Bad Debtors.

[Mick Stockbridge]

Every now and then I get people who just try and hang out from paying me. At the mo I have money owed to me to the tune of a grand, not a lot of money but I am getting sick n tired of having to chase these things up which costs me in time and stress and waking up on a Sunday morning with it being the first thought that comes into your head just aint good.

 

I always let these things go on for so long thinking people will come good under their own steam but alas some dont so tomorrow it's all guns blazing. I'll start off being nice hoping that they'll pay up then if they dont I tell em as of tonight at five pm the debt no longer belongs to me.

 

This has always worked in the past but this time one of the bad debtors fancies himself a bit and I'm expecting some agg so has anyone got any other sure fire ways of getting money out of bad debtors?

 

Legal only of course.

[chaffey]

Nothing worse than having to ask for money. I actually think it is plain rude that people should carry on as they do with non-payment:thumbdown:. They'd be the first ones moaning if their money wasn't paid on time. As for a grand the amount of money doesn't matter really it's the fact that you're owed. I generally just pop round as ' i'm in the area '. The first time they won't have the money but come the second visit they get the idea that you're not going to give up and they realise that you have balls and will pay up. Good luck with it anyway.

[Peter]

The small claims court is fairly user friendly, put it all in writing, a letter to say its overdue and the next step will be court proceedings after 7 days, followed by county court action, using money claims online.

 

Most people wont let it get that far, CCJs are bad news for credit ratings. A small minority will ignore everything including a ccj, those are the people you shouldnt work for in the first place.

[KeenAmature]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5vNp-bMB0o]YouTube - Family guy (Wheres My money)[/ame]

[Alinicoll]

YouTube - Family guy (Wheres My money)

 

That might be a bit OTT!!

[Mick Stockbridge]

YouTube - Family guy (Wheres My money)

 

:lol:

[josharb87]

just play them that video mick

[Stephen Blair]

do as Peter says Mick, every time i get caught out i kick myself, its not very often these days as most of my customers are all local and know me as i know them, last time it happened i gave them the a call after the said amount of days, got passed from pillar to post but then i said i had had enough, took their names with in the company and used one against the other as they were passing the buck, stood my ground and told them the lawyer gets the paperwork as of now. 24 hours later the money was in my bank. If you have a system in place its all good, as long as the debt doesnt put you under all is good. Any new customer i get signs a written agreement and i will take a 50% deposit for work comences. The trouble is the worst case scenario is usually in your head lol

[Arbgirl]

https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

 

You can file small claims court action online

 

It costs from £25

 

You need to send a "letter before action" to show the debtor that you intend to file small claims court action - sometimes it helps if you enclose a copy of the completed Small claims documents with the letter before action. Give them 7 days from receipt of the letter to pay - this is normally enough to get people to cough up - as threat of a CCJ is quite a good bargaining tool

 

Sadly - if they dont pay and it does go to court - you may then have to employ legal debt collectors to enforce the debt - although you can pass all associated costs onto the debtor (including your court fees/loss of earnings to attend court/travel costs/hotel bills if you need to stay overnight near the court etc.). The debtor can apply to have the hearing at their local court and if you incur any extra expense as a result you can add it to the debt

 

 

I would try the threat of small claims - send the letter before action by recorded delivery with a copy of your court docs and they will probably pay up!

[Mesterh]

YouTube - Family guy (Wheres My money)

 

 

That is exactly how it should be.

 

Never have problems with domestic customers, if anything they sometimes call me asking when I'm calling to get payment.(well apart from two times I think where one never paid but thats a long boring story that cost me about £150 iirc)

 

Commercial can be a pain sometimes but only not been paid when they have gone into liquidation etc.I usually just keep harassing them and try to speak to anyone else in the company finance etc if its the commercial manager who is holding out payment etc. That can usually cause enough problems for them to pay up.

 

I dont think I will be doing any more new commercial without proper T&C and payment plans tbh since so many are trying to stiff smaller companies these days with the ongoing economy problems.

 

Good luck hope you can sort it out and keep the stress levels down.