Gentlemen and Ladies

To be in compliance with board policies I felt it better to leave my comment here, than in the
“Hall of Shame”, due to its content.

In this issues of not getting paid, I wonder how many of you use a pre-qualification method of
customers before you dispatch anyone to a install or service call. I may be wrong but it seems from my reading that many of you had good contact information but lacked information as to true owners, bank information, credit history (ability to pay) ,and a application for credit with
the company on file signed by a responsible party.

If any of your have a better method or any suggestion on how to improve on these idea, or your think some of them are to harsh, your input is welcome. This just seems like a subject that is not talked about much in the industry. We need the work to stay alive, and sometime we compromise, and we pay dearly later.

Here are some of things I may ask for on the phone when taking a request, and they are not in order.

1. Have you been a customer of xyz before, may I have main your telephone number. Of course you know they are not a customer, but your leading up to this. It appears that your a new customer of xyz, and to start the process my I have your e-mail address or fax number to send you our new customer application form. This is necessary before we dispatch anyone for service to your facility. Make sure your terms and conditions for payment are easy to read with no double talk. But make sure you state that once judgement has been set that resolution of assest will be set forth. Basically saying that you will move towards an auction of assest to resolve your debt. You might talk to your attorney about adding a line in there about making your immune to any bankrupty claims made by the customer, making sure you get paid. What your trying to do is say, your not going to wiggle out of this one bubba.


2. Full name of the person making the request, and their extension number and in some cases cellphone. And I then read them a statement. Since you are the reporting party of this problem with your phone system (or what ever it is), you claiming you have been authorized by your employer to initiate this services request. You must understand if it is found that this was not authorized you will be responsible for all charges related to this bill, is that understood. May I have the name of the person who authorized you to make this call. Thank you. (This eliminate the do goodies that want to take matters into their own hands, and have no idea that the system is under warranty or is under service contract with an existing vendor).

3. Your web site can be your best friend, because you can have all your forms, agreements, contracts, statements, non-disclosure agreements, policies, etc. online. This is a public posting, and in your agreements, etc, you can point customers and potential customers to this pages on your site. It make is very easy to update information and keep it fresh. For information of a confidenial, you can add password access to the forms you need for special customer types. Make sure you put a copyright notice on each page and form. Make all forms in PDF format (harder to steal). Use iframe tags to protect text you do not want printable. Have the text imported from “includes” in php. They will spend way to much time trying to figure it out. They will finally throw up their hands and just move on. Now I am not a wonder coder, but good programmer can do wonders for a site and protecting Intel properly.


4. Have the work ordered signed by the customer. Have them print their name below the signature. Make sure you have a statement included in your work order that says something like this:

I affirm that all work requested above has been completed to my complete satisfaction, and I have personally tested or observed that the equipment is working correctly in relation to the service(s) requested.

5. If the customer does not past the accounting muster, they must pay by credit or debt card, and the number must remain on file. Company checks are getting more and more less accepted by companies as a method of payment, due to their insecurity.

6. And in closing – And I could go on for paragraphs on this subject – Ask yourself, if IBM was asked to service a piece of customer equipment, have many hoops would they have them jump through? What are your thoughts on all of this. I don't claim to be an expert, but I have been around the block on my scooter a couple of time.

Excellent points, Eric. My employer faxes/e-mails a rate sheet and credit application to all new/prospective customers. There is a place for a credit card, which MUST be filled in. To do otherwise is, dare I say, STUPID. We don't have so many people sitting around that we are willing to take a chance on an unknown customer, just to keep our guys busy! John C. (Not Garand)

I agree that getting paid is an important point-- no, it is the point, of business. If you don't get paid, it is an expensive hobby. Just like they say about real estate, the three most important things to know about business are: get paid, get paid and get paid. I would elaborate on this by saying: get paid, get paid on time and get paid in full.

