Open Association of Landscape Industries
Nasty Customers
I am sure we have all been sucked in by a customer who has changed as the work has progressed and has decided not to pay and you later find out that she has a reputation.
This lady is a business owner and not the type of character one would trust - my wife has said and she is a professional level headed lady, to just cut down her prize clematis and roses, as well as a few other shrubs to ground level.
I would never even entertain such an idea but this lady is impervious to humanity, unfortunately, I did not have any kind of contract with her.
This lady is a business owner and not the type of character one would trust - my wife has said and she is a professional level headed lady, to just cut down her prize clematis and roses, as well as a few other shrubs to ground level.
I would never even entertain such an idea but this lady is impervious to humanity, unfortunately, I did not have any kind of contract with her.
Replies to This Discussion
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Graeme @ BGS on -
Threat of green waste to the value of what is owed being returned should do the trick!
A few years ago, I introducted a payment by cheque rule after the first visit for any new monthly account client. This way if the cheque bounced or encountered problems I would only take a small hit. Chances being if the cheque bounced they wouldn't be in a position to honour a monthly standing order.
Networking with other trades people you soon learn which clients to avoid but one has to be mindful that there are always two sides to every story.
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Permalink Reply by Classic Gardens on -
They push you as far as they can
Its happened to me twice, a letter from my soliciter always works as they then realise that your not going to write this off as a bad debt.
I hate clients that do this its not that they cant pay or the fact that you have done a bad job (i no you havnt) and wont pay its the fact that 90% of the time tradesmen write it off and find it costs more money to chase the debt up,and hey presto the customer gets free work. Its happenening more and more.
I wouldnt do anything to the prize roses, the lawn or the hedge at the front is the best option a bit at a time until they pay.
N.B
That last part was just a joke !
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Andy Cole on -
If you have supplied plants or materials in a construction of some sort and no payment has been made at all remove what you put in, or just walk away and put it down to experance. on average we have one a year, i tried the small claims court but that was for me a waste of time and money as they still didnt pay. We are now taking a deposit up front or on the day we arrive to start, because at presant clients are waiting as long as possable to pay there bills it has played hell with my cash flow but it seem to becoming right at last
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Graeme @ BGS on -
Now I am not suggesting anyone does this but how about mustard seed (or is it cress seed that stays white after mowing) on their front lawn and if you wanted to be creative you could spell a message out :-)
Seriously - please don't take this approach.
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Permalink Reply by Lisa Valentine on -
I ask the customer to pay half of the quotation first, this will cover materials, plants, compost etc. That way I know the customer is serious about having the work done. Also, I won't take a hit if the customer does get funny in any way. The 2nd half is paid on completion of the job done and any other queries can be completed then. Not sure how professional it looks to the customer but at least I know that I won't get hammered for anything.
One garden maintenance customer did not pay us and I'd left it 60 days. Luckily, my staff hadn't worked there and it was just me so no wages to make up and he didn't owe a huge amount but still over a hundred pounds. However, my instinct was telling me to walk away so I phoned him, told him we weren't going back until he paid up. He told me over the phone that his brother had been kidnapped from Afghanistan!!! He was flying to the airport to travel there to see if he could get him released!! Are you guys laughing yet? I wasn't!! Anyway in the last month he's referred some fantastic customers onto us and they've all paid up. Very bizarre and confusing. I thought if you ripped people off you laid low maybe he got a guilty conscience or something.
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Permalink Reply by Donny Bryan on -
That's a shame. It's always awful when a customer will not pay the agreed price for the work undertaken. You don't mention the type of work or approximately how much money you are out of pocket.
Regardless of whether you had a contract with her, have you tried sending a written final demand requiring full payment by a specific date. If the amount is sufficient (over £500 generally makes it worthwhile) you could include a statement that failure to pay by the due date will result in a summons being issued in the County Court. Sometimes this is sufficient to get them to pay. You should send this letter by recorded delivery so that you can prove receipt - it also indicates that you are serious. Even without a contract if you have evidence of the work undertaken e.g. an estimate, receipts for materials, etc. then you ought to be able to build a court case if necessary.
