Late pays! I hate these people.

Anyone have any tips for dealing with corporations and chains that like to drag out the billing process? Thanks for responding.

Leave a copy of the invoice at the store, mail a copy to Corp after the job is completed and include a copy with your monthly statement and always charge a finance charge to carry a balance.

Most all of my corporate accounts won't give up the fax to their corporate office. I've had to fax or mail them to the regional office to be passed on. I've given up on leaving at the location. It's about a 50/50 chance that they will not be turned in.

Do you have a DUN number? They have a collection service that you can you, only thing is, you won't have to worry about doing business with them ever again.

http://www.dnb.com/us

If you don't have a DUN number, it is free and good to have as a business (it's like your business's own social security number).

We leave a Exit Report that notes the invoice/statement number. That day I mail the bill with a return envelope.

Some large operations that we do business with take forever to pay and the price that I charge reflects this issue.

You could always do the ol' 2/10 net/30 thing.

2% discount withing ten days net 30 within 30-days.

They will take the discount and still pay at ? I just say that the job is net as we walk out the back door. Don't give a discount-you are just giving money away.

David

I agree with David.
I prefer to pay my suppliers when I pick up material, but one of them offers a 1% discount if a mail my payment within 10 days instead of cod, so he gets his check in a week and I save money...go figure

mmmmm Mailing the invoice with a post paid envelope sounds good. I have tried the 10% discount approach and have had the same late pay.With them having taken full advantage of the discount.
Is it the norm for you to accept 90 day pay as OK?
I have gotten stuck twice in 14 years once from the Chinese.(Imagine that) And once from a small pizza parlor.
Neither of wich I recouped, The chinese got amnesia and forgot the English they learned while attending college (at our expense)
and the pizza parlor i did manage to talk them into a Barder for free pies. Great if your in the neighborhood and hungry not so gret for paying the bills. Mtngoat

If you get, if don't already have one, a DUN number and then use Dunn & Bradstreets collection service, it will effect their credit rating as a business.

I forget how much percentage they take, but it really isn't much. They send out form letters and they have different levels of service, but even if they take 100%, at least you aren't leaving with them bragging to all their friends about the free job they got. Instead they will be explaining why they stiffed you, in Chinese or English.

I am contracted through a builder and will, every once in a while work off a work order, they take for ever to pay through a work order (currently waiting for $1,200 worth right now), where as if I use a AFP (application for payment), they pay about 3-weeks and sometimes sooner.

All the Supers, but the one they were talking about, told me about this one Super that will ask you to do something and after you are done and you go to bill or ask him to right up a work order, he burns you. You have to have a work order before work begins, otherwise they won't pay.

He then brags to all the other supers about how he got some free work done.

The office asked me to bid on an up coming job with him being the Super, I kicked up the bid price, and they asked why. I told them because of the extra garage. She told me that they were having troubles getting people to go out there anyways. So they took the bid.

LOL!! He is going to be a pain, but I'm going to make good money putting up with his B.S.

These are the three examples of collections they do... (copied from their site)


Contingent Collection

A series of letters and telephone calls by D&B Receivable Management Services on your behalf to recover your uncollected debts.

A serious process of collecting that gets attention and is likely to negatively impact their credit rating.

$15.00 Placement Fee***
PLUS a contingency fee of $35 or 28% whichever is greater.
Learn More
Contingent Collection

******************

DunsDemand Letter
View Sample Letter
A letter sent by D&B Receivable Management Services on your behalf requesting payment of an unpaid balance.

An excellent "wake-up" for delinquent accounts.

A 20-day hold before you can take further action is required.

Only $12.50
Learn More

DunsDemand Letter


*****************

DunsDemand Letter Series
Letter 1, Letter 2, Letter 3
A series of three letters of increasing urgency sent within a 30-day period by D&B Receivable Management Services on your behalf requesting payment of an unpaid balance.

An excellent method to convey the seriousness of the delinquency.

A 30-day hold before you can take further action is required.

Only $25.00
Learn More

DunsDemand Letter Series


**************

*** The minimum claim(s) must total $100 or greater. There is a $15.00 placement fee. A contingent fee is charged based on the dollars collected by Dun & Bradstreet Receivable Management Services. That fee is 28% of the amount recovered or $35, whichever is greater.

Write it off and move on !!!!

Regarding the return envelope. I use a cheap 3.5X6.5. I address with a ink stamp. I do not put postage on the envelope. I would say that 30 % use the return envelope. Over time I know who will use the envelope-chain operations will not.

David

Collections

I've recently signed up with a national collection company to track down some cleints that moved without paying for their services. Now this doesn't happen often but it ticks me off to see people basically steal from me like this. If anyone is interested in checking this out email me or let me know on this thread. The fees run $9-$15 per account I refer to them instead of the usual 50-60%.

If they are a real business, they probably have a Dunn and Bradstreet number, DUN.

Log onto their site and run a check on their name to see if anything pops up.

Also, a collection by Dunn and Bradstreet gets a business's attention more than any other one. Plus they know you mean business.

I used it on a cheap collection agency that was trying to collect on bogus $10 co-pay. I told them that they were taking time away from me attending to my business and that I was going to charge their client $500 for my time and inconvenience and the invoice would be noted as "services rendered."

If they didn't pay up I was going to use my collection service, "Dunn and Bradstreet." Never heard from them again.

Try a gun and a mask !!!!!

What I do, my bid states that any due past 30 days, will see an increase of 18%. Sometimes it works with the small businesses, but the big corporations do not care about this increase as it is very minimal in their budget.

Adam
AquaPowerclean

Adama, Since you are in California, I would assume that the 18% is per year and you are adding 1 1/2% per month, which by the way is the maximum allowable. Or are you adding 18% per month?

Prompt pay discounts sometimes work!