Louie the fly replied:

I had a guy come in earlier in the year. He wanted an enclosure made for a piece of plant located outside. Having been in the industry for many years I know what is required in the way of access, ventilation, ducting, etc. So I said I would give him a quote. He said no, just do it. I insisted on the quote, knowing what some of these small wineries are like. He accepted the quote, we did the job, invoiced it and he came in and complained about the price. What a DH! I told my boss I will never do another job for this guy. I also told the customer. He aint been back & we are still busy as without his crappy little jobs.

vuduguru replied:

Hi Axle,

After 15 years landscaping I got sick of the unpaid bills and got a proper job. Guess who's self employed again in a different industry.
Doh!

Steve from Top End Explorer Tours replied:

Hey Axle.

I don't know if this helps but, Any tour booking or internet booking we ask for a credit card # to secure the booking, we charge the card 2/3 days prior and if it doesn't go through we ring and get another # or open there seats up for sale.

We often get request for private charters, When you give them the price you often get silence for a while then they ask if you have something cheaper, they want the car to themselves but don't want to pay for it.

So perhaps for your smaller jobs, get a credit card machine and ask for their #, Tell them they can pay by cheque or cash on completion but you have that # if they don't.

Hope this may help.

Cheers Steve.

Hoyks replied:

When I was doing contractor type work, our worst customers were Barristers and the like. Blokes with a big flash house, $100000 car, a trophy wife and no cash........... apparently.

I did a job on a yacht once for a dodgy looking bloke that looked like a poor mans Alby Mangles.
It was a difficult to access and summer in Townsville so was hot as. We charged double, with a bit on top of that, and had no arguments.
When we were done I wrote up the invoice expecting to hear the old 'can we have 30 days', when the bloke pulls out a roll and starts pealing off hundreds....He had nothing smaller.

mfewster replied:

Axle, anyone who gets work done and then re-negs on a decent job etc is beneath contempt. If there is going to be an issue paying, it should be raised before the worker is out of pocket. But I have to take issue with your "so called Australians" statement. This is like the pollies who want to label everything they don't agree with as "unaustralian". This is suggesting that everything about Australians is noble and admirable etc etc. This is just legend and every country has the same legends about themselves and their soldiers etc etc. "Real Australians" are just as heroic, good, bad, scum, petty crims and outright crooks as every other nationality on Earth.

Batman69 replied:

Axle,

Yeah I reckon you are right but for every story like your's there maybe one like mine...

Get a quote for an excavation job. It was $500, not a big job.

Guy doesn't turn up on time, then lobs two days later, he is pushed for time so puts an excavator and two tippers on the job so he can get it done quicker to suit his time pressures with other jobs. Doesn't get the job finished as quoted. I am left to fix the rest up by hiring a dingo digger.

I have a pile of rubble I need removed from completing the job so I ask him an hourly rate to remove he says $80 an hour and says it will take 45mins. Arrives the next day removes the rubble in 25 mins.

I recieve an invoice for $1200 two weeks later. I get charged double for the initial job because he ran with two tippers to get job done quicker plus rubble dump charges. Then charges me $200 for the rubble removal cause he has a two hour minimum fee he neglected to tell me about.

I paid him the quoted amount of $500 + gst and the $200, I am not impressed and tell everyone I ever talk to in town what a rip off dodgy prick he is.

All I wanted was a fair job at a fair price.

Bottom line is in business and in life in general there are always people willing to take others for a free ride.

I hope you don't get too many more customers like the one you mentioned.

Good Luck

Member - DAZA (QLD) replied:

Hi All

We have a medium size plumbing business operating out of the
Gold Coast, 12 years ago, we had over over EIGHTY THOUSAND
DOLLARS owing in bad debts, which had accumulated over a period
of 3 years, we still had to pay our bills ect, it was a nightmare,

The money wasnt owed from the normal mums & dads clients,
it was owed by the so called wealthy white shoe brigade,

I took a month off from my plumbing business, and went debt
collecting, with a vengeance, I would leave one of my work trucks
in there drive way so they couldnt get there bmw,s out or mercs ect. I would make such a commotion in the street and shame them into paying. I lost a bit of skin now and again, but it was better than losing our house. now I only contract to government
agencies.

Cheers
Daza

Member - Lionel A (WA) replied:

Hi Axle, Its all part of "Business" I suppose.

Ive been self employed for many many years and have copped my fair share of bad debts. They do leave you out of pocket and at times, very disappointed because your've been taken advantage of. Sometimes the cost and time needed to recover the debt out weighs the debt itself. It certainly hardens ones approach to business.

As anyone who is self employed will know its virtualy a 24/7 thing. Its basically your whole life. Your an accountant, receptionist, tax collecter, paperwork jockey, tradesman, labourer and chief coffee maker. Many sleepless nights to boot. But when that big cheque or progress payment comes in its suddenly all worth it. [ well it is before you pay your suppliers, GST, provisional tax etc...hehehe]

Any way, just my Sunday morning ritual....coffee, ciggie, quick brouse on EO and off to work.....lol.

Cheers...Lionel.

Member - Brian H (QLD) replied:

My old boss gave me some advise when I started out for myself. If you give a quote and they want to haggle with the price RUN AWAY, and if the person does not want to give a deposit up front RUN AWAY also.

The only two times I have been caught (small amounts under 10000) was when I had no work and I needed to work to feed the family. In the end it cost me money and I was worse off then before I did the jobs.

I had to tell the wife one year as it happened a week before xmas the person did not pay and thus we have NO money for Christmas. Not something I enjoyed with a couple of kids.

I'd rather not do the job and struggle on than do a job and be worse off and deal with low life mud dwelling gecko's.

PS sorry to hear of your customer, I now have a very nice Debt collector a person does not pay my next phone call is to him, has never failed yet :):).

Brian

stocky replied:

mobile EFTPOS - great invention :-)

Louie the fly replied:

My dad had a successful specialised engineering business for nearly 30 years. He said that he would rather go broke sitting on the front verandah having a beer than go broke for some tight customer. He even told one once (multinational mining equipment manufacturer). From then on he always got a fair dollar for the work he did for them. Long term relationship building in business is the most important thing. Once they know you're not ripping them off they are generally good.

Member - shane (SA) replied:

mate, i hear your pain. i don't even start a job unless i got 60% up front. been caught to many times. i just tell them thats the way it is or get someone else.

Ozboc replied:

I had this all the time in my previous business - and all were from non Australian background , and was what eventually broke me( amongst other things )

all i can suggest is a staggered payment - if the job is over a set period of time ( more than one day ) at each stage of the job you collect a payment - they don't pay then you don't continue with the job. Get it on paper ( in the quote ) If they don't agree to it in the quote , then thats a good indication they don't have the money , so dont look at it as having lost a job ......

get bank cheques also - not personal ones - if they winge about the price of say 4 cheques then you say you will cover the cost ( but obviously pre factor that into the quote) there about $7 each from memory - very little to pay for guaranteed payment in whole


Boc