Non-Paying customer

[AtYourService]

had a business client that insisted on installing norton360 on all his office computer and 2k3 server , he needed it done next day and didnt want to wait for norton to send cds nor buy the license and download it, instead asked if i could buy from a retail store. I agredd even after i told him that norton products were garbage. I qouted him for 2 hours plus the cost of 2 norton cds i bought. even installed and i presented with a bill to which they said they bill net 30 days. I said fine even though I liked to get paid when finish, they were an investment company in a nice building so i didnt give it a second thought, flash forward 30 days, they call and say that the av on the server is no longer working, i agree t come check it out and uninstall the av and reinstall it, everythings fine and i leave. he calls me the next day and says he cant log into his laptop on the network and explorer.exe is hanging. i figured it might be just his computer because none of the other computer have the same problem , i try testing his computer for rootkits etc and all in all i spend 5 hours over the next 2 days trying to figure out the cause. in which he say to me he doesnt mind paying me as long as i didnt cause the issue. i ignored this and kept working, the final thing i did was remap his user folder to a new location and even created a new backup user just in case. I called him to tel him to try both these fixes and call me if the same problem arises. i didnt hear from him for the rest of the day and so i sent a reminder that it was now past the net 30 days and i needed payment, all day today the secretary gave excuses that hes on the other line, at lunch , tries putting me to voicemail. Originally i was only gonna charge him 1 hour of that 5 and now that i am getting a run around i wanna bill him for the 5 extra hours and hand deliver it to his office tomorrow morning.

what other options do i have after this to get paid?

 

[NickCat11]

It sounds like to me you're going to have trouble getting any kind of payment from this guy. I wouldn't charge for all 5 hours but if you do I would definitely throw in a discount. Hand delivering the bill is also in your best interest since it seems like this guy is avoiding you at all costs. Good Luck.

 

[AtYourService]

it wouldnt be so bad if it was just time , but this clown made me use my own money to get the cds , 160$

 

[NickCat11]

You know what, I wasn't even taking into consideration the cost of the cd's. That just adds fuel to the fire. If he refuses to pay I'd say take him to small claims. Usually just the threat of it is enough to make someone pay up unless they're real scum.

 

[studiot]

You have another option since you paid for the CDs. Technically they are still yours. You do have a clause in your contract that states
"All goods supplied remain your property until completely paid for" don't you?

You have a good case to suggest that he obtained Norton by deception, with no intent to pay.

That's criminal fraud. No business wants to be investigated by the authorities for this.

 

[atlanticjim]

I said fine even though I liked to get paid when finish, they were an investment company in a nice building so i didnt give it a second thought,

Oh appearances, lol. I find that my best payers are the people with the shoddiest homes and the businesses in the lousy parts of town. They know the value of a buck to both them and to you. And they pay in cash and always throw in a tip.
Sometimes what you see is only the appearance of wealth that is window dressing over a business/home with nothing but debt. I suppose your standard agreement is "pay on receipt" and not "net 30" but you let yourself get talked into it.
I have always wondered . . . if someone is such a good investment advisor, why is he fifty years old and still working nine-to-five? I see that you are in Middletown, tell me how many "investment firms" in your area have gone belly up and disappeared in the last two years?

If he refuses to pay I'd say take him to small claims. Usually just the threat of it is enough to make someone pay up unless they're real scum.

I think that Nick is right, just file the small claim and expect to get nothing.

If it is past 30 days and he has not paid for the original service, you can just refuse to to any more work until the bill is paid. It also sounds like he is trying to say that anything that happens now is a result of what you did before. That is such a common tactic where I am that I am very careful to address it immediately and shut it down. I tell them that this is a new and unrelated problem, I will be happy to fix it at my regular rate. I can always recant and tell them that I found a bug in the installation or whatever and then give them an appropriate discount on the service.

 

[PCSupportGlasgow]

Dont know if the same in the USA but here in the uk you can add daily interest to the bill once its late over a certain period.

First things first take a note of when you called and who you spoke to regarding the debt you will need complete records later if they dont pay.

personally i would have the bill hand delivered, with a reminder letter in my pocket that i could give to the secetary if given the run around. Also send the exact same letter registered post to them next day for your records. On the letter give a reasonable amount of time to send the cheque also informing them you will be charging daily interest on the debt as you are entitled to and stating next course of action will either be small claims court and you will also file a case in bankruptcy court to have their company put into liquidation. This will work as they will know you know your rights and are serious about getting your money back but dont expect to ever receive any work from them ever again.

