Customer's With No Money

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aline

Senior Member
Location
Utah
While I'm in the mood to rant I thought I would rant a little about a service call I went on the other day.

This woman calls me and says I just bought a couple of new baseboard heaters to replace my old ones and when I tried to install them I blew out my TV and microwave. I don't have any money to pay you but can you get someone out today.

I tell her we need to collect at the end of each call and that she would need to pay that day.

She said she doesn't get paid until tomorrow.

I tell her we could come out tomorrow when she gets paid and she says that won't work because she has to work tomorrow and her next day off won't be until next week.

I ask if she could write us a check today and explain we won't be going to the bank to deposit reciepts until later in the week. She tells me she doesn't have a checking account. I ask her if she could pay with a credit card and she says no because they're all maxed out.

I tell her we can schedule this for next week and that will give her time to get paid and have the money available. She agrees and I set up the appointment for next week.

I call her the morning of her appointment and confirm she still wants us to come out and she says yes. Like an idiot I didn't think to ask if she had the money. I get out there, look the situation over and give her a price for installing the baseboard heaters and she looks at me and says I don't have any money.

You don't have any money at all I ask. She say no but I get paid in a couple of days can you wait until then to get paid. I tell her no I will need the money upfront before I'll do any work. She asks me if her brother that lives in another state can send me the money later. Again I tell her no that I'll need payment today.

So now she wants me to come back next week when she claims she'll have the money. I asked her if she could pay the dispatch fee for me to come out today and she said she couldn't and that she had no money at all.

I told her I'll give her one more chance and that she can call and schedule the appointment when she has the money but we will not start the work without getting the payment in cash before we start.

I doubt she will call back because I think she's trying to pull a fast one and get the work done without paying for it. I've decided if she does call I'm going to tell her to mail us the payment and once it is deposited in our account we will come out and do the work.

Since I've been in business I've only had one customer that didn't pay me. After completing the job she told me she didn't have any money. She told me I would have to send the bill to her father who lived in another state. I never got paid. I now make it clear that they need to pay at the end of the call and we will not bill someone else. They will have to pay and get reimbursed for the amount.
 

satcom

Senior Member
We had that when I first started out, din't take long to learn they are dead beats, once they max out, on cash, and credit, it's all down hill from there, they bleed family, and usually take then down with them. The have no intention of paying, they will call every contractor in the book, trying to get find that one fish.

Best way to respond is let them know your payment policy up front, or you can ofter cash in advance option.

For someone that is just cash straped, which can happen to anyone, and has good credit, you can check their credit card balance, and if it passed then accept the card. Let the dead beats, waste someone elses time.
 

jaylectricity

Senior Member
Location
Massachusetts
Occupation
licensed journeyman electrician
I have a huge heart and I have been giving people prices on a sliding scale based on what I think they can afford.

I've learned that I can't survive like that.

1. If you can't afford an electrician, you can't afford an electrician.
2. If you want me to go out of my way for no money you should try to figure out if there is something you can do to solve your problem without spending money.


One example: If you can't afford to buy oil this week to have your boiler working for a cold spell, maybe you can afford a small space heater that will cost you in electricity that you can pay later.
 

celtic

Senior Member
Location
NJ
jaylectricity said:
2. If you want me to go out of my way for no money you should try to figure out if there is something you can do to solve your problem without spending money.


One example: If you can't afford to buy oil this week to have your boiler working for a cold spell, maybe you can afford a small space heater that will cost you in electricity that you can pay later.
That's a good example....some guys may tell you they have quite a different expeience when it comes to "solving your problem without spending money." ;)
 

danickstr

Senior Member
when a person is a property owner, i have a hard time "gifting" them. many folks are renting and can pay for dimmers, etc. They are sliding down the slope to losing the house, in which case heating it will be the problem of the new owner.
 

jaylectricity

Senior Member
Location
Massachusetts
Occupation
licensed journeyman electrician
I should probably also mention this (while watching the Sox/Indians game, I can type and watch, I just can't read and watch. Another K by Beckett while I'm typing!):

I have a customer that was referred to me by another customer. I gave her a price for her 200 amp service. Plus she had some recessed lights she wanted put in, some new outlets, and some various other lighting fixtures. So I gave her a separate price for that. But I told her that the price was just a vague estimate. ($1000-$1500)

She called and said that my estimate was the highest but she was more comfortable having me do the work, but she wasn't going to be able to afford it all at once.

So I talked to her and based on the conversation, the person that recommended me to her and the fact that she lives less than 3 miles from my house I came to an agreement with her.

I told her to give me at least half of the money for the service before I did any work. Then I told her that I would expect another decent chunk of money after I finished the service. Because she had bought most of the lighting and recessed fixtures I told her that I would only have to pay for the wire, some boxes and some connectors and because of that I was willing to take payments.

She sent a check for $2000 this week, which I received and cashed today. I purchased all of her service equipment and then she called me. She said she had a friend with a bunch of electrical supplies left over from an ex-husband/ex-father-in-law. Basically this customer's friend had a HUGE amount of copper wire that she deemed worthless.

So I'm taking the wire, I'm using some of the money that I'll be saving to use on my customers house, and some of the money I'll get by selling it to the scrap-metal guy to give my customer a good price. $2500 for a 200 amp service, I'm doing it in copper, the materials for the service came out to $600. I'm willing to receive a check for $200-$300 on the 15th of each month to get the balance.

I'm rambling, but I hit the "submit reply" button anyway.

I'll come back later, tomorrow, sunday or the next.

Red Sox killing the Indians 5-1 with the bases loaded in the 5th.
 

480sparky

Senior Member
Location
Iowegia
goldstar said:
"Customers with no money"

Isn't that an oxymoron ???

