Final Demand on dead beats

[One Tough Pressure 580]

Does anyone have a well written letter that they would like to share, to advise dead beats that it is now time to pay in full or get slammed? I have a few ideas to write my own, but would like to see what others may have.

If they are not paid up by the end of this month, I will suspend service. It has gotten to the point that I do not care if I lose the account as they have not been paying the bill. End of the month will be 90 days on the oldest invoice, and they will owe me for 4 months at this time.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

http://writinghelp-central.com/sample-letters.html

There might be something here....

[One Tough Pressure 580]

Thanks for the link Beth, they have one that I can make work. Lots of other cool samples as well.

[Ron Musgraves 240]

Alan, I'm not asking the name of the customer just the type. Is the customer a 500 company or a small mom and pop. is it res or commercial.

I can help if i knew the details. I can offer some advice. are you planning keeping the customer? do you just want the money?

call me if you want to discuss.

[Russ Johnson 141]

Dunn & Bradstreet will send a demand for payment on their letterhead for $15.00. For businesses, getting on D&B's bad side ain't good.

[One Tough Pressure 580]

Alan, I'm not asking the name of the customer just the type. Is the customer a 500 company or a small mom and pop. is it res or commercial.

I can help if i knew the details. I can offer some advice. are you planning keeping the customer? do you just want the money?

call me if you want to discuss.

It is the owner of a commercial center. If they would pay, then I want to keep them, but working for free in good faith has gotten very old.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Impose a lien on their property or a mechanics lien and send them a letter of the current charges plus late fees and a copy of the lien letter. (If your state laws permit of course). If you are allowed to give a time of expectancy before this goes to court, fill that in as well. This puts a time constraint on it. (dead beat call to action)

Rod~

[Henry B. 4]

Do you have the standard payment due upon completion of service along with the usual non payment process on your invoices? I've got collection costs, attorneys fees and all kinds of legal stuff on mine that have worked in my favor a couple of times in the past. I've only had I think 8 customers try to avoid payment over the years but I've always won in the end. I can send you a copy of mine but it's only good in Maryland.

Here is the legal wording that is on my invoices. My accountant/part time lawyer came up with this and it helps a little bit on the really over due bills. This is for Maryland though and I'm sure each state has different laws.

Payment due upon receipt

(late fee will be assessed after 30 days)

Past Dues, or any part thereof, including prior Service Charges, are subject to a 2% per month (24% per annum) Service Charge. Service Charges are computed on an average daily balance. Collection costs and/or reasonable attorney’s fees are the responsibility of the customer/client. All payments received are applied in the order of: collection costs, attorney’s fees, service charges, and past due amounts. Any remaining funds are then applied to current amounts due.

I also have a collection company I can refer you if you need one. They operate much differently from the usual ones. It's normally 5-10% instead of 50%

We also make notes of every phone call we make on our copy of the invoice along with times, dates and what was discussed and attach any email or written corrospondence to the invoices.

We always make sure our clients are happy with the service we provided before leaving the job and, we always call our clients two weeks after doing a job to "follow up" on the service, it also acts as a reminder for the client to pay us, but we don't actually say that.

[Ron Musgraves 240]

Now we are getting somewhere, retail center,industrial, whatever.

The tenents are on triple net. this means that they are the ones paying you. Not management or owner of the center unless the center is vacant. I will assume its not.

The management company has a license to collect rent and cam charges. they must distribute the monies collected. asked the tenents if they have assesed for your cleaning service. I'll bet they have because its in there annual budget.

if and when you go to court you had better have the original contract and a sign off everytime you serviced the location.

Keep in mind that you can take anyone to small claims. winning a service is very difficult. Keep in mind if you dont win you could pay there attourney fees. That could be a grand. Yes i lost once, thats why i was telling you to call me so i could explain some thiings i have learn and i now know as amo for people that try to cheat you just based on that they know they can.

its not uncommon for people to go thru one contractor right to another. I have a storie about taking one guy to court with five other contractors. he was not paying any of us. we won that one. 28,000

Bottom line is they are licensed thru the california board of realtors. they have laws to follow. they hate if you talk with tenents. there are many others. to many to follow up and i still would need more info from you to apply all i have learn in your specific matter.

