Freakin non paying customer dipwads!

If i have signed onto this forum with an attitude lately, I do apologize. Some of the things i have said I know are right, but the way i have said them may warrant an apology.... It is no excuse, but I am dealing with a drought that has not been seen in my area since the early 80's..........and a heat wave not seen for over a decade. The combination of the drought AND heat wave has not been seen since the Dust Bowl in the 30's. On top of it i have a customer that owes me over $200. We went to her home to give her the 5th final notice and apparently her home is abandoned. All furniture is in it. I posted a pic on here a while back of my Ferris on a steep slope. The neighbor has bad knees and paid my client part of my bill for me to mow 2 stripes down the side of his hill and 1 stripe along the back of his home because he has bad arthritis and can't negotiate the hill.... He told us today, that this woman abandoned her home over a month ago, left her dog in the home and animal control had to break into the home to rescue the dog. Her kids repeatedly threw empty beer bottles in the neighbors lawns late at night, etc etc.....NONE of this I knew. It wasn't even apparent....except the kids being slobs....but nothing really terrible. In a normal year this would piss me off, but I could deal with the loss....but Most of my lawns i have not nor have they needed mowing in 4 weeks. My client's lawns are so random I drive around on Tuesday night to ALL my clients to make a list of people that need mowing so i can make a consolidated list for Thursday and Friday so I'm not mowing a lawn on Tues, 2 on Wed, and 3 on Thursday, I can just throw all of them on 2 days to save money...... As i said in a normal year this $200+ bill would be rough, but not a OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! deal..............this year, this is pissing me off and there is nothing I can do....except waste money to track her down for court and then POSSIBLY get paid 3 months to a year from now........ Also, it's not so much a no payment or late....it's she abandoned her home, NEVER contacted me, even with lame "it's in the mail" excuses. She has disappeared and I cannot even bother her with invoices or call her since she changed the number........ It's exactly like finding out $200+ was stolen from your wallet.......... So, I apologize for smarta**comments.......even though I do think hitting a clients fence with your mower to keep it open while you pass through is the definition of being a douche, and trimming to the point the lawn dies around the home and recedes is total little league........other things I have said have been venting and I apologize for venting on fellow PROFESSIONALS. I want to go to a bar and get into a fight, just to get rid of the frustration of this stupid b**ch PTSD has never hit me so hard.

[Godslapper]

Lawn care business tips

Hey man I feel your pain. All this dry weather will pass. I'm in the same boat. After I sent out the bills for June I thought I'd be able to get ahead. lol. I still have about 6k out there. One SOB (apartment comm) only pays every 90 days WTF ! I have to work 3 months and pay all the bills out of my azz before I see a dime. What was I thinking ? Don't stress bro the rain will come.

[SECTLANDSCAPING]

Yeah that sucks. If you have a contract just keep billing him till its worth it to go to court.

I have a few myself. One is close to $600 because of a massive hedge trimming. I just keep cutting since I have a signed contract with late fees. I might cut them till it snows then trim the hedges again and go to court lol.

I have a guy that is acting like he lost 3 invoices. He only owes a little of a $100 bucks so theres not much I can do about him.

I did just receive a payment that was a month overdue from a lady.

Then I have a job that I did a week ago. The guy claims to have sent the check then tells me if you dont get it in a few days Ill pay by credit card. Huh? So you sent a check but want to charge it too?

I dropped a customer that I had for 3 years because he owed me for 4 cuts. Then I picked up his neighbor. I see this prick a few times a month.

Then I just bought a new $800 pressure washer, I have a sub that owes me $100, my tires were slashed, my stihl trimmer was stolen, another guy that works for me let someone borrow my 40 ft ladder, and im still waiting on the damn credit card company to give me $675 that a customer charged back in April. It just keeps coming.

In addition theres a smoking deal on a ZTR that I was thinking of picking up but I really dont know right now. This is always my slowest month of the year.

[Godslapper]

Originally Posted by SECTLANDSCAPING

Yeah that sucks. If you have a contract just keep billing him till its worth it to go to court.

I have a few myself. One is close to $600 because of a massive hedge trimming. I just keep cutting since I have a signed contract with late fees. I might cut them till it snows then trim the hedges again and go to court lol.

I have a guy that is acting like he lost 3 invoices. He only owes a little of a $100 bucks so theres not much I can do about him.

I did just receive a payment that was a month overdue from a lady.

Then I have a job that I did a week ago. The guy claims to have sent the check then tells me if you dont get it in a few days Ill pay by credit card. Huh? So you sent a check but want to charge it too?