I do not know any employee who would work very long if he was not paid on time and in full every payday. I do not know any consumer who would pay for something without expecting to get it on time and in full and raising a ruckus if he didn't. Why, then, are people in business for themselves often expected to work for nothing?

I always ask for a credit card deposit in advance, but this is hard to get from a business client. Sometimes I get it, but most often the customer wants to be billed net 30 days, and I will agree to this.

Sometimes I will check their name here in the Hall of Shame. I should join a business credit bureau because I think Experian charges just $99/year for unlimited credit checks. You can also check the federal and state court case indexes for free or little money online.

Then before I begin work, someone on site must sign my contract. I also ask for their business card and a copy of their business license and drivers license. I do this as soon as I walk in. When the work is completed, I get someone to sign the work order. People expect to sign things when you arrive and when you finish, so there is little resistance. In fact it makes you seem businesslike.

There is nothing quite as good as having someone's signature on the contract and the completed work order, and knowing who they are.


Ewery, I do not understand this obsession with making your contract unprintable from your web site. That is just going to alienate clients. Your business forms are not a bestseller that you need to keep people from copying lest it eat into your profits.

As to what goes in the contract, that is a subject that could take up volumes. However I don't like the idea of posting it on a website because it is impossible to prove what was on your website on any particular day.

I do know that if you expect to get collection costs, attorney's fees and interest before judgment in court, it MUST be in your contract, and the contract must be signed.

Also, you cannot put in a contract that your bill is immune to the Bankruptcy Code. What you need to do is make your debt a priority debt. This means you must have a lien on some property of the debtor. I am not sure how you do this, but you can find out.

What I put in my contract is that any goods furnished by seller to buyer remain the property of the seller and shall be returned to seller on demand until all bills are paid in full . I also specify that I have a mechanic's lien on all their goods at the location where I provided labor. I also specify that all payments shall be applied in a specific order: first to collection costs, then to interest, then to attorney's fees, then to services and finally to goods. The reason for this is that if the bills have not been paid in full, it is then clear that the goods are still mine and must be returned on demand. Also, if partial payment is made, it is clear that I am suing not for things like interest, collection costs, and attorney's fees that could be disputed, but about goods and services which are much harder to dispute.

One last point before I go. There is a legal action called retainer or detinue. This means that you are suing for a money judgment and also for return of the goods. If they won't return the goods, you can then get the Sheriff to get your goods for you. I would not try grabbing anything myself if they put up a fight.

"I do not understand this obsession with making your contract unprintable from your web site. That is just going to alienate clients. Your business forms are not a bestseller that you need to keep people from copying lest it eat into your profits."

Maybe that section was a little over the edge.
I just need to tone it down a little.

You brought up some great thoughts Like we both said we could leave volumes here on the subject. But it is good to get others input as to what they have done to solve basic business problems.

The reaper sad, "If you don't get paid, it is an expensive hobby".


You have to love it. It's the main reason why I still do it.

Pay or no pay a good telecom guy never forgets.

His bag of tricks now becomes the joke.

I must say,( maybe its because I have not being caught out yet, some slow to pay but no defaulters) But you have to build a relationship with the client that is going to be long standing.
Asking if he is a customer of company xyz before even though you know they are not, I don’t know I think it would give me the impression that you don't know your customers.

I use E-mail a lot for sending quotes and getting confirmation of order, don’t know about over there but I find a lot of receptionist do the corresponding, the boss will go on what she says, and this is great because she knows what she wants the system to do. I will also try to meet to see the site before quoting, to see whets involved and to meet the client in person.

Terms are on Invoice and order form. sign docket on completion of job. you don't have to know if they read them or not, once they have them before signing, they are bound by your terms.

I have a customer who when I first talked to them about a new system, some one told me be careful with him, he is a bad payer, I tried to cover myself, with terms and crap saying you have to pay on completion of job etc.. He turned around to me and said, do you not trust me, have you heard some bad things about his company. I nearly died, stuttering, no, no. Got the job and everything. he turns out to be my best payer, never had a problem, I could of lost that job because of pushing terms on him.

