What steps do you take when a customer refuses to pay?

[Keefy]

Be good to have a resident legal expert on the forum.

 

[southcoastboile]

Be good to have a resident legal expert on the forum.

Im definitly not a legal expert, far fom it but if banks can do it why cant we ?

 

[Petefinny]

Yes can you put it in the open forum, i fitted the vessel and i left saying that it is fine and i asked them to keep an eye on it, i will be back and sort the bill out once we know everything is fine, the reason why it had the leaks in the first place is because the customer left the filling loop open and it was constanly filling, so i disconnected the filling loop, she said that when i left i did not explain what i had done yet the job was planned two days before and i told her i ordered her expansion vessel and was fitting it as soon as it arrived, she is saying i rushed out the door after fitting it and never explained what i had done and that she was panicking yet she did not ring me once to ask me any questions and the only time they complained was when i gave them the invoice!!

 

[Keefy]

Yes can you put it in the open forum, i fitted the vessel and i left saying that it is fine and i asked them to keep an eye on it, i will be back and sort the bill out once we know everything is fine, the reason why it had the leaks in the first place is because the customer left the filling loop open and it was constanly filling, so i disconnected the filling loop, she said that when i left i did not explain what i had done yet the job was planned two days before and i told her i ordered her expansion vessel and was fitting it as soon as it arrived, she is saying i rushed out the door after fitting it and never explained what i had done and that she was panicking yet she did not ring me once to ask me any questions and the only time they complained was when i gave them the invoice!!

Panicking over what? Well they don't seem to be complaining about anything so they have no reason not to pay you. How come they didn't pay you upon finishing the job?

 

[lame plumber]

could be she is just a panicker, why not go round, talk her through the whole process slowly and check shes happy, when she nods ask for payment. I have one custard, service her boiler annually, tell her its ok, get paid and within one or two days get a call fm her saying the red light was on on the boiler and shes turned it off at the mains. Round I go , turn it all on again, check the supply on light is showing, tell her off and leave! she does it every year!! took a week to be called last month

 

[dancinplumba]

wrong bloody forum please

 

[Keefy]

could be she is just a panicker, why not go round, talk her through the whole process slowly and check shes happy, when she nods ask for payment. I have one custard, service her boiler annually, tell her its ok, get paid and within one or two days get a call fm her saying the red light was on on the boiler and shes turned it off at the mains. Round I go , turn it all on again, check the supply on light is showing, tell her off and leave! she does it every year!! took a week to be called last month

Are you a bit slow? It's obvious she fancies you, get in there!

 

[lame plumber]

Are you a bit slow? It's obvious she fancies you, get in there!

shes a red head, and takes it off at night!!!!!!!!!

 

[michael c]

beat me to it keefy

 

[Heat Kent]

Expanding foam in the flue? JOKE!

The correct answer is: Send them a letter before action giving 14 days notice of your intention to issue small claims proceedings against them, let them know that costs and interest will be addeded to the amount, if no response/payment start proceedings through money claim on line (MCOL). You’ll have to pay a fee that will be added to the amount you seek to recover, then the court will write to them asking for their acknowledgment within 14 days. If they don’t respond to that you can ask the court to order them to pay. If they do reply and dispute the claim each of you will have to fill in a questionnaire and it could go back and forth for months with costs escalating. Even if ordered to pay there’s no guarantee you’ll get your money. You can go back to the court and get more added onto their debt in fees, but quite often these people don’t care. You can spend out more on a debt collection company, but it’s all hassle, paperwork and money that you don’t need to be spending.

The Hulk in you might want to go round and Hulk out a bit, which might work but isn’t reallyworth the risk. In my view the parts are still yours as she hasn't paid for them, so take them out if she has changed her mind and doesn't want them.

I think Kenny Rodgers probably said it best, you got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em,know when to walk away, know when to run…