 

[barry3652]

Or if you don't get any where you could tell them you will be writing an article to the local press explaining how none paying customers are putting you out of business?. That will do they business no good what's so ever am sure the thought of his customers reading that will help him pay up. Who's going to use an investment company that can't be trusted?

 

[Mr I]

Or if you don't get any where you could tell them you will be writing an article to the local press explaining how none paying customers are putting you out of business?. That will do they business no good what's so ever am sure the thought of his customers reading that will help him pay up. Who's going to use an investment company that can't be trusted?

that's a great idea because at the same time that's marketing for your company and readers will get to know your company locally.

 

[JosephLeo]

I would just get your money out of the hole with this guy and never look back. It sounds like he wants a full time tech support for pennies. If the show were on the other foot you'd be getting legal notices left and right from this guy- threaten him with legal action and get it done with. This guy can't possibly be good news.

 

[layoric]

Couple people tried that with me before. The song about 'it worked before you came' or something like that. They think that since you touched their systems, everything should be and remain perfect forever!

One person even had the gall to call me SIX MONTHS later, stating I messed their system up, that it's not the right version of Windows installed, and other horse hockey... Cool thing was, I had my PDA with me at the time I got the call. I looked up their last invoice, and told them what I did, and it was NOTHING to do with what they were accusing me of. I removed a virus, that was it, didn't touch anything else.

Keeping good notes on your work, and sticking to your policies will avoid these sorts of issues in the future. I just have a link to my policy online on receipts. Saves the trees, and makes it easier to update.

Layoric

 

[Mr I]

Keeping good notes on your work, and sticking to your policies will avoid these sorts of issues in the future.

Great advice, I have a customized program (made with access) in which I keep records of all details, not only about the system, but what I did, what I spoke with the client, etc. It's a tedious work to enter all that information but at the end it's worth it.

 

[AtYourService]

got fed up and went into the office @ lunchtime. the secretary looked worried and said she'll get him
he had me sit down and told me his side, that hes hired another mcse tech in there for "$500" to assess the situation. and said he would pay me after he finds the answer to why his mickey-mouse network isnt working.

i cut him off and said listen , i paid for the cds and instaleld the av, thats all i quoted for and thats the work i did , pay me for that , and when we see that this other technician finds the cause of you issue wasnt caused by me, ill hand you this other bill for an additional 3 hours of service for me trying to resolve the issue.

he wasnt having it and says that since i uninstalled the av from his server and laptop that the job wasnt finished . i told him i would install them back on again . then i told him , you know what, pay for the cds and the password recovery i did, then pay me for 1 hour of the quoted av install, when your new tech comes back with an answer , then you can pay me for the other hour if its not my fault, and in addition youre gonna pay me for those other 3 additional hours.

i said it was your insistance on norton 360 because you think you know it all that is causing this extra money. next time listen to a technician whos qualified.

i left with a partial check payment to and im going to see about submitting the rest to small claims court

 

[JosephLeo]

Good job on getting part of your payment. This guy deserves to be charged a late fee too- see if you can tack that on to the bill in the small claims court as well. I'm sure he'll think twice before trying this trick again. Additionally report him to any organizations he's a member of.

 

[PCSupportGlasgow]

Keeping good notes on your work, and sticking to your policies will avoid these sorts of issues in the future.

Layoric

we raise a support ticket for every job. As its online its nice and easy to lookup clients details for past jobs. also lets client see progress updates when the pc in our workshop.

 

[amorangi]

Almost the same thing is happening with me and one of my customers. I put on customer supplied software, and it was all working when I left. He needed to license one of them though, since it was just a trial version. 3 weeks later and no payment (he said he'd bank transfer that day as invoice was due upon receipt) so I ask where is my money. He claims he got a license for that software but it stopped working the day after I left - even though he never contacted me about it. So I try guiding him over the phone, but he's incompetant, and lets slip some stuff which suggests he has mucked up the licensing. He says he'll play around with it. A week later and still no payment, so I email him warning that there's a $50 late fee and 10% interest/month as outlined on the invoice. He replies along the lines of "I don't appreciate your threats"! WTF! and that my help over the phone didn't fix his problem. I said I'd be happy to look at it and if it is my fault (which I am very confident it isn't) that it would be free of charge. No reply. So now 5 weeks past due I've sent him out a revised invoice with the extra charges, though with the expectation that I'll have to go to court to see my money.

You can't pick the ones that won't pay, but as a general rule businesses run by a single 45-55 year old male owner are the worst payers of all.