Do you accept payment before or after work is done?

[hightechrex]

What I've tried..
Charging for the part upfront and then the labor when work is done.
Charging a 50% deposit on the quote. (Parts, Labor, Shipping, Tax)
Charging for the full price upfront.
Charging for the full price when the work is done.

How do you generally charge your clients. I've listed 4 methods, what are the pros and cons of each? Do you handle payments the same across the board or is it dependent on the job?

Note: I find that when you don't charge up front people don't take you seriously.. These people will drop a machine off and then not call back for like a week.

 

[Cambridge PC Support]

Mobile service here, and I only take payment once the work is complete.

 

[mraikes]

What I've tried..
Charging for the part upfront and then the labor when work is done.
Charging a 50% deposit on the quote. (Parts, Labor, Shipping, Tax)
Charging for the full price upfront.
Charging for the full price when the work is done.

How do you generally charge your clients. I've listed 4 methods, what are the pros and cons of each? Do you handle payments the same across the board or is it dependent on the job?

Note: I find that when you don't charge up front people don't take you seriously.. These people will drop a machine off and then not call back for like a week.

I'm mostly residential plus a handful of small businesses. Onsite service, pickup & drop-off, and customer drop off at my home/office. I charge after the work is done. I've never had any issue with being taken seriously regardless of my payment policy.

Having said that, I don't sell/resell expensive hardware or software, so my policy would be different if I routinely had to lay out significant $$$ on my client's behalf and then wait to be paid.

 

[Martyn]

Most of my work is mobile so payment aft completion. Generally if a part is over say £100 I get the client to buy direct from Amazon etc to limit my risk. So I had a NAS recently along with 2 hard drives and I got the client to order them direct and call me when they arrived. I know I could have made a bit on the parts but I'd rather not have the worry that the client doesn't pay my bill and I lose a lot over it.

 

[Maniaman]

A lot of it depends on the job and the client. Home users we generally charge after everything is finished. If we have to custom order a part that won't be easy for us to resell should they back out we generally ask for 50% or so down on the part before we order it.

businesses, if it's a large job we ask for 50% down on the hardware, balance due upon completion.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

99% of our work is SMB.

Payment for hardware up front...if it's over a thousand bucks. We'll float an order for a client if it's under a thou...like a workstation or something.

But on order over a thou...payment for hardware up front. We invoice for our time/labor/misc material after.

 

[PCX]

Shop Setting Here:

We charge a diagnostic fee of $50 to $75 (depending computer and issues) up front and they pay for the rest when they pickup. The only exception is for special order parts that are non refundable or in the very least not worth my time returning. We also require customers to pay for parts that are $100+ unless it is something common and can be used on another computer within the near future.

The main pro is that you weed out tire kickers and those who will simply leave their piece of crap at your shop and never pay for repairs. Those who are willing to pay for the diagnostic fee up front are those who are serious about getting repairs done. Even if they do not, you get paid for your time regardless.

No cons.

 

[DocGreen]

I have the same tendencies as most of the guys here... payment upon completion for 99% of the jobs. If I'm ordering a part from a supplier that has a good return policy, I don't mind floating it until I finish the job provided it's not a terribly expensive part. There have been instances where I asked for partial payment up front to cover parts and most of those went fine... however there were a couple times that the customer felt uneasy about it. I think that's mostly because I'm not a traditional brick & mortar business.

I had given this issue quite a bit of thought a while back, and one conclusion that I came to was that I should probably have a credit card for the purposes of ordering parts. It was a great idea... however because I'm a dba any credit applications are based on my credit rating, which is admittedly less than stellar. Because of that I'm still paying out-of-pocket or asking for $$$ up front for expensive parts.

 

[JustInspired]

I'm mostly residential plus a handful of small businesses. Onsite service, pickup & drop-off, and customer drop off at my home/office. I charge after the work is done. I've never had any issue with being taken seriously regardless of my payment policy.

Having said that, I don't sell/resell expensive hardware or software, so my policy would be different if I routinely had to lay out significant $$$ on my client's behalf and then wait to be paid.

Pretty much exactly the same setup here however I do take a deposit to cover the cost of parts if any special items have to be ordered for that job.

 

[hightechrex]

Shop Setting Here:

The main pro is that you weed out tire kickers and those who will simply leave their piece of crap at your shop and never pay for repairs. Those who are willing to pay for the diagnostic fee up front are those who are serious about getting repairs done. Even if they do not, you get paid for your time regardless.

No cons.

This x10. Me and you think very alike and I agree with you entirely. I've been getting a few people like this from time to time. It's very irritating and they rarely pick up their phones. For this reason alone I've been considering adding a diagnostic fee. Since i've been in the business of fixing computers I've been learning quite a few things. I never used to understand diagnostic charges, but if you don't charge something up front you have machines sitting around taking up space until your client decides to follow up on it..

I've also learned to be wary of people coming in with $90 to 149 tablets for repair.They are rarely worth my time; never willing to pay enough to get the job done and are usually tough customers to deal with.

 

[Mercenary Roadie]

What I've tried..
Charging for the part upfront and then the labor when work is done.
Charging a 50% deposit on the quote. (Parts, Labor, Shipping, Tax)
Charging for the full price upfront.
Charging for the full price when the work is done.

