Non Paying Customer

[Husky288XP]

I have a customer that we performed work for in Early June of 2010. She has not paid. I haved mailed invoices and hand delivered invoices to her home, and still no reply. She will not answer or return phone calls with messages. I have documented all the recent dates of invoices delivered and calls/messages made.

What is the next best step?
-Certified letter
-Local Court
-Lien on her property

 

[thejdman04]

Depending on your state and how much you are charging her for the work, you best bet is to go to court , small claims if you can. For small claims you probably won't need a lawyer. Depending on your local police dept etc, they may take a report and arrest and charge her with theft of services. Theft of services is what they typically charge people for who "dine and dash" (eat at a restaurant and don't pay), people who go to the doctor and don't pay etc. Small claims court is not a big deal. If you go in, have everything documented well, giving specific dates etc, the judge decides if you have a legitimate complaint and will make a decision. It is fairly informal (it is still court but there aren't big legal proceedings, motions, objections etc). Even if you win in court though, at least in IL, they still have 6 months to pay so don't count on your money that day.

 

[treeman82]

Certified letter w/ bill and final due date. If you don't have your money by MM/DD/YY you go to court and file a small claims suit. How much does she owe though?

I will say this, one of my friends just went to small claims court, he said they have a backlog of about a year... so you may also want to look into a lein depending on what's going on with the property.

 

[squad143]

Whatever route you choose you are best to;

Keep a record of all relevant information, claims forms and the actions you took in case you need to refer to them in the future.

Be prepared to negotiate the amount and arrive at a new arrangement should the owner be in such poor financial state that recovering some money is better than none.

 

[ducaticorse]

I have a customer that we performed work for in Early June of 2010. She has not paid. I haved mailed invoices and hand delivered invoices to her home, and still no reply. She will not answer or return phone calls with messages. I have documented all the recent dates of invoices delivered and calls/messages made.

What is the next best step?
-Certified letter
-Local Court
-Lien on her property

Perfect. Follow what you wrote, in that order, and you'll be fine. Eventually

 

[Rickytree]

Get a huge piece of Willow or anything and plop it in her front yard, then if anyone comes knocking just say you returned what she didn't pay for. Had one last year, she locked herself in the house and wouldn't answer the door. I got the neighbour to phone and she answered the phone and said that she was in the shower. No shower still grimey. She was pissed that I talked to the neighbour. I was like "I didn't know if the had a epileptic attack or what. She doesn't agree to pay. So I dumped the whole load all over her front driveway which was stone.. Then warned every tree service in the area to stay away.

This advice probably isn't the one you should use but damn that pisses me off. There are scumbags out there who do this all the time and get away with it. If you have big equipment or access to it the large log in front of the front door is a nice touch though...

 

[lxt]

most importantly..........did you have a signed contract?

without the above you will be waisting your time! I had similar happen once....I gaurantee you return with a truck full of debris, your crew & pretend as though you are gonna perform additional work (basically drop n leave) they will do 2 things:

Call police, which will benefit you because now you will have a statement & the HO will have to fess up who did the previous work...PS... you just thought that she/he wanted more work done & hence the reason for no payment, so you returned to correct the problem.

2- they will pay you!!

sounds cruel but one thing I always do is to survey the property, even with a contract some will refrain from paying, if they have more trees.....well lets just say, they could be danger trees & are ready to just fall over...he he he!




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

 

[treemandan]

most importantly..........did you have a signed contract?

without the above you will be waisting your time! I had similar happen once....I gaurantee you return with a truck full of debris, your crew & pretend as though you are gonna perform additional work (basically drop n leave) they will do 2 things:

Call police, which will benefit you because now you will have a statement & the HO will have to fess up who did the previous work...PS... you just thought that she/he wanted more work done & hence the reason for no payment, so you returned to correct the problem.

2- they will pay you!!

sounds cruel but one thing I always do is to survey the property, even with a contract some will refrain from paying, if they have more trees.....well lets just say, they could be danger trees & are ready to just fall over...he he he!




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

Good advice, playing the fool( but not really) right back at the scene of the crime, not breaking laws and getting good exposure. I like it.