He owes us £1400!!

Lifeisbutadream

I dont know whether anyone on here can help - I didnt really know where else to put it, but I am very very upset and would appreciate some advice..

Myself and my husband started a business just over a year ago (my husband is a joiner, I do all the paperwork and marketing and we employ another joiner).

We did a job for a customer who is on benefits in June 2006 (although we didnt know he was on benefits at the time - I dont know whether it would have made a difference to how we did things) - we always invoice customers AFTER the work has been done to make sure they are satisfied etc.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, he did not pay us. He kept pretending that he had sent the cheque and that it must have been lots, then he said that he was waiting for a cheque to clear before he could send a cheque to us. FInally he admitted he had no money and offered to pay us £1 per month!!!!

Obviously that amount would be ridiculous - we said no and started court proceedings (at a cost of £120) - the court agreed he should pay more, but we now have had to pay a further £209 to put a charge on his property (he owns his house). We wont get the money until he sells up or dies!

Obviously we learnt the lesson here not to invoice people for large amounts after the work (not very fair on customers who are genuine), but I would appreciate it if anyone has any further suggestions on how we can get the money back (before he dies or sells up!) as it is a lot of money and we really cannot afford to lose it..

Thanks in advance...

krisskross

Does he owe you enough to make him bankrupt? I have no idea how this works but as he owns his own property the threat might be enough. Surely he obtained goods and services by false pretences, is this not an offence? I feel so sorry for you, it is hard enough to make a go of a small business without chancers like this.

going2die_rich

Can't you charge interest on the amount he owes you? That way you could look at the £1400 as savings since you can put a charge on the house and then when he does die off / sell up you'll be able to get a big chunk on the house. Loan interests are really high as well.

I'd personally feel the need to put him up against a few walls and shake him down to see just how much he's hidden away. Not all people on benefits are living hand to mouth

Maybe you sell the debt on to a loan agency? You will lose some of the £1400 but if you can't wait around then you might not have much of a choice or maybe enforce some debt collectors of you own to go and collect possessions up to the value of the £1400+ whatever the collectors charge. It's unlikely to get you the £1400+ but it'll certainly make the person see what a mistake they've made. It might even have them in finding the money as no one wants debt collectors knocking on your door.

People like that just make it harder for those that aren't falsely saying they will pay up once the job is done. As many people don't want to pay up front in case the builder/workman never comes back. Hopefully that guy will get whats coming to him

Lifeisbutadream

Thanks for the replies - I am unable to charge interest now that I have paid for a charge on the property, but if I hadnt paid for that, he could have made himself bankrupt and then would never have to pay me!! (sorry forgot to mention that I have since found out he already has a CCJ against him from someone else for £5000, so was very worried that he would make himself bankrupt.

I have looked into selling on the debt - I dont know how to do this and I also dont know how to get baillifs in - it is not as simple as ringing a debt agency - I have tried that.

It is really really unfair - if I walked into a shop and stole a TV for £1400 I would be arrested and yet someone can steal £1400 from our business and there is nothing that we can do about it. We have also since lost work because we have asked for a deposit up front and people (quite rightly) do not want to pay it, but we cannot afford to take the risk again!

Broken_hearted

He's not refusing to pay he's offering what he can afford, its something advised on the DFW board all the time. The trouble is you are a small business and can't cope with the loss.

Lifeisbutadream

Broken_hearted wrote:

He's not refusing to pay he's offering what he can afford, its something advised on the DFW board all the time. The trouble is you are a small business and can't cope with the loss.

That is where my problem is - why should any business cope with a loss???

We are a small business that would disappear altogether if everyone did that!

He knew that he couldnt pay us BEFORE he got the work done. Offering to pay someone £1 per month for a £1400 debt is absolutely ridiculous. It would cost more to bank the cheque than would go into our account.

I am obviously in the wrong job - I really should just get our whole house renovated, not pay for it and then sell it and make a profit.

Broken_hearted

Maybe you could change the way you work bill for materials to be paid when you start the job and labour once its finished.

Lifeisbutadream

Broken_hearted wrote:

Maybe you could change the way you work bill for materials to be paid when you start the job and labour once its finished.

We have changed it now and a lot of people do not like to pay it up front - which is fair enough - I would not like to pay for something before it was done. We are losing some work because of this.

However, it would not have made any difference in this particular case as most of the money was for labour - this persons bathroom was completely renovated, the costs involved were our own labour plus the cost of 2 contractors, which we paid.

krisskross

Broken_hearted wrote:

He's not refusing to pay he's offering what he can afford, its something advised on the DFW board all the time. The trouble is you are a small business and can't cope with the loss.

Unfortunately the DFW board is looking at debts from a different view point. Bl***y thieving old b*****d to get work done and then refuse to pay a penny. Is there nothing you put in to his house that you can remove?

Lifeisbutadream

Unfortunately the material products are floor boarding, tiles and part of a bathroom suite! they would be absolutely useless to us taken out, plus, if I am correct you are not allowed to just go and take something from someones house.

The law is well and truly on his side.

Believe me, I have had many a fantasy about going and removing something else from him....

:mad:

thesaint

I believe that you have done everything you can in this situation.
Simply use it as a lesson, think if you'd done it at a cost of £4000.
Multi million pound companies face the same problems. Bad customers are rife.

In future, do not credit more than you can afford to lose.

Although you may lose a few jobs by charging a deposit up front, if your business is any good, it will be turning work away because you are so busy, so don't dwell on it.