Once the terms are there and they sigh it, you are covered. Keep e-mails of all correspondence, do credit checks if unsure. If it is a big order ask for a 10% deposit on signing of contract.

Ken

This discussion has been great and has given me a few course corrections, and feed back. This is what is great about the collectiveness of brain power.

Customer are funny things, you never know what they are going to do or say. I guess what I am getting from this discussion in part is go by what your Intuition tell you. There is no real right answer that covers it all.

There is no real right answer that covers it all.
You never know who will show up for services.

This business is strange. The customer doesn't bring his problems to you... You can end up as the customers problem when you arrive.

Something you should always expect.

10 times More difficult than an oil change a Jiffy lube.

Let' just say it's a jiffy Lube install.

It happend to me more than once.


T-1 and every thing din not work on the Magix out of NJ.

It was Met life.


It was in Boston an the Union was part of it.


Hey,

We decided to sell AVAYA.

Sorry, I'm not quite following you. Apparently, though, someone didn't pay you, and you are bitter about it. I would be bitter too. That is why I want to be reasonably sure of getting paid.

I just had a job where a well-known, large company in my area asked me to do some work for it. I got out to the site and told her there was more involved. She told me to go ahead. Now she swears she never approved the work and that Verizon should have done it for free. So now she doesn't want to pay. People always want you to do work for them, and they never worry how you are going to get paid. They will even lie afterward.

Fortunately I got the on-site manager to sign my contract before beginning work, so they will have to pay.

I could cite a lot of other examples. I have a client who always argues about my bill and wants to pay for only a fraction of the hours I put in for him. I put up with it because I knew him. However I have now gotten sick of it. The next time he calls, I will just tell him I am too busy doing other things. And it's true. I am too busy doing other things to work for him for a ridiculously low wage and be insluted to boot!

That is another thing you can do in advance to make sure you get paid: don't do the job in the first place if you know in advance you won't be paid in full and on time. There are only so many hours in the month, and then the rent is due.

Grim Reaper, you made me cry.....Im no MS. Spell Check here, but your last sentence 2nd to last paragraph.

I am too busy doing other things to work for him for a ridiculously low wage and be
INSLUTED to boot!

hey, Id be mad if i were insluted too!

laugh it off....you know its funny~

A Fredian slip.

Just today I had a exsisting customer ask me do a job, I said I'd call in and price it. He said just come in and do it. I know this guy and I know he will pay me, but I called in to see what is neaded and to give him a price before I do it because it is easier to get paid when they approve the price first and you wont fall out over a few quid.

I am a one man band, I love the work but hate the accounts side,but I find if the is job is surveyed and pre priced, less problems for me on accounts side

I have been working in this field for 25 plus years the lats 10 on my own, I have been stiffed 4 times. One was an electrical contractor I had worked for for years He went bankrupt. two out of state companies who also went bell up and one guy who was just a crook. Getting stiffed is a big pain... however i will always extend trust to my customers till the prove they are un trust worthy. If i get screwed then I'll just get screwed. Too many honest people out there to raise a big fuss.

If you want to get paid ........ get it in writing. I can barely remember myself what I did yesterday and need to write it down within 24 hours. I have no idea what I did a week ago. Make it a habit to write it down and get someone to sign. I think they appreciate having a record made of what was agreed. It keeps both sides honest.

I use a basic email verification and work order when necessary. Normally I don't have many issues, but I can see them before they arrive.

I make the customer email a work request.
I get a deposit for ANY work over $500
they sign a contract for anything over $1000
I make the customer sign a work order. If its a subcontract job, they sign the sub work order and one from me. That lets me collect from the customer in a worst case scenario.
Bill in a timely manner. It seems they pay faster when the job is fresh in the mind..
Never give out tech passwords. That way, you always have a trump card.