signed contract

Ok I have a question regarding a contract job that I did. I was for a Spring Cleanup. I did alot of work and it took me about 5 hours with another person. Before I did the job the customer (a new customer) signed a contract paper that I had. He told me that he would pay me when the job is over. After I finished I walked the yard with him and went over everything he told me to do. After 3 weeks he is refusing to pay me? For the first 3 weeks he kept saying the check is in the mail but he was lying. Today I finally got a hold of him and now he said that the job was done poorly and he isn't going to pay. Ok I have a signed contract saying he will pay me for my work. I told him and he said that the job was not up to par so he doesn't owe me a thing. Now what?? If I take him to small claims court is it going to cost me more than $300? Also I know an attorney is going to cost more than $300. Next time I get a signature and they will have to prepay. Do I chalk this one up to experience?

[CHEESE2009]

Lawn care business tips

Originally Posted by tomcat172002 I finally got a hold of him and now he said that the job was done poorly and he isn't going to pay. Give him back the debris. I would be furious with a customer like him. Every lawn service should have an agreement to never service these sort of customers. The cases must have before & after pictures to prove your word against the customer & an understanding with & between other services. I think I smell a website idea. Boycott these fools.

[turfmaster]

I had a similar experience with a new customer on a cleanup also.
First of all dummy me bought in to their B.S. that if I gave them a good deal on the cleanup they would reward me with the total mowing and fertilization for the season. Well they decided to mow and fertilize themselves. What a suprise!
Then they told me they would not pay me for the cleanup because they were not happy with the results. I was furious. My son and I loaded up 2 trailers of branches, sticks, leaves etc. from their property and guess what we did. Just what Breeze said we unloaded all that crap scattered it all over their front yard and driveway. The bum came running out his front door yelling and screaming in his foreign language and we just kept throwing the stuff and then I yelled back at him WELCOME TO AMERICA A-S-S HOLE. I have to say even though I lost about $300. bucks it felt good to do that.

[Steve]

Tom,

I am glad you made this post. Don't fret. You can get this resolved and if you follow these steps. You will also feel empowered.

How to get deadbeat customers to pay?

There are two pages on that post with sample letters to send. Keep us posted on what you are doing to resolve this and how it works out. Your story will help inspire others who find themselves in a rough spot.

Remember you can get this resolved!!

Originally Posted by tomcat172002

After I finished I walked the yard with him and went over everything he told me to do. After 3 weeks he is refusing to pay me? For the first 3 weeks he kept saying the check is in the mail but he was lying. Today I finally got a hold of him and now he said that the job was done poorly and he isn't going to pay.

I think he has had his opportunity to tell you he is not satisfied with the job you did. Why does he wait for 3 weeks?

Originally Posted by tomcat172002

Ok I have a signed contract saying he will pay me for my work. I told him and he said that the job was not up to par so he doesn't owe me a thing. Now what?? If I take him to small claims court is it going to cost me more than $300? Also I know an attorney is going to cost more than $300. Next time I get a signature and they will have to prepay. Do I chalk this one up to experience?

I believe that contract would indicate he needs to pay and if he disagrees he needs to dispute that in small claims court to get his money back. Just make sure that he understands that you will sue him in small claims court for:

-Original $300
-All court costs and filing fees,
-All service fees (to have papers delivered),
-Hourly wages for any and all time you spend messing with the papers and in court because of him,
-anything else you can think of. I think this could easily come up to $500+

In my opinion you can not allow him to get away with it. Its the principal. You need to check with you local courts but in Missouri you could win that case hands down and all the above costs could be included in the judgment. Then you could garnish his wages and make him pay for an additional "service fee" to have the garnishment served to his employer.

Here is why I think you can win this case easily:

-He signed a contract saying he would pay you when the job was completed.
-He had every opportunity to tell you he is not satisfied with the job you did when you walked the grounds with him. Try to remember if he made any statements, positive or negative regarding your workmanship, at the time he walked the grounds with you.
-You spoke with him several times during 3 weeks and he did not express his dissatisfaction with the workmanship. Just make sure you document the # of times you spoke with him during this time period.
-During the 3 weeks he would promise to pay you, or rather that he had just paid you. To me this is an indication that he is lying to you and is now using this as a way to get out from under his responsibility.

Thanks for the posts on this one. I am really P.O. about this. I usually don't have people sign contracts but on this one I did for the first time. Now look how it turns out. I did talk to some friends and they told me that he has 30 days to pay. So I am still within the 30 days. I did ask him when he walked the yard with me why he said I did a good job?? He just said he really wasn't paying attention to the details. He cannot afford to pay so after saying the check is in the mail now for 3 weeks he has to come up with something else. Thats exactly what I told him over the phone. He kept saying that my work was no where near $300 worth what did I think I should really be paid. I told him $300 was a bargin and that he aggreed to it period, I wouldn't budge. I am just going to cool down for now and give it about a week or so. I got this guy out of the church bulliten too go figure? I'll let you know what happens.

[Steve]

You know, this brings up another thing to consider. Maybe in the future you could have something where you have the customer sign off that the jobs was finished and completed to their satisfaction and have them sign it on the spot. Or maybe they could initial the contract that you hold to affirm it.

That could help in the future. Keep us posted on how this turns out.

[turfmaster]

Originally Posted by Steve

You know, this brings up another thing to consider. Maybe in the future you could have something where you have the customer sign off that the jobs was finished and completed to their satisfaction and have them sign it on the spot. Or maybe they could initial the contract that you hold to affirm it.

That could help in the future. Keep us posted on how this turns out.

In all my years in the biz I have yet to have a signed contract for residential customers only commercial. With my first bad experience in this regard I am thinking that maybe I should have a checklist or a more detailed description of the work the customer is asking us to do and have them sign it.

Thanks for the podcast Steve it was great. I do have a question one of my customers is an attorney and he told me this would be a slam dunk. No questions asked. Its just a matter of doing all the paperwork. I am first going to send him a letter stating that I will go to small claims court. But someone had told me that I might take it to a collections agent. That would ruin his credit. What should I do threaten small claims or a collections agency?

[majoe7]

Originally Posted by tomcat172002

But someone had told me that I might take it to a collections agent. That would ruin his credit. What should I do threaten small claims or a collections agency?

If you did either, both would be a ding on his credit report.

A judgement would hurt more.