I dropped a customer that I had for 3 years because he owed me for 4 cuts. Then I picked up his neighbor. I see this prick a few times a month.

Then I just bought a new $800 pressure washer, I have a sub that owes me $100, my tires were slashed, my stihl trimmer was stolen, another guy that works for me let someone borrow my 40 ft ladder, and im still waiting on the damn credit card company to give me $675 that a customer charged back in April. It just keeps coming.

In addition theres a smoking deal on a ZTR that I was thinking of picking up but I really dont know right now. This is always my slowest month of the year.

If I didn't know better I'd swear we had the same customers. lol.

[CHEESE2009]

Something has to change.

I used to be just as miserable as you guys, but once I started ONLY accepting post-dated checks for the ENTIRE season (in 3 payments), I never had a damn payment problem every again.

The only payment problems I have, are for the few clients I let pay cash, or the old way (monthly). Other than that, if I can't show up, I'm still making money ... it's a business.


You guys NEED to do this, I'm telling you. You will appreciate life more, and get your passion back to the point it was when you first started out!

[PVMS]

I have had a few that done the midnight flip on me, owing plenty. Early on let it get to me, but a good friend in the industry sat me down and taught me to expect it, as unfortunately it is part of running a business, and not entirely unusual. Still annoys me, but not to the point I let it get me down anymore.

Here in Melbourne we have had 3 years of the most fantastic cutting seasons, with ideal conditions. Before that though we went through a 14 year drought, which depleted our water catchments to such critical levels, that our state government had to rush and build a Salt water Desalanation plant that costed our city Billions of dollars to build, which is yet to pump a drop. Our water bills are skyrocketing to pay it off, and on top of that our government has just introduced a new Carbon Tax on all major relevant businesses who are duly passing on the costs to us. Almost everything is going up here atm.

Our water catchments are finally back up to almost full now, and least now we can wash the car and water the garden.

[Steve]

I am sorry to hear this.

In such situations, can a lien be put on the house? Even though you were working for a renter, you were still doing work on the property. Someone owns that house and the house has value. Is it worth looking into?

[SECTLANDSCAPING]

You have to have a writing contract with terms of the lien in the paperwork. This has to be real specific or its invalid. I would add that if it wasnt for $1000s in work its kinda pointless. My dad does renovations in FL and has been waiting years to receive money with liens. It only really works if there selling the property.

Jeff, Any luck with this yet?

Originally Posted by SECTLANDSCAPING

I have a few myself. One is close to $600 because of a massive hedge trimming. I just keep cutting since I have a signed contract with late fees. I might cut them till it snows then trim the hedges again and go to court lol.

This guy just sent $400 but didnt pay the late fees or the last 3 cuts.

Originally Posted by SECTLANDSCAPING

Then I have a job that I did a week ago. The guy claims to have sent the check then tells me if you dont get it in a few days Ill pay by credit card. Huh? So you sent a check but want to charge it too?

This guy called me yesterday and paid in cash. I thought you sent the check bud? The games people play.

In about 2 weeks the 75 days for the chargeback process will be over. If at that point I dont have my money I will be suing paypal and the customer.

[stevef1201]

All you people complaining about not getting paid, are just f ed up. YOU NEED TO GET A LAWYER!!!!!!! He will tell you to have a signed contract FOR EVERTHING!!!!! One time mowing, pressure washing flower bed weed pulling, everything. ( He probibly has these in his file drawer ). Then if you dont get paid you give the invoice to him. All states alow for reasonable attorny fees to collect, you get you money, he gets his. WIN WIN. STOP BEING A CHUMP.

[SECTLANDSCAPING]

Originally Posted by stevef1201

All you people complaining about not getting paid, are just f ed up. YOU NEED TO GET A LAWYER!!!!!!! He will tell you to have a signed contract FOR EVERTHING!!!!! One time mowing, pressure washing flower bed weed pulling, everything. ( He probibly has these in his file drawer ). Then if you dont get paid you give the invoice to him. All states alow for reasonable attorny fees to collect, you get you money, he gets his. WIN WIN. STOP BEING A CHUMP.

I have signed contracts for the people that owe me. This didnt mean squat to the credit card company that allowed the customer to do a charge back. I will be going to court if the credit card company doesnt reverse the charge back.

Another guy did pay most of what he owed. He paid enough to make it not worth going to court for. Its $75 to file and $75 to attach wages. Lawyers want $300 a hour, $50 a letter, $25 a phone call. So I rather deal with small claims myself.