I now insist on a simple signed contract for all work (other than very small jobs) with a payment on day 1 to at least cover materials. Anyone who doesn't want to sign is clearly going to be a problem & it's best to walk away at that stage. If they don't pay me the amount specified on day one then again politely advise that they should call you when they have the payment & walk away until they do.
Regretfully I have found it necessary to commence court proceedings against 2 customers in the past. I won on both occasions & it wasn't difficult or expensive, neither do you need solicitors. I did get paid in full on both occasions - one paid up when they got the summons & the other when judgement was entered.
I do hope that you get paid!
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Permalink Reply by Shadow Hall on -
Once bitten twice shy I now have a clause in my terms and conditions which states that late payment will inccur an administration charge of £25. This is reinvoiced and continues each month until it is paid or reaches an amount sufficient to take to small claims court. Most of the time people will pay after the first admin charge although they will try and get away with paying just the original amount. I usually let it go once the initial invoice has been paid and forget the admin charge but its deffinetly a rocket up the preverbial in most cases.
Shadow
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Permalink Reply by Donny Bryan on
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That's a good idea Shadow - think I'll add that to my contracts too.
Shadow Jewers-Hall said:Once bitten twice shy I now have a clause in my terms and conditions which states that late payment will inccur an administration charge of £25. This is reinvoiced and continues each month until it is paid or reaches an amount sufficient to take to small claims court. Most of the time people will pay after the first admin charge although they will try and get away with paying just the original amount. I usually let it go once the initial invoice has been paid and forget the admin charge but its deffinetly a rocket up the preverbial in most cases.
Shadow
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Permalink Reply by Donny Bryan on
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Tempting though it is to remove the materials / revert the work back to the state it was before you arrived I'd strongly suggest that you check the latest legal position first. Without a signed contract that states you are entitled to do this, you could be deemed to be committing criminal damage...
Andy Cole said:If you have supplied plants or materials in a construction of some sort and no payment has been made at all remove what you put in, or just walk away and put it down to experance. on average we have one a year, i tried the small claims court but that was for me a waste of time and money as they still didnt pay. We are now taking a deposit up front or on the day we arrive to start, because at presant clients are waiting as long as possable to pay there bills it has played hell with my cash flow but it seem to becoming right at last
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Permalink Reply by Linda Regel on -
I hardly ever have contracts with my clients either - trust on both sides seems to work most of the time. But I agree with the comment below about people taking their time paying. It has happened to me so much this year. I get the money in the end but it sometimes takes a couple of months. I've started adding 'please pay within 21 days' to invoices but it doesn't make much difference and I still have to waste time following it up.
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Permalink Reply by Shelley Barnes on -
isn't it awful when customers don't pay- it only happened to me once and my business partner phoned the guy's wife on her personal mobile every day (quite politely!) until she obviously got so sick of us she sent us a cheque! (we always did a contract after that!) can you keep just keep hassling her- she might just want to pay you off to get some peace!!
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Permalink Reply by Donny Bryan on
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Hi Linda, for 18 of the 20 years I've been doing this I'd always worked on trust & had only got stung once. Unfortunately in the last couple of years things seem to have changed and whilst most of the issues have been very late payment (sometimes best part of a year) rather than no payment, it's a burden that I like most small businesses find increasingly difficult to bear. As you also rightly say it's the considerable time it takes to constantly phone/call/write that wears me down. Interestingly since introducing a very simple 'contract' I haven't had any issues. It seems that signing a simple piece of paper that says the authorise the work for the price & agree to pay has a profound psychological effect. I'm finding that the payment is there on the day that I complete the work (as asked for in my terms & conditions) meaning that I don't even have to send an invoice in most instances - an added advantage! It's a sad indictment that we find it necessary to do this but my cash flow is reaping the benefits. However, the vast majority of customers are honourable and those are the ones I like working for best. Kind regards, Donny
Linda Regel said:I hardly ever have contracts with my clients either - trust on both sides seems to work most of the time. But I agree with the comment below about people taking their time paying. It has happened to me so much this year. I get the money in the end but it sometimes takes a couple of months. I've started adding 'please pay within 21 days' to invoices but it doesn't make much difference and I still have to waste time following it up.
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