How should I pay tradesmen over £5000?

moneyistooshorttomention

Davesnave wrote: »

As an aside, I have payment details in front of me from a company which has been trading for 40 years over the whole of the west country, and their payment instructions are for me to give their foreman either cash or a cheque on completion of the job.

Considering their bills are usually over £10k, there is no way I would do the former. I intend to challenge the cheque as the only alternative, as I have a credit card which would comfortably cover my likely bill and also give me Section 75 protection.

As things are going, however, the prospect of payment is some way off yet!

Credit cards Dave! CREDIT CARDS:rotfl:. I have recently swopped to using credit card as far as possible to pay for everything - and have yet to encounter one single workman here that will accept either a credit or debit card. They literally don't have those little machine things for them.

I guess their bill amounts are based on being paid by cheque - and I have now learnt there is a very "satisfied" smile/look that comes up on many faces when they see you've got some cash in your hand to pay them. I dont have the foggiest idea why mind.....

I can manage to pay by card in the local DIY "sheds" - but not the workmen themselves.

Davesnave

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Credit cards Dave! CREDIT CARDS:rotfl:. I have recently swopped to using credit card as far as possible to pay for everything - and have yet to encounter one single workman here that will accept either a credit or debit card. They literally don't have those little machine things for them.

It was a little joke. The company has produced some very unsatisfactory work, and isn't being paid any time soon, so they wouldn't be keen to to give me more consumer protection than I already have....

But leaving that aside, I wouldn't expect tradespersons working in my home to accept a credit card. Both small garages I use do, though, and so does the independent builders' merchant. An advantage to them is that they get paid quickly with minimal paperwork; the builders' merchant being particularly paper-happy otherwise, sending out reams of it by post.

Where it all falls down is that 50% of the time the garage hasn't a bill ready when I go to collect and the card machine frequently goes on the blink at the builders.....

onomatopoeia99

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Its very odd to have a workman demanding bank transfer as payment.

No workman has ever asked me for that. They've usually, quite obviously, expected a cheque from me. There are areas of the country where a substantial proportion of workmen want cash.....

But - bank transfer - nah! That's not something the ordinary person does imo and I've never paid anyone by bank transfer in my life - or heard of anyone else doing so. It's only cropped up, as far as I can recall, when it came to the legal executive doing the paperwork on buying current house using that. I've had a couple of firms over the years do a bank transfer to me.

Householders dont do bank transfers in my experience.

I'm a householder.

I've paid tradesmen by cash, cheque and bank transfer in the past. I've paid many other people by bank transfer. I think I've written one cheque in the last two years and had my most recent cheque book for well over a decade as I hardly ever use it. I know people - married, with kids, own home etc. - that don't have cheque books at all, some that have never had them.

Even my parents (combined age 161) use online banking and have managed to do BACS payments.

Mr.Generous

Cash is ok for small jobs, but who wants to have wadds at home, I can't pay my bills by cash, and would I want to? The days of going to the gas show room to pay, or the council tax office, well they are long over. I'm over 50 and have never done that. People pay online. individuals dont pay by cheque very often, some companies still do. If someone wanted to pay by cheque I'd accept it, but it is a pain. bank transfer is painless. Pay £1 in first and see if they get it if your worried.

Apodemus

Le_Kirk wrote: »

Why do some people (posters on this thread) stand in a bank for hours to pay in a cheque?

I visit the bank about four times a year to pay in a dividend cheque that I have never yet got around to automating. I don't think I have ever seen anyone else on my side of the counter! At least it is quick, but it's like the Marie Celeste and confirms to me that the days of in-person banking are numbered.

Keep_pedalling

I hate cheques, especially the flipping US $ check (sic) we were recently sent by Computerserve in Texas. The only way we can pay it in is to open a current account with a UK bank that will handle them as Nationwide will no longer touch them

In the US it seems the check is still king, as they refuse to pay in any other way.

Mnd

I have recently had garden landscaped, paid in stages as agreed on completion of each part, electrician, and window cleaner all paid by bank transfer.the only thing I do, as mentioned earlier by someone else is to make a token payment to check that I havnt made a mistake with account or sort code, and also the trader hasn't. .the landscaper did. When all checks out, I have no worries paying this way

moneyistooshorttomention

Think it's generally accepted it's feasible for "yer ordinary person in the street" to pay by bank transfer.

So much for a simple life - with a society that uses cash, cheques, debit cards, credit cards and bank transfers to pay:rotfl:

I can see a token £1 bank transfer first is a possible way to deal with bank transfers - but it's more hassle to do two bank transfers than one cheque. So - I'm the one who is "customer" - that phrase about whose interests come first (so businesses are based around doing what suits us) and will continue with cheques as far as possible for as long as possible.

Le_Kirk

Apodemus wrote: »

......it's like the Marie Celeste and confirms to me that the days of in-person banking are numbered.

.... and yet every time a bank threatens to close more branches there is huge outcry of anguish!

anto164

Sounds like the best way for you then is to pay is not at all... Best cancel the work and then get down to B&Q and buy the biggest tarpaulin you can buy and put it over the house. You can buy it on the credit card so that you get your protection...

Or... Why not do a bankers draft? It's basically cash which is on a cheque and there is no waiting about for clearing. Sure, it'll cost you a tenner or so to get it done, but it's easy.