Too much in receivables

[JMPrinting]

Before I took any money down, I had a guy who wrote a check for a set of full color magnets. He wrote a check that didn't clear, he said he would make it in to pay cash. After 2 weeks I called and said he would be in, nothing. About 2-3 weeks after I saw him driving by with his boat on his truck. He was heading towards our local lake, drive out there, watched him unload his boat, park his truck then I walked over and took them off. A few days later he called and asked if I knew where his magnets were, I said nope but if you want a new set you can pay for them and the old ones and I'll gladly make you a set.

Another guy was "out of town" when I installed on his business. Never saw payment after email, calls...ect. 60 days past by and I sent him a final email with a read receipt, he read it and nothing. Went that weekend and took them off the windows. Some say it may be wasting time, you don't pay I repo lol

May be illegal? Attached to their property but my material? Not sure how others would handle it

 

[Techman]

Get the square for your smart phone. When they come bye and have no check then tell them to whip out the credit card.

 

[Stanton]

May be illegal? Attached to their property but my material? Not sure how others would handle it

Once it is detached it becomes a civil matter.
Police can not order you to provide labor,
nor will they indemnify you for the re-install.

They just write a report.
You have a copy of the contract at hand for them to attach to their report.

Let them impound the property if they want.
It won't fit in their trunk.
Who are they going to call to collect the evidence ?

I've done it well over half a dozen times. Last resort always.
Sloppy vetting on my part.

DA will never peruse charges.
Once they know you are going to court anyway.

Even if you repossess, they still owe you full price plus recovery fees.
A sign has no resale value. They pay the difference between $0 and Full Price.

Plus recovery fees, (that is in your contract.)

If it came to this they are no longer your friend anyway.

I learned to send a boom crew out on Friday morning @ 3am.
After the bars close, before people wake up and feel like brewing coffee.

A little bonus $$$ for the crew for the BS
and a 2¾ day weekend for them to boot.


DO NOT make your people deal with the scene while you sleep.
You MUST be there.


Time for me to shut up.

 

[premiercolour]

Once it is detached it becomes a civil matter.
Police can not order you to provide labor,
nor will they indemnify you for the re-install.

They just write a report.
You have a copy of the contract at hand for them to attach to their report.

Let them impound the property if they want.
It won't fit in their trunk.
Who are they going to call to collect the evidence ?

I've done it well over half a dozen times. Last resort always.
Sloppy vetting on my part.

DA will never peruse charges.
Once they know you are going to court anyway.

Even if you repossess, they still owe you full price plus recovery fees.
A sign has no resale value. They pay the difference between $0 and Full Price.

Plus recovery fees, (that is in your contract.)

If it came to this they are no longer your friend anyway.

I learned to send a boom crew out on Friday morning @ 3am.
After the bars close, before people wake up and feel like brewing coffee.

A little bonus $$$ for the crew for the BS
and a 2¾ day weekend for them to boot.


DO NOT make your people deal with the scene while you sleep.
You MUST be there.


Time for me to shut up.

Good info.

 

[CES020]

We did signs for an existing customer for a new building. They were contracted by the builder to do the interior signs and we made 100's of signs for them. They stopped short of paying us in full with no explanation. There were no issues with the signs or the quality and all signs we made were installed by them. 6 months later, still nothing. They told us that part of the order was for a change order and the contractor was disputing it and wouldn't pay them, so they couldn't pay us. Despite telling them that was between the contractor and them, not us, they still wouldn't pay and were asking for a steep discount. It essentially would have removed every penny of profit we had on the job.

I called our lawyer and asked him for his help and as we were talking, I mentioned it was a brand new building and asked him how the lien release worked. He stopped me dead in my tracks and said "This is a new building? Is is occupied? If so, then they had to sign a lien release which states that all subcontractors have been paid in full. If they did that and haven't paid you, that's a criminal offense and you can have him arrested".

I called the builder on the project (big firm) and asked if the lien release had been signed by the sign company. He said "Yes, it had to have been because the building is occupied". I asked for a copy of it and he emailed it right away. On that Lien Release he signed, it says that he was paid in full and that all his sub's have been paid in full.

I emailed him a copy of it with his signature on it, told him if I didn't have payment in 5 days, I was filing charges against him on the advice of my attorney.

Magically, the remaining balance showed up shortly after that email.

 

[thesignexpert]

We make it a point to tell them the balance due when calling them to tell them the work is ready. It seemed to stop that behavior. Also we will offer to take a credit card via phone to make it easy for the client to send anyone to pick it up.

This... and also email the invoice after the phone call to reiterate the terms as well as document the conversation. Doesn't have to be anything complicated. Just a "Per our phone conversation earlier, here is the invoice showing your paid deposit as well as the balance due upon pick-up..."

Clear and consistent communication will help you get those A/Rs under control.

 

[IslandSignWorks]

Make sure your invoices are marked "Payable upon receipt" and include a payment penalty of 2.5% per week. For a quick turnaround job with a new client, email them in advance and ask to have payment ready upon delivery/install. Reputable business people won't have a problem with this.

After a while, you can get a gut feeling who is going to pay quickly and who is going to string you out. Don't be afraid to turn down a project or ask for prepayment with a customer who sketches you out.

We also take credit cards both over the phone/internet and in person. There is some expense to this, but we've figure out a way to keep transaction costs low while also speeding up receivables.

 

[FrankenSigns.biz]

I carry little to no receivables whatsoever. I charge a 50% non refundable deposit and balance on pick up. I offer no terms to 95% of my customers with few exceptions.