Billing : What' your policy ?

[OLD CHIPMONK]

We only bill ocasionally ! When the client ignores your 2nd. statement , icluding late charges ( 30-60 days late ), what's your policy ? Should we send a bill , including late charges ( 60-90 days late ; marked final notice ) & send certified mail, requiring signiture of recipient ? We do have access to small claims court ! Your input is appreciated !

 

[lxt]

had a couple this year, just bill me... seemed like decent people, well I put the bill in the door as agreed and 1,2,3 weeks nothing, so I send a reminder, again 3wks later nothing, heres what ive done:

send cert. letter making them aware of action through magistrate and they will pay all fees.

I also include in this letter that failure to pay may result in the return of debris removed from property, chips, wood, rakings, etc... and kindly ask if they would like the debris deposited in their driveway in front of the garage door?...........this gets their attention!!!

after sending the letter mentioned above I have a check in the mailbox within the week!

LXT.....................

 

[treemandan]

call ask if no go file paper. tomtrees.

 

[treemandan]

To answer the question " what is my policy" and I am being honest and it seems to work for me when I say sick twisted games. Yup, that's first thing right off. even says so in the company policy book.
example 1: Stalking
don't hide it, stand out front, take pics of the work you did. Good chance they are inside watching you, you can leave a copy of the pics on thier doorstep. During the rime you are doing this talk to the person walking their dog down the street for awhile and so forth... hang out, get to know the neighbors. If you get get on their property take pics from there while looking into the windows of the people who owe you, wave.
call a lot and be overbearingly friendly. Talk about life and things of that nature for as long as you can.
Coincidence is funny thing, even funnier when its not a coincidence.
Its your right to find out why they aren't paying, I said so.
I just can't beleive its illegal to go back and dump the stuff you took away.

 

[ATH]

Be careful with late charges - if they weren't in the contract you probably can't get them.

Be REALLY careful about calling anything interest. Do you really want to be regulated as a creditor?

Be careful about calling on the phone: they can complain to the FCC or state AG's office about harasment if you aren't complying to narrow line of rules.

I think lxt's suggestion of Certified Mail (might even pay the PO to have the delivery verified) is best. If you have an attorney, ask if you can CC them - just so the client sees the "CC: The Law Offices of Smith, Anderson, Johnson, Patterson, Aaksndiodin, Williams, Jackson, and Associates" at the bottom of their letter.

My policy is payment in 30 days. I have only had a couple go over, but I have not sent a follow-up...payment came just a couple of days late and I'm not that on the ball to get letters out at 30 days. I think I would send a very polite follow-up after 45 days asking for payment on receipt (standard mail -- people forget and I don't want to come off as a jerk). Ask them to contact you if they have any questions or if there is a problem. 2-3 weeks after that letter goes out if I have heard nothing, I'd go hardball and send the "Certified/Delivery Confirmation/CC Lawyer" letter with a specific date the payment is due and inform them this is the last chance before it goes to small claims.

If somebody makes contact asking for an extension, that is all together different. As long as I know they aren't trying to stiff me, I'd let them make payments over a couple of months. Stuff happens to all of us - I don't want to be the reason they sink. On my side, I try to not over-extend myself so that I am going to live or die by one timely payment - though I have come close!

 

[arbor pro]

30 days without interest. After 30 days, I send a statement with an 18%annum interest fee (1.5% monthly) and a polite request for payment. (No need to get gruff at this point as it may have been a simple oversight).

If the bill goes 60 days past due, I repeat the aforementioned process but with a bit sterner request for payment.

After 90 days, a polite altermatum is issued along with the usual monthly statement: 'payment in full of your account including interest fees is expected within 5 days reciept of this notice or your unpaid account will be turned over to small claims court. Upon that time, you will be liable for cout fees and additional fees/interest. Please call my office immediately if you are unable at this time to settle your account. Thank you'

Follow that up with a polite phone call asking when you can expect payment and you will almost always end up with payment in hand shortly thereafter or at least a structured payment schedule that guarantees payment on certain date(s). Getting hostile may serve your purpose in the short run but hurt your business in the long run. Stay polite. Get paid without alienating the customer who may be experiencing some unforseen fianancial problems and just needs a little time and compassion. Not all people who are late in making a payment are bad people. Some are but why treat all your customers that way? Give them the benefit of the doubt first and find out what the problem is...

 

[Toddppm]

Bill Early and Bill Often

They almost always ask how do we pay? When we go to do the work. I tell them we'll send an invoice when done.

If they go past 30 days, I will call and try to find out what's up. If no repsonse or clearly lying, blowing me off I immediately send another invoice. If nothing comes within a week or 2 , I have no problem sending a letter explaining we will refer the matter to the courts if payment not recieved within a certain time frame.

Don't have to do this often but it works very good, especially when the sheriff arrives to place the warrant in debt on their door!

If you tell them this be prepared to follow through because if you don't it could bring more problems and your chances of getting paid are greatly reduced.

