Debt Collection

[Toymaker Len]

We used to need a debt collector service. As I remember it was run by a law firm and they would take anybody to court even for ten dollars. The cost to me was a flat fifteen dollars per claim plus thirty-five percent of the debt. We just had a book of 'Final Notice" forms in triplicate which we would fill out and send one copy to the reluctant payers, one copy to the debt collectors and one copy for us. It was truly amazing how fast the bastards would pay up even after months of excuses, especially when the next letter they got was from the law firm notifying them that a court date had been set. The only two that ever got away were a nice couple of school teachers who moved to Fiji and a trader from Sydney who moved back to the U.K.
Now we simply use credit cards for new customers or cash on delivery and when we get to know them they go on a thirty day account.

[Chris Parks]

I had a customer many years ago who just would not pay his accounts we gave him even though we usually went out of our way to help him out as he was very busy any time his truck broke down and just as busy when payment was needed. In the end I used to walk out to his truck, get his cheque book out of it and write the cheque which he then reluctantly signed.

He was a fencing contractor and he never had outstanding accounts. His method was to do a quote and if it was accepted he ordered all the material and when it was delivered to the address the customer paid for it, not him. All he had to do was supply labour and he never left without payment. It always amused me how he had two standards.

[Master Splinter]

A bloke I know who does landscaping/watering systems leaves a short loop of the control cable in an easy to locate spot if he thinks the client might be a bit tardy on payment; if the client doesn't pay, he pops back under cover of darkness and cuts the cable.

He has only needed it once so far, after chasing payment from one client for several months he snuck back and did the snip, a week or so later the client rang up and said the system wasn't working any more and demanded that he come back and fix it.

He said he'd fix it when their account was in order (and paid in cash, too). Client agreed, he went there, got paid, went to the controller and pressed the button to test the system and lo and behold, it worked perfectly (he had fixed it while while waiting for the client to arrive). He said it was most satisfying to see the clients think that there had been nothing wrong with it!

[Tonyz]

This was a few years ago but my Dad had a tyre business along with service station etc One baddie got 4 new tyres then for 3 months refused to pay for them saying they werent new. Well 9.PM one nite a late visit to his place asking for paymentn Nothing in response but the next morning his car was sitting on besser blocks and all tyres on my car.

[Cliff Rogers]

I don't use debt collectors, I do it myself.