Chasing your money

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Chasing Your Money

Who wants to have to keep trying to get someone to pay them for work that they have completed? No one. It is an uncomfortable situation to be in and one that really shouldn't happen. I am pretty fortunate and the majority of the transactions that we take are directly with the company so if a check bounces or something is not paid the company themselves will have to collect it. But occasionally it will happen that we will get stuck with money that is owed to us and trying to collect it can be both time consuming and really just an unpleasant experience for everyone involved.

I see a number of business owners that post quite often about people that owe them money for work that is completed and here they are spending their time trying to collect. We had someone reach out to us on the group and asked us to post something on their behalf regarding a collection attorney to try to get money that was owed to them. And we all know that can get quite expensive.

Sure there are legitimate times when a dispute happens and the work may not be completed and that could lead to an issue with a contractor not being paid for the entire job. But this isn't really what I am seeing as much. Most of these are jobs that are completed and then the final payment that is due to them it takes several attempts to collect. I know a number of business owners who have told me that they have several people that owe them money and that they will have to take money out of one of their personal accounts to cover their bills until they get that money.

I just recently had a friend of mine call me up and ask me what I thought about a situation he just had happen. He explained about a large job they had completed and how he ended up just kind of writing off a significant amount of the balance owed since the person was so difficult and he just wanted to wash his hands of them. Well they went and left a negative review almost 3 years later on one of the more well known sites. We chatted about what a good response would be on something like this and I just thought to myself wow...3 years ago. I think I would start with that.

Another service type of business owner I know just told me about someone who they have been trying to collect money they are owed for months. Each week the person gives them a different story of why they can't pay it and that they will pay them the next week. Again a difficult conversation to have with someone and it puts both people in a really uncomfortable position. I don't want to have to call people to collect money I am owed and I am sure they don't want me to call them about it either.

Something that I just about always do with contractors that I deal with on a regular basis is just pay them right away or as soon as they let me know how much it is going to cost. I can't swear to it but I can assume that my past pay history sure helps put me to the front of the list when I have an issue. They know they aren't going to have to chase me down to get their money. It is funny I had someone I was using to do something for me awhile back. Another person I know said I don't know how you got him there he won't even call me back. I didn't say anything but the first thought that popped in my head was I pay him. Well sure enough I said something about it to the person doing the work for me. And he started right in let me tell you something. I will never do work for them again and how hard it was to get paid and how many issues he had and how they kept changing what they wanted done.

If something goes wrong and you aren't happy with the work address it then don't wait until the bill is due and start making excuse why you aren't going to pay.

David

Shop Local Delmarva

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