# Have a problem with a customer



## trucksareford42 (Oct 17, 2007)

i have this customer who hasnt returned his contract to me. I hav sent him the contract several times over the last 2 months and have done the work on site in december. as of this past week i sent him a fax stating to him that i am suspending his snow removal until he returnes the contract, at this time i also informed him that he has a bill more than 30 days over due and sent him yet another copy of the contract. i have also called him numerous times this week and left several messages. i have not herd from him at all. i had him as a customer last year and didnt have to many problems except late paying. what should i do?


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## bribrius (May 5, 2007)

trucksareford42;487909 said:


> i have this customer who hasnt returned his contract to me. I hav sent him the contract several times over the last 2 months and have done the work on site in december. as of this past week i sent him a fax stating to him that i am suspending his snow removal until he returnes the contract, at this time i also informed him that he has a bill more than 30 days over due and sent him yet another copy of the contract. i have also called him numerous times this week and left several messages. i have not herd from him at all. i had him as a customer last year and didnt have to many problems except late paying. what should i do?


did he sign the same contract last year? because he apparently doesnt want to sign it this year.
drive over and knock on his door. think you should be talking to him not your computer.


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## Mick (May 19, 2001)

Very simple - keep plowing for free.


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## Camden (Mar 10, 2007)

Mick;488005 said:


> Very simple - keep plowing for free.


LOL


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## powerjoke (Nov 13, 2004)

do you personally know the guy?

maybe he has had a hardship(family etc.) and has a reasonable excuse, so unless you hear one way or another i would plow it, all you have is some fuel and labor. 

i guess you need to go with you're gut feeling 

Bri is right to some degree you need to have face to face interaction with this guy


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## trucksareford42 (Oct 17, 2007)

its the same contract from last year. We have only ever met at plow site. i thought he might be on vacation or something. as for him falling on hard times. all hes doin is signing the contract that my insurance co made me create to cover our ass.theres no up front cost o him well there wasnt when he got it in november. but thanks for the helpful replies


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## bribrius (May 5, 2007)

trucksareford42;488217 said:


> its the same contract from last year. We have only ever met at plow site. i thought he might be on vacation or something. as for him falling on hard times. all hes doin is signing the contract that my insurance co made me create to cover our ass.theres no up front cost o him well there wasnt when he got it in november. but thanks for the helpful replies


someone at the place you plow must know who he is. is the property in his name? run it through the town for property deeds and come up with a address? check the phone book? name and address on his checks? imagine he paid with a check. you must have some way of tracking him down if he paid you for last years storms. 
run his name on people finder online. look at your options. so what is this place your plowing? they dont know him? i would definatley get this figured out instead of just keeping plowing. sure it is the same owner of the buildiing?


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## trucksareford42 (Oct 17, 2007)

ill check all that im sure i have an address. this place is a small mall


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## Joe Lombardo (Oct 20, 2003)

Sounds like one of my customers... She hasn't paid for the last 5 storms so storm #6 comes along and I don't plow her out. She calls me to find out why I didn't plow her driveway, I ask her why she hasn't paid the last 5 billls I sent her, she then going off on me saying she can't believe I didn't plow her driveway just because she hasn't paid me yet. Maybe I'm wrong but the whole idea of being in this business is to provide a service and make a little money doing it. Sorry got off track there......


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## bribrius (May 5, 2007)

Joe Lombardo;488804 said:


> Sounds like one of my customers... She hasn't paid for the last 5 storms so storm #6 comes along and I don't plow her out. She calls me to find out why I didn't plow her driveway, I ask her why she hasn't paid the last 5 billls I sent her, she then going off on me saying she can't believe I didn't plow her driveway just because she hasn't paid me yet. Maybe I'm wrong but the whole idea of being in this business is to provide a service and make a little money doing it. Sorry got off track there......


i'm in the same position with one right now. "the checks in the mail". that was two weeks ago. might have to pay a non plowing visit.


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## creativedesigns (Sep 24, 2007)

You can register a lein on his vehicle ( or something valuble) if you don't get paid.


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## merrimacmill (Apr 18, 2007)

I recently sent out an invoice to a customer for $130.00 He mailed the invoice back to me with a check for $100.00 I have a feeling that it has something to do with the fact that hes a school teacher raising 3 kids by himself. So I'm going to let it go till the next invoice and see what happens.


