How to encourage a client to pay

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MrMilbank

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In NJ; Client owes us around $1700. Dude has a nice job doing network setups for large firms across the US. Hes not a charity case. He was a relative of a client who paid us promptly. Our big mistake was sending him a "trusted customer" discount price bill by mail about a week after the job was completed. this was 5 months ago. Legally speaking I'm beat. any ideas?
 
MrMilbank said:
In NJ; Client owes us around $1700. Dude has a nice job doing network setups for large firms across the US. Hes not a charity case. He was a relative of a client who paid us promptly. Our big mistake was sending him a "trusted customer" discount price bill by mail about a week after the job was completed. this was 5 months ago. Legally speaking I'm beat. any ideas?
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Get legal advice from a lawyer as to what your options are. We have our lawyer send a demand letter that is usually enough to spur payment.
 
Nag him to death. Make sure you call at all different times of the day so his wife or others in his home know he hasn't paid the bill.

Last resort is a collection agency, they're jerks.

On a more productive note, try asking him why he hasn't paid, was there a problem with the work?

And never assume that if someone appears to have money that they actually do. People in all income brackets are capable of spending much more than they earn.
 
"Yo, my name's Vinny. Mr. Milbank sent me to pick up something that I belive you owe him. I'll wait. By the way you have a very nice home, it would be a shame if anything were to happen to it.":cool:
 
MrMilbank said:
In NJ; Client owes us around $1700. Dude has a nice job doing network setups for large firms across the US. Hes not a charity case. He was a relative of a client who paid us promptly. Our big mistake was sending him a "trusted customer" discount price bill by mail about a week after the job was completed. this was 5 months ago. Legally speaking I'm beat. any ideas?
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Send him a new invoice and raise the price by taking off the discount.
That may get his attention.
 
I would increase the price on the invoice, and resend.. again. but truthfully at this time i would accept less as a resolution to cover my already incurred expenses.

Demand letter sounds legit, but im weary about investing money in a lawyer on such a small job. has anyone used a collections agency? if so what were the results like?
 
mivey said:
Has your client offered any suggestions on dealing with their relative?
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If the original client is not involved with the business dealing and you have a good business relationship with them, I wouldnt get them involved with this issue, just my opinion...
 
MrMilbank said:
In NJ; Client owes us around $1700. Dude has a nice job doing network setups for large firms across the US. Hes not a charity case. He was a relative of a client who paid us promptly. Our big mistake was sending him a "trusted customer" discount price bill by mail about a week after the job was completed. this was 5 months ago. Legally speaking I'm beat. any ideas?
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Call my cousin Vinnie in Bayonne, he will take care of it......

What do you prefer, leg or 'wing'?:D

It's Yojsie for heaven sake.....:smile:
 
ultramegabob said:
If the original client is not involved with the business dealing and you have a good business relationship with them, I wouldnt get them involved with this issue, just my opinion...
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I was thinking the client may have used some of that good relationship status to get their relative the "trusted customer discount price". If so, that good relationship should be a two-way street.
 
ok so i guess i have 2 options: continue to call him and hear "I'm gonna take care of it" or pay a few hundos to get a lien attorney to send a letter. Does anyone have a similar experience where they got results?

more info: this was not a contract job. he signed nothing before work began. everythying was riding on the account history of the reffered relative who was reliable and does not call back at this time..
 
If you pulled a permit (documentation), I'd take him to small claims court even though you don't have a contract.

In these days folks, an agreed upon scope of work with payment terms should be SOP for all jobs over $100. It doesn't need to be a legal sounding contract document, just something that says what's to be done and what it costs with customers' signature.
 
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