How do you generally charge your clients. I've listed 4 methods, what are the pros and cons of each? Do you handle payments the same across the board or is it dependent on the job?

Note: I find that when you don't charge up front people don't take you seriously.. These people will drop a machine off and then not call back for like a week.

That's a tricky question to answer since it would depend on where you do business.

California has it's B.E.A.R. system if you do residential work and they have rules on what you can charge before hand. Then we have to deal with the Contractor laws that only let you ask for 10% up front. You can still run afoul of the 10% limit even if you don't have a contractor license here. Once the work starts you can ask for more, but that amount is limited too.

My personal policy is they pay when the work is done or the don't get their item or items back. All companies get an invoice and a rare few I requested (demanded) a check before I left the building.

 

[HCHTech]

95% residential. For this work I get paid when the work is done. This includes when I take the machine to make a hardware repair and have to order parts. I've never been stiffed since if they don't pay, they don't get their computer back. Never give into the temptation to give them their stuff back before you get paid - you have no leverage then and they have no incentive to pay you.

I did have a case last year where a customer had financial trouble and his computer sat on my counter for 6 weeks, but a letter stating that I was about to sell it to recoup the repair costs got him to find his checkbook and pick it up.

For businesses, I invoice at the end of the month. Unless it is a big hardware purchase, I pay for everything up front. I keep enough funds available that this isn't really a big deal.

I had a new eye doctor's office to setup last year where we bought $6K of equipment - I made him give me a credit card upfront for that one.

 

[CLC]

Always paid after work is completed unless there is some very expensive hardware involved, then parts are upfront.

 

[bruce058]

We only charge the diagnostic up front if they are a new customer regular customers pay when picked up. Service calls are always collected when completed for residential and business customers are billed and due in 10 days

 

[Blue]

Always paid after work is completed unless there is some very expensive hardware involved, then parts are upfront.

This is what I'm doing, too. My 'limit' on getting hardware for repairs is ~$30, give or take.

One exception, I suppose: despite the fact I'm working with mostly time-tested components, I don't build systems ahead of payment anymore on 'good faith', since I've been left holding the bag more than a few times. Even when I've given them the final cost, up front and before work even commenced, they've still not come back to get the machines I've built.

Time wasted? Sure. Lesson learned? You bet!

 

[Rob_NNCC]

Labor is due after work is completed. If it is a large multistage job for a business, I will sometimes break it up into sections.

Parts are due before we order, if they are more than $100.

I learned my lesson, do not release a computer without pay, even if it is a repeat business client.

 

[ComputerPro]

We charge nothing up front, only when they pick it up. If they never pick it up ( happens a few times a year ), we either sell the system or if its a nice unit, then either myself or the kids get a new present.

Depends on your volume also. Around here it is just assumed that larger clients are used to paying by invoice. Smaller ones usually cut a check right away or pay by credit card. Residential must always pay before they pick the system up.

If you are just starting out and need to cover the cost of items before you buy them, then i'm sure clients would understand. If your a bigger company and try to do it, then It may seem a little funny. Around our area anyway.

Its a different ballgame if its a business client that is spending 10k-15k on a new network. We don't like to float that much. We even got away from reselling certain vendors (dell etc) altogether due to tiny margins. At that point we function as a consultant and just facilitate the order for the client. Sometimes its a win-win. The client appreciates that there is no 'middle-man' fees, and you aren't floating thousands of dollars for a month or two.

As for residential, they seem to like the fact that we need nothing up front. We collect the diagnostic fee if they choose to not have it repaired. We have done thousands and thousands of repairs and never once have we ran into an issue of a person wanting the system back but somehow refusing to pay.

I guess I look at like like most other service shops. If I took my car in to get serviced, I would expect to drop off the car and leave. I would be a tiny bit put off to have to pay anything first. Maybe that's just because its what I'm used to, who knows?

 

[RegEdit]

Payment due upon successful completion of the job. If an expensive nonstandard part is required then I might require payment for the part up front if I have any doubts about the honesty of the customer.

 

[Cornerstone Technologies]

What I've tried..
Charging for the part upfront and then the labor when work is done.
Charging a 50% deposit on the quote. (Parts, Labor, Shipping, Tax)
Charging for the full price upfront.
Charging for the full price when the work is done.

How do you generally charge your clients. I've listed 4 methods, what are the pros and cons of each? Do you handle payments the same across the board or is it dependent on the job?

You ask this broad question to the forum, but not everyone's experience is going to be the same. You have tried them, but what has worked for you, and what hasn't? Your demographic is going to be different thus everyone else's suggestion might not matter fully.

 

[pc-quebec]

Here how I work, I keep in stock basic item , like PSU, Optical drives HD..... if I have it in stock I give 30 days to my business customer to pay the parts as they do for the labor, if it's something I have to order, I get their credit card and order it a NewEgg, I don,t hassle anymore to chop at distributors for special item, I just restock my basic and fast moving item from the distributors. For my principal customer I even have their NewEgg account credential and the CC, so I just ask them before ordering. For PC , it's simple, for business desktop I order at Dell with the customer account. For special gamers PC, nor any PCs I build my self, I ask the customers to paid in advance. If peoples wants I keep good pricing I have to avoid to hire someone just to keep the receivable.

But I read all your posts, but nothing fix in concrete, I may adjust if I find something that fit my case, we are all a little bit different living in many part of the world.