[One Tough Pressure 580]

All good info here.

A few problems that arise for me is that I do not have a signed voucher when the work was completed as it is done in the middle of the night when nobody is there to sign.

There is no property management company as it is run by the owner so he is the one to pay me.

There is a manger onsite that is a tenant but he is only there to be a liason. He does nto handle money or anything else. He is just a middle man for the owner who gets a break on his rent.

The tenants are on triple net and they pay the owner directly.

I have a signed contract but it does not state what the punishment is for late payment as I never had a problem prior to this. It does say "This invoice is now due and payable"

I will call them on Monday and inquire to where the money is and see what they have to say. I will also inform them that if not paid by the end of the month that they will no longer recoeve service. That will be followed up my certified mail.

Lets see how it goes.

[Ron Musgraves 240]

The tenants are on triple net and they pay the owner directly.

Now you have a better case, He is bound by even stricter laws. Most landlords want a third person doing this because now they may have a conflict.

The cam monies are not theres. it he tenents money. the tenant is in what some might call and association. if the landlord be the owner or mang. is mishandling funds its a crime. the cam charges do not belong to him.

I realize some of you don't understand this and think i'm crazy because your saying to yourself this guy owns the building. he has a tenant agreement to colloect the cam and pay the vendors acordingly.

You have him Alan, get him to admit any excuse other than you did a poor job. No charge will except any other excuse except to award you your money.

Its that simple

Henry B.

Quote:

Isn't it illegal to record a conversation in most states without consent? If it is in your area the tape will usually not be allowed in court. That's why most companies have a recording saying this call is being recorded for "training" purposes. Yeh, sure it is..lol

Chances are if you ask to record the conversation, they will say no and probably hang up. You also have to ask them if you can record it, on tape as soon as you start recording. Anything said before you ask is probably going to be inadmissable in court.

Henry in my state you can record and single converstation. I cannot record a group call without notifying the partys.

will the calls be admissable in a court room. I also learned the hard way. You need to address the person by full name and establish a date of the conversations prior to talking to the person. If this is not done the defense will have it thrown out because you cannot establish time or identity.

You are correct is some states it is very wrong to record a conversation and you could expect jail time.

Also you can still be taken to civil court and loose. I would not allow others to listen to your converations. if you use the conversations to harm the person in anway you could loose a civil judgement and pay. this also means you never provide the other party with your evidence or anyone else. you allow the court to distribute the recording with a gag order. so dont play the recording to them at anytime.

interesting how Mr. Alan may have this handled. Your Smarter than I thought.

Good Job........

[One Tough Pressure 580]

interesting how Mr. Alan may have this handled. Your Smarter than I thought.

Good Job........

Gee thanks, I think. How else may I have handled this and not done a good job? I want my money as it goes into several grand at the moment, just for services, let alone any fees that may arise down the road.

So let's get this straight Ron. The tenents are on triple net and pay the owner for CAM. The owner finds a company that does the work for less than he is collecting. What happens to the remainder of the money, legally? Does he put it in a seperate fund, does he get to pocket the rest, or should he only be charging exactly what the services cost him?

[Ron Musgraves 240]

Alan, The owner does not keep monies paid thru cam, the money is not his. it can only be used for cam. his part of triple net is rent and revenues above certain limits. he is allowed to charge a mang fee.

a landlord will only win a dispute agaist you by saying the service was poor. he cannot come with other excuses. if the monies not in cam he is responsible. period.

call me Alan its easier to explain details of how this works, when you fully understand it will help you collect with alittle more easy.

Thanks Ron

[PATZPW 14]

THIS SITE HAS COLLECTION LETTERS AND NOTICES WWW.FREEBUSINESSFORMS.COM

[One Tough Pressure 580]

Just a little update. Before I did anything else, I called the guy again and simply asked if he had mailed the check yet. He says he did and it was here the next day.

The owner has been in the hospital,(he's 81) and his son was supposed to take care of the bills, but did not. I know the owner is very sick and have no reason to doubt his story.

So everything is current and no drastic measures had to be taken. Thanks to everyone for the good info, I am sure it will come in handy down the road.