I finally get the idea of going after easier money. I had a rest acct that I had been doing since Feb. and the manager has a reloadable CC he uses. We were encaping monthly and T&G every 3 months for a monthly fee of 291.00.

2 months after we were into it the mgr. saw the invoices and said that it was way too much and wanted to see if I could work the numbers any. I did this as well as doing extra work for them.

At this point, we were 4 months of invoices into it and I tried to bill twice but the card had been maxed already for the month. So I called and was told to wait til the 17th when it reloads so I did.

I dropped off the receipts tonight with a letter explaining the bill and the assistant mgr. wanted me to call him in the a.m.

P.S. he had someone already HWE the floors last night without even calling me. Its just as well as this was becoming a PITA.

P.P.S. The cleaning from ONE night looked like crap IMHO....and I HWE also..

David-
I played that game once also and learned, 30 days net maximum, in todays economy the client could be out of business 4 months into owing $.
After working with a client for 30 days past due and hearing excuses, file in small claims court, an account not paying is not worth having anyway.

David,

Sorry to hear about your experience!

I've said it before, but it bears repeating. When it comes to selecting the right kind of commercial clients, the words of an old Steely Dan song come to mind...

"Throw back the little ones,
and pan fry the big ones.
Use tact poise and reason,
and gently squeeze them."

FInding the right clients makes sense and is vitally important. You are forming an ongoing relationship with these people. And like any other relationship, you don't want to tie yourself to the wrong person(s). You wouldn't marry a woman who you were not attracted to and compatible with. Likewise be careful to avoid forming an alliance with a knuckle headed loser that's going to bring you pain and end in an ugly divorce (which sounds like where you're at right now with this customer).

I wish the best for you in retrieving your money from this apparent slime ball!







Rick Gelinas

This is why I got out of Window Cleaning. A year ago, E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E was doing that.

Resty's are so tempting when they call. hard to tell up front who wears the white hats.

Why did you wait 2 months or more to get paid or bring this up?
All of our restaurants pay out cash, or we run the CC# the morning after we clean. If there is a problem it gets dealt with rite away.

I must say part of the problem is on you for not communicating enough with management, or continuing to clean for 4 months with out pay. It may sound harsh but that is the way I see it, the bank the mechanic will not wait four months to get paid, nor should anyone else.

DO you self a favor the next time someone wants you to run the numbers again work them out to your favor, raise the price they will soon get the idea.

In this situation you had the upper hand, Yes sir I'd be glad to see what I can do on the pricing. please pay these invoices THEN we can see how to adjust the cleaning to get you a better price.
It sounds like you did get paid though which is good, always set up payment arrangements with the man in charge, if you fail to get paid in a reasonable time make the phone call to get it fixed fast.


David

What I do with commercial accounts is this. I say yes we do have 30 day terms. However we will give you an additional 2% discount off the bill if you pay with in 10 business days. Works really well with bigger accounts. By offering the discount it is amazing how fast you get your money.
I only offer that to repeat a customer who wants net 30. Just an incentive to get paid a lot faster..

David

Sorry to hear about the "slippery slope" you ended up on. We do only one restaurant. It is done on a monthly basis and they pay via electronic funds transfer. That, as you are finding out, is a pretty unusual account.

Six or seven years ago I was in a similar situation as the one you describe. It was a somewhat upscale place, and the owner had delayed payment for sixty days and had told me multiple lies. I was determined not to give up, after all "A servant is worthy of his meat (pay)".

My solution was to first determine when his busiest day and hour was. Then on the appropriate day at lunch hour I arrived dressed in sportcoat, slacks, tie and dress shoes and patiently waited in line with the invoice in hand. It was actually pretty funny. He did not recognize me out of my uniform. I simply said "Hi, I'm Stan. Remember me? I'm here to collect the money you owe me." and handed him the invoice. His response was to immediately hand me cash and with a big smile (phoney) and "Thank you".

I am not an imposing man and there was no implied threat from me. Nor did I attempt to embarass him by speaking loudly in front of his customers. I do try to carry myself in a professional manner though. I think I succeeded because he was thrown off-balance in his own territory.

Most professional cleaners prefer to avoid food service places (with a few exceptions)for the reasons you stated. Don't be too hard on yourself. Live and learn. It will be better tommorrow.

I have a customer right now who is owed over $80,000 going back as far as February invoices and he is still working for the client who owes him and he is STILL taking on more work from them.

Over here some huge corps just pay every 4 months and thats it...take it or leave it and price everything accordingly.

Hi Ken

As I am sure you know going into a deal with the understanding you will not get paid for 3, 6 or more months is a bit different then expecting to get paid in a few weeks or 30 days and not having it happen.

Most government contracts pay 3 months out, some of our larger clients pay 60 days out, but I know it so it is not a biggie

I know. I don't think think I worded the last post correctly. I meant to finish with "what the hell are people thinking paying us so late?" How do they expect us to feed the kids?

A customer called me last week, their terms are net 15 days. she says "I owe you some money don't I?" I say yes you do. She "Do you need it?" I say yah....she says "DO YOU NEED IT BADLY?"

The invoice is a bit over $1200.00 and at 45 days!!! She says "I'm not writing cheques this week but you have been good to me so I'll cut you a cheque today"

OH Boy lucky me eh?

Like she was trying to get me to admit I'm strapped for cash or something. This was not for service this was for supplies that I bought, paid for and resold to her.

 

On a small acount like that, I wouldn't go back a second time if they haven't paid for the first time.