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## Milwaukee (Dec 28, 2007)

merrimacmill;488825 said:


> I recently sent out an invoice to a customer for $130.00 He mailed the invoice back to me with a check for $100.00 I have a feeling that it has something to do with the fact that hes a school teacher raising 3 kids by himself. So I'm going to let it go till the next invoice and see what happens.


All teachers in Dearborn, Michigan do not get pay every week. They get pay every month. Can you image it hard to fund everything with 1 month pay.

My teacher wish they would pay 1 or 2 weeks is best than month.


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## creativedesigns (Sep 24, 2007)

You can register a lein on his vehicle ( or something valuble) if you don't get paid.


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## kashman (Jan 13, 2004)

Milwaukee;488826 said:


> All teachers in Dearborn, Michigan do not get pay every week. They get pay every month. Can you image it hard to fund everything with 1 month pay.
> 
> My teacher wish they would pay 1 or 2 weeks is best than month.


pity will put you out of business . If you cant afford 2 pay then tell them 2 buy a shovel


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

Milwaukee;488826 said:


> All teachers in Dearborn, Michigan do not get pay every week. They get pay every month. Can you image it hard to fund everything with 1 month pay.
> 
> My teacher wish they would pay 1 or 2 weeks is best than month.


No different than getting paid every week, he\she still gets the same amount for the same amount of time.

It's called budgeting. Or spending less than you earn.

First thing I learned in Accounting 101 was "If you liabilities exceed your assets, your ass sets in jail". Not too difficult a concept.


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## LoneCowboy (Jan 2, 2007)

creativedesigns;488834 said:


> You can register a lein on his vehicle ( or something valuble) if you don't get paid.


don't know about Ontario, but that's generally not true in the states. In Colorado specifically you have to have made an improvement to file a lien on the property. Such as, pouring a new driveway, or resurfacing it. But just a service activity doesn't qualify. And you can't put a lien on something you didn't touch. So, since you didn't work on the car, you can't put a lien on it. (although if you did an improvement on the driveway you could put one on the property)

you can however take them to small claims court (which is another PITA)
Or
you can just turn it over to a collection agency after some period of time.


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## QuadPlower (Jan 4, 2007)

Go face to face with someone to find out what happened. He might not even own or be in charge of it any more and the current person is not saying anything because they are getting it plowed for free.

STOP PLOWING. You don't have a contract, you're not getting paid, you won't be liable if someone gets hurt.

Nothing makes a customer pay like a work stoppage. I got a customer after the season started. I sent them a contract and plowed several times. No contract or payment came back. I stopped plowing and got a call that night saying the check was signed and the contract was ready any time I wanted to pick it up.


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## trucksareford42 (Oct 17, 2007)

thats what i ended up doing. but thanks for all the responses. ill let you know what happens


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## DOGHOUSE (Oct 20, 2005)

I'd put the snow back payup


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## trucksareford42 (Oct 17, 2007)

i tried but i ran outa glue


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## big acres (Nov 8, 2007)

Besides filing a lien, you should sent a certified letter with signature of receipt required. In your letter you should state that since you have a verbal agreement to service the property and the specs and terms are precendented by last years agreement, you are operating under the terms of the new contract which you sent him on (insert date), even though he may not have actually returned it. Then remind him of the terms of payment and suspension of service due to non-payment. BTW -send this two days prior to the next big storm.

When I started for the company I work for, I collected over half of 20k in very old debt simply by using certified mail. It lets them know that you are building a case against them and that you are not going take getting screwed as easy as many people do.


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## MIDTOWNPC (Feb 17, 2007)

I have used the words "If I dont have a contract, that means I have not submitted it to my insurance and that means they will not cover me if I am on your property" 

"this is my last phone call, no decision, is infact a decision, I can't contimue without hearing from your personally" "if you do not reply with something I cannot continue" "if you are having a hard time paying, I can work something out with you, but I have to hear from you before ________ " "you can reach me here here and here, thanks and hopefully we can continue business and work this out"


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## trucksareford42 (Oct 17, 2007)

yeah i sent him a certified letter stating everything from before and that he has neglected to contact me regarding his suspension or the contract. and i got the return slip stating it was recived so... heres my next q should i wait till his last bill is over due witch is in 2 weeks to get a lawsuit goin or should i do it nowfor the one thats over due. i was going to do that insurance thing but was talked out of it in the event this went legal. well thanks everyone you all helped alot


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## QuadPlower (Jan 4, 2007)

You know someone got the letter. I would wait to file legal stuff yet. Give him a chance to do the right thing.


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