 

[CLEARVIEW TREE]

Billing

For me, billing is a thing of the past for the most part. Why should i enable a payment plan for services rendered when if the tables were turned they'd want their money pronto? I used to send it out, and they'd have at least 30 days to pay. When i do work for the local Parks and Rec. for whatever reason they say they have the right to pay in 30 days, but actually takes me about 14 for them to pay me. They are the only exception for me. Now if ya go get a cake made, oil changed, chiropractor, windows washed, yada, yada,yada services are rendered to you the customer and yep they want there money right on the spot! So us tree guys should be no different, we work our freakin arses off, recieve borderline profits, pay enormous freakin overhead, deal with the headaches and we more than deserve a check in hand when the equipment meets the freakin pavement! If the people are so broke to not be able to pay on the spot, then why in the world am i there in the first place? And that brings me to another point, Why do em a favor? We just need to do our jobs well, timely and as close to proper standards as possible and get our money when done. Life is too short and running a biz too stressful at times to be added to by more stress of "Joe Smukatelly" not wantin to pay .

 

[ATH]

Clearview,
Just curious: what do you do if nobody is home when you are doing the work? Send a bill and payment due immediately? Thanks.

 

[CLEARVIEW TREE]

Clearview,
Just curious: what do you do if nobody is home when you are doing the work? Send a bill and payment due immediately? Thanks.

I schedule the work when the individual is at home. If i have to do some work for someone who's at work or something, then we usually finish about the time they get home(always good to find out when they'll be back, up front). Then they see the completed work, are happy, and whip out the checkbook. Now i do a lot of work for wealthy outta staters at their rental cabins up in the mountains of sevier county. They usually meet me in person while they're in town, prescribe the scope of work and if it's over 1000.00 they write me a check for 50% of the bill to cover our not so low fuel costs, etc. They have no problem with it either! It may not work for you, but does for me. They've got my info and i've got theirs. Protects me from gettin screwed, because it's better to lose 50% from a crook than 100%! Anyways, when the work is completed, i send them digital photos of the completed work, and either fax or email an invoice to them. I've never had a client who took longer than a working week to pay me and that's all the slack i give em. This day in age if you aren't managin your funds properly, or are allowing extreme amounts of flexibility in gettin payed you are settin yourself and your biz up to do the Titanic!

 

[ponderosatree]

We only bill ocasionally ! When the client ignores your 2nd. statement , icluding late charges ( 30-60 days late ), what's your policy ? Should we send a bill , including late charges ( 60-90 days late ; marked final notice ) & send certified mail, requiring signiture of recipient ? We do have access to small claims court ! Your input is appreciated !

Don't bite the hand that feeds you.

I always mail invoices. If I don't receive a check within 20 days I send a reminder. After 30 days I call and I'm usually polite. Politeness is key because there's sometimes a reason people haven't paid. I usually say something like, "I'm calling regarding an invoice we sent you recently for tree work. We haven't received payment and I'm wondering if there's anything else we can help you with". Sometimes people need some touch-ups but more often than not people just haven't had time to send a check or never received the invoice. People usually apologize and drop a check in the mail the next day or we arrange to do some touch-ups and, ideally, our foreman picks up the check when he's done.

I've never charged a late fee even though my invoices state that I can. In fact, occasionally clients will include a late fee with their payment which I promptly refund. Little things like that really impress people and turn new customers into repeat customers.

The only time I really wanted to charge a fee was a guy who felt cheated even though we gave him his price upfront. No complaints about the quality of work. He felt he didn't get his moneys worth because we finished within an hour. I told him we don't charge by the hour. Took me months to get paid. Didn't bother with a late fee because that would have just delayed payment further. What really pissed me off was he was a previous customer. Not anymore.

 

[ckliff]

Only had two deadbeats in six years, both were small sums. Longest collection time was 3+ months with 2 letters, 2 phone calls, & 1 certified letter with court threat. Here's the kicker - customer was a DOCTOR!

I enclose a SASE with billing statement and I think that is classy & helps with motivating people to pay on time.

 

[banjobart]

I am sorry to read these stories. Long ago I went to COD for everything shipped (a different biz, I know), but you guys have a different, more difficult situation.

My saying is "Money talks and bull#### walks". Translated: Give me the money now if you want the goods. Pay me first and then I will perform my duties.

I love the work but I hate being a bill collector.

 

[arborealbuffoon]

Accounts Receivable??

It has been very interesting to read some of these posts.

At one time, long ago, I used to give people invoices. And, I found myself chasing receivables much more often than I liked.

Oh, and there's nothing quite like needing repairs on your equipment and NOT having the money for the parts, due to customers' unpaid bills.

I got to the point where I became very adamant about the "Payment for all Services Due upon Completion of Work" clause printed on my proposals.

Cloaking my firm policy within a bit of humor, I often pointed out that:
"Bankers don't do tree work, and I don't offer loans!"

Accounts Receivable quickly became a non-issue.

 

[OLD CHIPMONK]

We have a new policy, " payment in full upon completion " !

 

[ccrider2240]

you know what i do

If some low life does not pay me ,,,,, I dump a truck load of big wood right in their freakin drive way, i hate liers and people who dont pay their bills,,,, nough said period.
Hell i ll put a lein on a piece of property no proplem, send them to collections,,, then if they still dont pay ill dump another load of big wood right next to the last pile. lol

 

[masterarbor]

call ask if no go file paper. tomtrees.

Tom, your writing style is lazy, not cool. FYI, you may not be perceived like you think.