How to deal with someone not paying for work done

andydiysaver

muckybutt wrote: »

.

Even if you win at County Court you are not guaranteed to get your money back though - I have been there done just as stated above.
If the Judge finds in your favour then the claim is made against the customer and he is told to cough up and registered with a CCJ. If he can't or doesn't cough up you can enforce the debt then with a bailiff or sheriff officer who can attempt to seize goods to the value of £xxx's if the customer has enough seizeable goods to cover the amount owed.
If they don't own enough of value then it's not been money well spent

yes so a lot of this is about warning and lack thereof


- it seldom makes sense to warn someone you're sending bailiffs, the time for niceties is long gone at this stage anyway - a warning is a heads up to move the value off site, in one extreme case I knew about it was a heads up for the guy to liquidate his old company, start a new one, and sell himself the stock. Perfectly legal means of ripping someone off


so if it gets to sheriffs etc, don't warn, you've probably given 100 of them before that day anyway.

TomsMom

Thanks everyone. I've not been getting my email notification (set to instant) so I'm a bit late responding.

My son is back from working away and has had no further contact with the customer. I've explained about Moneyclaims online and we're getting together tomorrow to look at putting it into action. As he's working away again next week he was going to leave it until he finishes the job but I told him I thought it best to get the ball rolling now as it's been going on for a while.

Does he need to do as Muckybutt suggests and send a strongly worded letter stating what money is owed and to give a time limit of 14 days at this point (there has already been a few phone calls discussing the dispute) or does he go straight for a Letter of Claim as part of the Pre-Action Process?

Thanks again for everyone's input.

If he goes straight to the Letter of Claim, I've found an example letter to follow. Where it mentions "Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in order to avoid the need for this matter to be resolved by the courts" if it went to mediation who would pay for that? I've seen fees quoted of £50 for one hour and £100 for two hours.

Macman

If he agreed a fixed price, rather than a day rate, then it's irrelevant if it took 2 days, 4 days or 40 days.

moneyistooshorttomention

As stated, if it was a fixed rate for the job then that is the price payable. From the customers pov, I get nervous about "extra bodies" turning up to help with a job if its an hourly rate (wondering if another person is after some "hours"). At my standard way of working (ie fixed rate), then the more people the better, as my job should get finished faster.

Completely agree. He quoted the 4 days for him doing it himself. My grandson (almost 19) was then able to help out so he was mixing up adhesive, fetching and carrying, handing over tiles, etc., the sort of more menial tasks which slow the qualified tradesman down, plus they worked longer days so it only took two days. This was all explained to the customer who is still insisting that because it took less time he's not paying.

ceredigion

Your sons first mistake was giving a price AND a guesstimate of days.
If a customer of mine wants a price , that's fine by me I will give them a price. IF im on day rate , I will give them an estimate of how many days I think it will take . But they cant have it both ways. Its either one or the other. Contrary to common belief , the client is always better off if im on day rate as they are carrying the risk and ultimately get it for the lowest possible rate.

TomsMom

ceredigion wrote: »

Your sons first mistake was giving a price AND a guesstimate of days.
If a customer of mine wants a price , that's fine by me I will give them a price. IF im on day rate , I will give them an estimate of how many days I think it will take . But they cant have it both ways. Its either one or the other. Contrary to common belief , the client is always better off if im on day rate as they are carrying the risk and ultimately get it for the lowest possible rate.

He was trying to be helpful. I think the work was being done in holiday accommodation (the customer runs a B&B and self catering units) not their own residence, so he was probably trying to give the customer an idea of how long that unit would be unavailable. Looks like it backfired .

F_Bear

the customer sounds a jerk and i feel for your lad.

id be tempted to give this guy a ring..........http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/330334/Gangland-boss-Shaun-Smith-reveals-violent-secrets-of-debt-collecting

or

(the customer runs a B&B and self catering units)

+

tripadvisor

=

karma

:-)

TomsMom

F_Bear wrote: »

the customer sounds a jerk and i feel for your lad.

id be tempted to give this guy a ring..........http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/330334/Gangland-boss-Shaun-Smith-reveals-violent-secrets-of-debt-collecting

or



+

tripadvisor

=

karma

:-)

:rotfl:

JohnB47

Doozergirl wrote: »

Had the same last week. Haven't paid the final bill on an extension, due months ago despite being happy. They emailed last week saying that the toilet blocks. We didn't do the plumbing!

We had guys redo our driveway and patch up our sewage inspection chamber at the same time. I guess you could say they didn't 'do' our plumbing but they certainly did cause it to block. I eventuality found that they'd left a blob of mortar stuck to the u bend which, over time caused a buildup and blockage.

ceredigion

JohnB47 wrote: »

We had guys redo our driveway and patch up our sewage inspection chamber at the same time. I guess you could say they didn't 'do' our plumbing but they certainly did cause it to block. I eventuality found that they'd left a blob of mortar stuck to the u bend which, over time caused a buildup and blockage.

strange never seen a inspection chamber with a u bend in it before :eek:

Hoof_Hearted

Why not get a friend to book the B&B for a week and while you are there strip out the kitchen....

TomsMom

Hoof_Hearted wrote: »

Why not get a friend to book the B&B for a week and while you are there strip out the kitchen....

I did mention to him about going back and taking up the floor tiles (that was the job) but he doesn't have a clause in his contract that allows him to enter a property and take back the goods. Tempting as the suggestion is he wont use bully boy tactics and would rather settle amicably if possible.

He's due to come round soon to get the ball rolling on the letter so I will discuss his contract with him because he needs to protect himself from this in the future. Work has slowed down round here and he can't afford to have non-paying customers .