Non paying customer - advice

[Vincent79]

Thank You

Working for yourself is tough these days, some people are totally dishonest and pay no one. Deal with this via a solicitor and resolve this professionally, do not try and deal with it yourself. Any legal costs incurred you can charge to your business and reduces your tax bill. If you need more help private message me on here, my advice is free.

 

[Newchodge]

110% a solicitor, you need someone local and understanding on your side here not some call centre. Just make it very clear to the solicitor you have a limited budget and need it not to exceed say £1000, they will then have to keep to that or not get involved. The other side have set out to frighten/panic you which they have successfully done, now you need to respond. I have been here it is all a game just make sure you win and keep control of solicitor's costs.

Why? At this stage the OP needs advice on how to conduct their case prior to the hearing. Why do you think a solicitor is needed? Why do you think someone local is needed? Given that the claim is for less than £4,000 why do you think the OP should pay £1,000 for legal advice?

What do you think the OP needs to respond to at this stage?

 

[smallclaimsassistance]

Thanks for the mention Cyndy.
@Minnie123 - whatever you do, you need to move quickly. I've replied to your PM. If you would like me to help, let me know.
Dean

 

[Minnie123]

Thankyou I have responded

 

[Neil C-W]

We feel for you Minnie. Please let us know what happens. This "customer" isn't a customer because customers pay. They just sound like a first class A hole who wanted some new windows for free and they probably have previous form for this kind of thing.

Have faith in the system, the judges aren't stupid and won't have the wool pulled over their eyes easily whether the defendant has a solicitor or not. Unless you have done a truly atrocious job of the windows which I think unlikely then I can't see how they can win given what you've said. The judge has the final say not the solicitor.

A contract was entered into and you've delivered your side but they haven't delivered theirs.

 

[Minnie123]

Thank You - I drove past and the windows are all in place and look good. I had a bad feeling about him from the start but brushed it off I am now going with my instincts, last week I refunded a customers deposit and cancelled the job as before I had even started they were calling me with queries nearly 5 times a day and wanting to speak direct to my product supplier to try and speed things up etc.

 

[Neil C-W]

That's the spirit - quality not quantity! I had one once where this company wanted me to supply them with new laptops of good quality running Windows 10 Professional for the same price that they paid for their cheap crappy laptops running Windows 10 Home!! I just said "No I can't." I haven't followed that one up since.

 

[Vincent79]

Thank You - I drove past and the windows are all in place and look good. I had a bad feeling about him from the start but brushed it off I am now going with my instincts, last week I refunded a customers deposit and cancelled the job as before I had even started they were calling me with queries nearly 5 times a day and wanting to speak direct to my product supplier to try and speed things up etc.

How are you getting on with this? One thing I forgot to mention beware if they are trading as a limited company. If they think you are going to win this they could just close the company and form a new one and your money will be lost even if you win the case in the court. Would bear this in mind and it is all totally legal.

 

[Minnie123]

No they are not a business. I have been in contact with smallclaimsassistance.co.uk and they have helped me with a reply to defence, which I am sending off today. And I now have to prepare a witness statement. I have no idea what the outcome is going to be. Seems I made an error as my case was not particularised in my claims form - but I only had that small paragraph to fill in. It's a complex process if you don't know what you are doing. Feeling a bit deflated if I'm honest really chasing my tail after all this if I don't even win the cost of the goods back I may need to close the business down as I will need to sell the van to pay off my supplier.

 

[Vincent79]

No they are not a business. I have been in contact with smallclaimsassistance.co.uk and they have helped me with a reply to defence, which I am sending off today. And I now have to prepare a witness statement. I have no idea what the outcome is going to be. Seems I made an error as my case was not particularised in my claims form - but I only had that small paragraph to fill in. It's a complex process if you don't know what you are doing. Feeling a bit deflated if I'm honest really chasing my tail after all this if I don't even win the cost of the goods back I may need to close the business down as I will need to sell the van to pay off my supplier.

Would it have been better to use a solicitor here? Don't let this make you give up, working for yourself is full of highs and lows. The first couple of years seem to go very well and then you start hitting problems that you need to deal with. I had my laptop stolen in my early years while working with a client and lost basically everything, I was devastated going to call it a day but chose to carry on and looking back it was the right decision.

 

[Minnie123]

In all honesty I don't have the money for a solicitor at £250 an hour I owe my supplier £3k I don't have due to this non paying customer - annoyed at myself for being so trusting.

 

[tony84]

You will learn from this. Chances are if you had done this almost immediately without offering to be paid for parts only they would have taken you more seriously and backed down.

The issue is that the "customer" has nothing to lose unless you charge interest. Worse case scenario the money sits in his account a little longer.

I bet in future you will have proper T&Cs.

Thats not me having a go btw, I bet if you ask everyone here if they have been diddled by a customer the vast majority will have been. It has happened to me twice, once I got 100% back with just the threat of solciitors, the other time I got around 70% of it back by taking a payment plan. Although it became that much effort chasing it up I just wrote off the 30%.

I now have a process I follow, invoice people, give it a week if I have not heard from them give another polite reminder. If I have not heard the following week then I lose the niceness and ask them to pay up. I dont even care if people say they can not pay until pay day, just that they acknowledge the debt and a date they will pay. I HATE it when people play hide and seek and you have to chase. I would rather them say it will be 6 weeks on monday if thats when it will be.

Easy for me to say, but dont give up being self employed, just explain to your supplier and arrange a payment plan, I am sure they would prefer that and you remain a customer than lose you as a customer becaue you work elsewhere.

 

[Minnie123]

I honestly thought with a signed contract I was covered for stuff like this.

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

All of my quotations go out with this...

The above work could be carried out within 7-10 working days of receiving your written order confirmation. A 50% deposit is required for non-account holders, all orders exceeding £500 and all bespoke items.

Every job we're paid the 50% no matter what - unless of course it's an account customer Even then - we're pretty much guaranteed 50% before every job we do... stock is covered by this including part labour.

 

[Minnie123]

I have sent off my defence to the customers defence am I right to just be waiting for a court date?

 

[Minnie123]

I have filled in the directions questionnaire and sent it off - heard nothing since

 

[ukitbusiness12]

How did you get on with this in the end? I have DCBL engaged in enforcement action as we speak.