owner arrives some hours later and we did get paid. Haven’t worked for them since but who needs that sort of hassle 🙄

Lynn

[Robert Lambie]

I had similar customer, did exactly the same thing. and funny enough… it was a Friday night too!

the company finished at 4pm so the two lads turned up around 3.30pm to get the van. it was the 4th van and final van of the order. I just said i am sorry, but you have no account, never paid a deposit and told it was payment on completion of the 4th vehicle.

van sat till the monday morning and the boss arrived to pay.

My father in law did exactly the same thing when a company went into liquidation. he was owed money for work and had one of their vans in his place when the letter came in the door. he would not release it and to cut a long story short, in the end event, he ended up selling it. he did hold it for about 6 weeks before doing so…

[Chris Wool]

fair enough phill i also have had enough of these firms.

3 times over the last 2 months a customer has been in asking about his sign, i told him half up front and i will do it. cheque came and i have done the sign.
now i am taking bets on will he bring the remaining money when he comes to collect it. or will i have to tell him 3 times again.
it took 4 months to get 400 quid out of him last year so i dug my heels in.

[Kevin Flowers]

Good on you Phil, but i bet your the one in the wrong when he is talking to his mates on the golf course. Anyway why we are talking about Payment received some info from our small business advisers today.

Colleagues, please note the information below
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has warned that many businesses are not aware that they will no longer be protected from fraudulent cheques after scheme ends on 30 June.
The cheque guarantee card scheme ensures that businesses that accept payments by cheque will still be paid up to £250 from the payee’s bank in the event that the cheque bounces. Although the scheme is due to be scrapped at the end of June, the FSB has warned that more than three quarters of small firms are unaware of the end of the guarantee, and almost two thirds have not made alternative payment plans.
Referring to a survey carried out by online retail payment specialists WorldPay, FSB spokeswoman Sara Lee said:
“Many service firms still rely a lot on cheques, for example, tradespeople and holiday lettings firms. Card payment machines can be quite expensive, and tradespeople who visit people’s homes aren’t going to carry card terminals around with them.
“Firms need to make sure they have systems in place where they can request payment by a different method or ensure they’ve got a way of getting back in touch if the cheque bounces.”

Also this

Just a word of warning if I may.

When thinking of alternative payment plans please be aware that "owner not present" transactions for credit cards taken over the phone can be disputed by the customer and the money taken from your account up to 3 months later.

Fraudsters are using this form of payment, and I speak from experience here: The police have introduced a minimum threshold of investigation so will probably not do anything if you have been defrauded by this type of payment.

They have introduced this policy but have not told any of us about it which leaves us unprotected and means fraudsters can continue using dodgy cards knowing full well they can get away with it, as long as they stay under the minimum threshold, because the police wont investigate.

Please ensure you use chip and pin to verify the owner of the card was present

Hope this info helps

Kev

[Phill Fenton]

quote Kevin Flowers:

Good on you Phil, but i bet your the one in the wrong when he is talking to his mates on the golf course.

You’re absolutely correct Kevin and I do agree. Truth is this was a last resort. What else could I do?

Occasionally we have to cull one or two undesirable clients, there are two sides to every story.

[Robert Lambie]

I hear allot right across the board, from suppliers to sign makers.
mix that up in amongst all the other trades i/we speak with daily and the only folk actually getting by here are those that take "cash" there and then.

can you imagine getting out of a taxi and the guy saying, £5.75 mate…

"eh, ill give you £4.50 cos the guy down the road with a clapped in taxi he bought off ebay will take me for £4, so think yourself lucky!" :lol1:

it just would not happen, so why do us lot allow it too?

the hard nose tactic is always best… is there a way to curb or at LEAST reduce this sort of nonesense? well I personally think there is…. 😀

[David Rowland]

ah missread the title of this thread… "problems getting laid"… ah well

[David Rogers]

Just a small note of legality, especially for our Scottish members.

Unpaid bills are a civil matter. "theft by denial of use" is a criminal offence when it comes to vehicles in SCOTLAND. (why nobody is allowed to clamp or lock your vehicle in). Granted most punters are unaware of this and stump up payment…again, payment under duress to secure release of said vehicle is a tad illegal…but making them pay for the job is not.
Not saying you don’t have the moral right…just a murky legal one.

If the owner demands you release his vehicle you have two options. Strip it and bill him (but if the paintwork isn’t as it came in that’s defacement if property) or start legal proceedings. Photographing that the work was done so it can’t be denied that it existed!

[Hugh Potter]

quote DavidRogers:

Just a small note of legality, especially for our Scottish members.

Unpaid bills are a civil matter. “theft by denial of use” is a criminal offence when it comes to vehicles in SCOTLAND. (why nobody is allowed to clamp or lock your vehicle in). Granted most punters are unaware of this and stump up payment…again, payment under duress to secure release of said vehicle is a tad illegal…but making them pay for the job is not.
Not saying you don’t have the moral right…just a murky legal one.

If the owner demands you release his vehicle you have two options. Strip it and bill him (but if the paintwork isn’t as it came in that’s defacement if property) or start legal proceedings. Photographing that the work was done so it can’t be denied that it existed!

I think Phill has misplaced the keys for his shop unit, thus if the customer brings the cash along, Phill would be able to afford for a locksmith to come and open the doors which are unfortunately blocking the vehicle in 😉

[David Rowland]

How about:-

Lockable fuel filler cap… something like that… keep the keys to the cap and leave a message on the cap "Sign Makers Payment Policy"… should be back in 7 days for top up lol

[Harry Cleary]

I’d send the ‘new’ David Rodgers around…scary!! 😮 😀

[David Rowland]

wrong button!!!!

[Phill Fenton]

Well I didn’t think anyone was going to turn up today – then at about 4.30pm the owner appeared. After a heated discussion he paid by chip and pin card (I refused to accept a cheque following Kevins advice). We shook hands before he left but I doubt he’ll ever come back. Underneath it all I do think he’s a decent enough person who does realise he had been taking liberties. Hopefully he’ll show a little more courtesy to the next sign maker he deals with 😕

[Lee Attewell]

Do you nave a "Repairers Lien" clause under your fair trading act over there?

Basically it means that if a vehicle is left for repairs (I read repairing an ugly exterior with great looking signage) you as the repairer holds a lien over that property (van) until it’s paid in full.

So you legally don’t have to release the vehicle until it’s paid for.

** edit** It’s under your Supply of goods and services act of 1982

[David Rogers]

quote Lee Attewell:

Do you nave a “Repairers Lien” clause under your fair trading act over there?

Basically it means that if a vehicle is left for repairs (I read repairing an ugly exterior with great looking signage) you as the repairer holds a lien over that property (van) until it’s paid in full.

So you legally don’t have to release the vehicle until it’s paid for.

** edit** It’s under your Supply of goods and services act of 1982

Repair garages have this right – but it would be a real stretch to say ‘signage’ is a repair as it normally comes under the law as advertising media.

[David Hammond]

Exercise your rights under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.

I shall be doing this with one of my clients, who repeatedly pays late. ‘it’s only £180.00’, well that £180.00 could buy me some ink, to do some work for someone who pays.

Even if your t&c’s don’t state anything about interest, or even have payment terms agreed, you can exercise your rights.

A threat of applying charges usually suffices.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/20/contents

[Peter Normington]

quote David Hammond:

A threat of applying charges usually suffices.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/20/contents

Especially 240v to their nether regions 😀

Peter

[Peter Mindham]

😀 😀 😀