Customers and payment - some online theropy please - TilersForums.com

[cornish_crofter]

Why is it that customers expect you to try to work to their schedule, yet they won't pay to your schedule?

Current situation: Customer couldn't write me a cheque straight away as the money needed to be transferred to another account taking 4 days, quite reasonable. Offered to send cheque in 5 days.

I replied that I was hoping to clear it before Christmas but if they needed more time then so be it, to which they suggested that they transfer it straight to my account.

I hand delivered my bank details to them that day, and wished them a merry Christmas, and the following day I politely phoned them to ask if it went through OK (I really want to pay off the materials and stick the rest into an ISA NOW). I made the excuse that I was trying to get it into a high interest account whilst I still could.

They hadn't done it yet, Assured me that it would be done as soon as possible but couldn't do it for one reason or another, not been near a computer etc.

I wouldn't mind so much but it seems that I MADE time to finish their job, which meant working up to 10 hours a day plus I'm out of pocket for materials, some of which I've had to pay for already, yet they can't find 5 mins to log onto their account and type my details in to do a BACS transfer.

I don't think that they'll avoid paying, just that they are not treating it with the priority it deserves.

I really don't want to be phoning up after Christmas to find they haven't done it, I don't think that's reasonable.

Maybe I'm being unreasonable. In any case I just feel better for posting this.

 

[theyomper]

The frustration here is that you would hope that they will do the transfer as a matter of urgency as you would to others. However whilst it speeds things up, I use online banking and can only post cheques, I doubt they will do a bacs payment as they will probably incur a £25 charge, they would opt for a chaps payment that will take about 3 days to go into your account. I'm waiting for 2 such payments to appear in my account at the moment. What I normally do is to have the customer make the payment straight into my high interest account.
So patience is a virtue.................or as one vulture said to the other.......Sod this I'm gonna kill something..........

 

[cornish_crofter]

I meant the CHAPS payment.

I'm not asking them to incur a charge

 

[TilingLogistics]

Your not being unreasonable at all. My philosophy is do work get paid! I am probably a little more upfront than you! I did a marble job for a man & wife dentist couple a few weeks ago. They asked for loads of advice and I went the extra mile as I do with all my customers including supplying them with about £80 worth of products which they asked for. I finished the job Mid afternoon one day and rang them to say their job was complete. They said please leave the products and my bank details and they would do an APACS transfer that evening. Went off thinking thats it all sorted. I made 4 phone calls after that and left messages all of which were ignored so i rang their surgery and asked to speak to him or her but the secretary asked who I was and then said they are both busy. So I simply said ask either one of them when my invoice is going to get paid? I got the transfer that afternoon.

I don't give chances! The job is done you should get paid mate.

Kev

 

[DHTiling]

You price a job well before you tile the job......annoys me when customers get lapsy daisy with payments.....if you phoned up and said oh..i might start tomorrow and then again i might not...won't wash will it....so it should work both ways.....tiled on time ..so pay on time is my motto....:smash:

 

[kilty55]

ive come across this problem a few times also crofter..i now combat it by giving a labour price and an estimated materials price seperate. i ask for all material money upfront before work begins and 1 day before the job ends i speak to the customer and remind them i MUST be paid the following day on completion of the work i find if i dont do this when the jobs finished im waiting up to a week for cheques etc..

 

[cornish_crofter]

The problem is that people treat our invoices in the same way that they treat utility bills. They pay when they get around to it, meanwhile tradesmen are having to meet bill payments, wages etc.

This customer should know better than this. To be fair though it could have been paid by now, just don't know until they tell me or it appears in my account.

I did a transfer into the account of a chap working for me once, on the last day he was with me. I printed off the payment advice and gave it to him so he knew he'd been paid. This saved me having to transfer the money then write him a cheque.

 

[cornish_crofter]

ive come across this problem a few times also crofter..i now combat it by giving a labour price and an estimated materials price seperate. i ask for all material money upfront before work begins and 1 day before the job ends i speak to the customer and remind them i MUST be paid the following day on completion of the work i find if i dont do this when the jobs finished im waiting up to a week for cheques etc..

To be fair I did get the previous invoice paid the day after I finished. The money was in the right place for them to do it.

 

[DHTiling]

I NEVER leave a job before i get paid.......cheq plz and thank you.....no chq's in the post or 30 days for me...

You are kind enough to do the work ..so they should be good enough to pay on time.....

 

[kilty55]

why not make a verbal agreement when you take the job on that its cash payment on the final day of the job,,this is what i do mostly unless im subbing for a builder,simply speak to the customer day before job ends that you need cash tommorow and i have had no issues at all using this method so far