what would you do?

[telectrix]

got a customer, bought a house. basically gutted, so asked me for a quote, labour only, to do some electrical work, extra sockets, etc. install new CU. now, technically, i have no problem. it's the financial side that buggers me. basically, i quoted £700 to do the CU and the bits and pieces. all good so far. now, he wants downlights throughout. i planned it out, 32 downlgihts in total. quoted £20 per fitting ( labour and cables), got knocked down from £640 to £450, now he wants 8 more fittings ( total overkill, 6 in a 3m x 3m bedroom and hall & landing) without paying any more. so far, i've had £500 out of the £700 initial quote which barely covers the time spent so far. my thoughts are to walk away, cut losses, move on. i can see future problems as he wants outside work and won't pay for safely installation. btw, he's just had all the front and back fenced and block paved... materials alone must have come to £5K. should i walk?

 

[davesparks]

they don't bloodywell haggle when they're selling tatty jeans and fake t-shirts on the market though.

They do in Camden, I got loads off of my trench coat and boots

 

[R G]

When anyone starts to haggle the price with you , why not haggle the price higher , I did this once with one guy that I didn't like and he was surprised , I told him the price I had given was a good one and is discounted and that if he wanted to change it then I shall increase the price to the correct amount , TBH I didn't want the job anyway ,but at least I made my point clear to him , I then wiped my feet and left his property....

 

[ruston]

My favourite expression when they said they had someone that would do it cheaper was "Well he has got the job."

 

[telectrix]

i usually say do you want it done cheap or done right?

 

[Dave OCD]

Oh yes. I really can not understand people who have a non paying customer and simply accept the situation. In the unlikely event that I never got paid, the customer would end up shelling out a lot more money than they saved by not paying me. And they certainly would not get a functioning installation at the end of it either.

But lets say you do a job then submit an invoice and they don't pay - how on earth do you get back in to remove or otherwise render your work inoperative ? And even if you were invited in and proceeded to do this there could be serious aggro ?

 

[davesparks]

But lets say you do a job then submit an invoice and they don't pay - how on earth do you get back in to remove or otherwise render your work inoperative ? And even if you were invited in and proceeded to do this there could be serious aggro ?

By having your terms and conditions up to scratch so that ownership of all materials remains with you until full payment is received.
Then if they don't pay you can take legal action to get the money, or failing that have all materials removed and returned to you. Plus they have to pay all legal fees

 

[Dave OCD]

By having your terms and conditions up to scratch so that ownership of all materials remains with you until full payment is received.
Then if they don't pay you can take legal action to get the money, or failing that have all materials removed and returned to you. Plus they have to pay all legal fees

Yes I fully agree Dave, just seemed to me that some of the other posts were advocating a slightly more drastic approach.

 

[davesparks]

Yes I fully agree Dave, just seemed to me that some of the other posts were advocating a slightly more drastic approach.

Then they will still end up in court, but with rather less legs to stand on!

 

[R G]

I always give out pre printed quotations with the final finishing of the work to be carried out , its a 2 part type with the conditions on the rear and the customer signs and receives the lower copy , ownership and title of the goods is cleared remains the property of myself until final payment is made , the advantage of giving out something like this is it sorts out those who are going to give you grief with money etc , I also have other T&Cs printed on the rear that refer to other possible issues they can use against you like making good etc and responsibility of floor and wall coverings etc too , just seems theres people out there who would do you for anything if they could , the most important thing is alongside the signature on the front Its clear in bold letters that final payment is payable before we leave site when finished ....

 

[newtothis]

Your T&Cs would include payment terms.
Could be cash on completion, nowt to stop you checking the cash is available just prior to completion.

Giving someone a period of time to pay an invoice is giving them credit.
Take steps to establish credit worthiness, comsensurate with the risk.
IMHO You'd need a very good reason to bank roll someones job / project or whatever on an interest free, no credit-check basis.

In business I'll accept people's money regardless or colour, creed, or anything else you can think of.:whatchutalkingabout

 

[R G]

This a copy of what I issue

 

[Englishman]

But lets say you do a job then submit an invoice and they don't pay - how on earth do you get back in to remove or otherwise render your work inoperative ? And even if you were invited in and proceeded to do this there could be serious aggro ?

I think that there are always ways to get back into a property, as for aggro, ripping out my property and walking away with it all is a way of reducing aggro, you just have to be prepared and happy to deal with a angry homeowner who's just realised that they've cocked up by not paying you.

 

[davesparks]

I think that there are always ways to get back into a property, as for aggro, ripping out my property and walking away with it all is a way of reducing aggro, you just have to be prepared and happy to deal with a angry homeowner who's just realised that they've cocked up by not paying you.

As long as you are operating within the bounds of the law then yes.

I've never yet had to do it yet, though it's come awful close, but I would much rather the debt collectors go and fetch whatever goods they see fit under a court warrant than potentially leave myself liable for something

 

[Geordie Spark]

PC or not it is unfortunate that the two customers who have ****ed me over were
1st Pikey family who bought a house just so they could register at a doctors & school, they didnt use the house but put the van on the drive & lived in that.
2nd pakistani ...........agree a price do the job they then want extras agree Then when invoiced they want to knock the fee.

Now Pikeys will not even get a quote if I suspect they are indeed from this section of society.
Pakistanis get a quote that is doubled with half up front payment request before work starts, if they then want to haggle the final invoice I'm still quids in.

Ferk all non payers shirkers & invoice dodgers

Aye .. you need to be a bit careful with Pikeys.

They've been known to invade an airport & tip a police helicopter onto its side cos it anoyed them by flying over their site.