Oxymorons are two words that are in conflict with each other. Pairs like "Sanitary Landfill" and "Jumbo Shrimp". Oxymoron is from the Greek oxy ("sharp") and moros ("dull"). Thus the word oxymoron is itself an oxymoron.

"Customers with no money" is a a tautologous statement, meaning needless repetition of an idea, statement, or word. "New Baby", "Tuna Fish" "Pizza Pie" and "Free Gift" are common examples.
 

celtic

Senior Member
Location
NJ
480sparky said:
Oxymorons are two words that are in conflict with each other. Pairs like "Sanitary Landfill" and "Jumbo Shrimp". Oxymoron is from the Greek oxy ("sharp") and moros ("dull"). Thus the word oxymoron is itself an oxymoron.

"Customers with no money" is a a tautologous statement, meaning needless repetition of an idea, statement, or word. "New Baby", "Tuna Fish" "Pizza Pie" and "Free Gift" are common examples.

I'm with Goldstar ~ oxymoron.....unless of course the norm for you is to get beat by all customers :D
 

kbsparky

Senior Member
Location
Delmarva, USA
...Basically this customer's friend had a HUGE amount of copper wire that she deemed worthless....
I'd be willing to bet that wire might have been hot.

We lost quite a bit of wire on our last rough-in ... several full rolls that we left on the jobsite overnight. Needless to say, we don't do that anymore ... :mad:

We see it in the news almost every other day about another jobsite or storage trailer that has lost substantial amounts of copper due to thieves ...
 

growler

Senior Member
Location
Atlanta,GA
aline said:
I don't have any money to pay you but can you get someone out today. I ask her if she could pay with a credit card and she says no because they're all maxed out.


This is all the information that you should ever need to know, enough to stay away from the job. I don't finance any work but I'm more than happy to refer the customer to a company that does. If you are going to do work on credit then you need to get with a finance company that will buy the paper from you so that you get your money now and let them worry about how to collect.
 

brian john

Senior Member
Location
Leesburg, VA
The ones that use to get me are the ones with a Caddie in the driveway, boat in the yard, two Harleys and no money to pay.

When I did residential I had a few customers that I did freebies for because I felt bad for them. 80 year woman with no heat.
 
480sparky said:
Oxymorons are two words that are in conflict with each other. Pairs like "Sanitary Landfill" and "Jumbo Shrimp". Oxymoron is from the Greek oxy ("sharp") and moros ("dull"). Thus the word oxymoron is itself an oxymoron.

"Customers with no money" is a a tautologous statement, meaning needless repetition of an idea, statement, or word. "New Baby", "Tuna Fish" "Pizza Pie" and "Free Gift" are common examples.


Somebody has been in the dictionary lately... :cool:
Instead of electrician, you should be a wordsmith. :wink:
 

mdshunk

Senior Member
Location
Right here.
I've been fooled a couple times by tennants who call me to do work, I do it, then when it comes time to pay the bill they tell me, "Oh, I just rent here. You'll have to send that bill to the landlord.". :mad: That really burns me up. Once, I had a landlord actually pay that bill. Twice, they told me to go pound sand, and there were completely within their rights to tell me that. I files a claim at the local magistrate's office against the tennant, and won both times. I think those experiences have fine-tuned my "renter radar". I don't have any problem doing work for a tennant if they have some arrangement with the landlord to pay for the repairs. I just want to hear that from the landlord for myself, is all.
 

480sparky

Senior Member
Location
Iowegia
Pierre C Belarge said:
Somebody has been in the dictionary lately... :cool:
Instead of electrician, you should be a wordsmith. :wink:

No, I was just trying to poke fun of the statement 'Customers with no money', as in 'There are customers out there with money???' Seems no matter the circumstances, few are actually willing to pay.

In fact, so far this year I have had only ONE job where I got paid before I left. To be fair, a lot of my work is for contractors & builders, so I have to submit a bill with the attendant paperwork in triplicate (I can just see Radar O'Reilly now....), and wait for the draw or payment to be made.

radar2.jpg
 

mdshunk

Senior Member
Location
Right here.
480sparky said:
In fact, so far this year I have had only ONE job where I got paid before I left. To be fair, a lot of my work is for contractors & builders, so I have to submit a bill with the attendant paperwork in triplicate (I can just see Radar O'Reilly now....), and wait for the draw or payment to be made.
Ever had a builder play this game with you; trying to negotiate payment terms after the work has been done...

I have had a couple pull stuff like.. "I know the bill is 5K, but if you'd wait till the house sells, I'll pay you 6K". This is just a for instance, but sometimes the offer is sufficiently attractive that I bite and they do pay the higher amount after the place sells. Other times, it's just not worth it.
 

480sparky

Senior Member
Location
Iowegia
mdshunk said:
Ever had a builder play this game with you; trying to negotiate payment terms after the work has been done...

I have had a couple pull stuff like.. "I know the bill is 5K, but if you'd wait till the house sells, I'll pay you 6K". This is just a for instance, but sometimes the offer is sufficiently attractive that I bite and they do pay the higher amount after the place sells. Other times, it's just not worth it.

No. All pricing is agreed to up front before I go to the job site. That prevents anything like this.

And I can't even imagine a builder who's willing to pay an extra 1K if I can wait.
 

satcom

Senior Member
480sparky said:
No. All pricing is agreed to up front before I go to the job site. That prevents anything like this.

And I can't even imagine a builder who's willing to pay an extra 1K if I can wait.

It usually goes more like I don't have the full amount, how about I pay you 2K now, and the balance later, later never comes, and if you call to ask for your money, they can get down right nasty at times, how dare you ask to get paid!
 
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