Payment Terms

[Highland Forestry]

Hmmm,

 

Interesting stuff guys.

 

I guess i'll stick to my standard 'Payment due by return' conditions.

[Mark Bolam]

I bet you still get the odd funny buggers . You know when you knock on the door and say your finished and they reply ok bye then

 

Only one at the moment, mate.

 

Friend of my father-in-law!

 

He wants some more work done as well, and I will literally want payment up front!

 

TBH, mates and family etc. are usually where it all goes wrong!

[Taupotreeman]

I started putting a note on my invoices that if payment isn't made within 7 days of invoice a late payment fee of 10% applies. If they don't pay on time I send out a new invoice with 10% added. A cheque usually returns (not including the 10%) pretty quickly but you get the odd one or two that decide they'll pay when they're good and ready. Drives me round the bend as cash flow is all important. Debt collectors cost a small fortune here so for smaller debts it's not worth using them and the shrewder customers know this. I end up getting myself twisted into knots because some eejit just can't be bothered to pay on time.

[DN22 Gardening]

a little note on the bottom of all my invoices states

 

"In order to keep your prices low, immediate payment is required"

 

works MOST of the time.

 

ATM we're owed about £3000. you big boys'll laugh at that.

 

us one man bands.....its painful....

[Lorry thompson]

We have on the bottom of our invoices saying payment to be recieved within 14 days for most customers but some large contracts are 60 days and we are informed of this before work commences, would most people here make a fuss of this or do you think the larger firms would just use someone else? I know if your good theyl want to use you but there are a lot of good people about who will be happy waiting the 60 days

[dangerous brian]

60 days seems a long time to wait,but work is work as long as they pay on time i wouldnt worry to much.

[Lorry thompson]

That's what I think, as long as i'm payed when people say theyl pay me I'm happy.

[Taupotreeman]

Agreed. If they say they'll pay in 60 days and they pay on that date at least you can budget but I don't think I could make it for 60 days. Most Larger outfits here have a 30 day policy but my wife's boss has debts that have been outstanding for over 6 months and because she hasn't chased them she's probably got two hopes of getting paid now. The worst ones are those that, no matter how many nasty letters you send, still don't pay. Just had one I did through an estate agent. The house owner was desperate to get the work done but once the job was completed they cut off all communications with the estate agent. The estate agent had to pay from funds held in bond for the property. Does anyone here worry about sending reminder letters to overdue payers in case you lose repeat business? Or is it a case of once payment is overdue it's a risk you will take?

[Lorry thompson]

I would send reminders mate wouldn't bother me about repeat work. I've seen people go under because of bad payers it's wrong I hate it, there are a lot of ruthless business men around and it's the hard working honest people who can unfortunately lose out. Wish it was like the old days when it was the hard working people which done a good honest job who were rich...........

 

Sorry rant over.

[Stephen Blair]

payment in cash upon completion to new customers end of or if its out of town 50% up front. Existing customers know to pay me before, during or upon completion by cheque or cash. I have been out of overdraft for 3 years now, can work 20 hours a week and make as more money as i used to doing 7 days a week and not getting paid for ages. It doesnt matter what you write on invoices, the person who wont pay KNOWS he doesnt have to. I pay all my weekly bills in cash, keep all my receipts, take my wages in cash, pay the wages in cash and hardly any money leaves the account each month, it is great. I know where i am and i keep a good record of it and then hand those details over to my bookkeeper and then she does the rest. I had an enquiry today from a huge company looking for work to get done asap, i told them to get a purchase order made up for immediate payment then i will take it from there, if i never get the work, then i will never be owed money by them or have any stress by them. you know and i know you dont leave the shops with out paying, we are not any diferent. It is our lack of business sense that causes this, we bring our own thoughts on fairness and what we think others do, big companies do allow 30, 60, 90 day payments but it isnt written on the home computer the night after the job is done. they have negotiated the deal before hand and a professional contract will be drawn up.

Now if you are sitting there thinking, i couldnt do that, i wouldnt get any work, what if what if, this is your own self doubt not the way the world is run, the diference between successful peolple and unsuccesful people is they will embrace good ideas and positive thinking and disassociate themselves from peolpe that belittle them and make them feel inferior.

Every time you get stung or mucked about by someone they are taking a bit of you, if you dont live your life by the rules that you have then you will never be happy, if you are sick fed up with not getting paid, doing jobs you don't like, working for peolpe you don't like then this will eat you up. You are the only one incharge of your destiny, make some new rules, they dont need to be followed by peolpe you are working for and typed on a home made invoice, they need followed by YOU, THEN you tell others your rules from the start, if someone is going to fall out with you then get it out the way first thing and move on and dont waist any more of your precious time on them. So when you do get a good customer that wants to listen to your expert advice and do what you think is best and pay you before you even start, then you go to work with a skip in your step and a smile on your face:thumbup1: