Discuss Bad customers/clients who wont pay... in the Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

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nick182

Hi, (im not sure if this topic should be posted here or not but im AnGrY! and i need to VENT!) my apologies before hand... anyways,

as the title suggests.

basically, we are all out there trying our damn hardest to make a living and to make ends meet...

Ive just spend a tonne of cash to get qualified over the years. I have spent a lot of hard study time with moments of frustration and bad tempers. Ive failed a few exams and have studied even harder. I have spent loads to be possibly the best i can be in order to make a decent living..

Now im an honest/hardworking/passionate electrician who simply wants to make life a little easier and safe guard people from danger. BUT i am tired after clients who refuse to pay when u have opened ur wallet to pay for materials etc..

I want to know is there a way that this can be stopped? A way of blacklisting customers or clients who refuse to pay for the work done and to stop US hardworking electricians who struggle to make ends meet to make sure that no other electrician works for them? I dont want another fellow electrician to work for the same client as i have had who previously ripped me off!!!

Ive had enough of clients continually asking for a discount.. or to come down on price.. or simply refusing to pay a cent because the bill was not under a "£100"


Well i say NOMORE! Something has to be done in order to protect our livelyhoods not only from cowboys who undercut us but from clients who just simply wont pay...

We have spent far too much money and time to get this far to be pushed around by anybody that includes the clients...

We need people like you to stand up for what you believe in (our livelyhoods) and to have these customers/clients who refuse to pay BE BLACKLISTED! meaning that no hardworking decent electrician will work for these guys no matter what...

Electricians United... lets do something about this together. I need your help! and together we can make a stand.

Do you agree?

All comments welcome. good or bad
 
Just who the hell do these people think they are....I mean to not pay for services rendered is an outrage in my book!....I guess some "people" have had a morality bypass and think where just here to serve.........another one i have been warned of by various trades is the "i pay you cash" as a means of renegotiating the price after completion. Some of these characters i am sure know the rules as once installed basic services cant be removed as you render the "client" without the basic neccesities to live....i am sure they know this one and will use it to con, cheat and decieve.....
 
I've often thought about a site where tradesmen could go to rate their customers, in the same way as they can do with us eg myhammer/ratedpeople etc but the legalities would be scary I think.
The only thing someone can do with people like these is to put the word out in the wholesalers and with every other contractor you might come into contact with that they are the type of people who want £1 off the bill or simply refuse to pay at all.
I've been asked loads of times after submitting a price if there's something I can do on it... HELL NO MATE I'M CUTTING MY OWN THROAT AS IT IS because I really want/need the work.(Sorry for that shouty bit there but this subject winds me up no end)
If there was something we could do without contravening any defamation laws then that would be great until then spread the word at the wholesalers
 
A large tin of Nitromors poured over their car at about 4am, together with some expanding foam up the exhaust.
You may still be out of pocket, but I guarantee they won't be smiling :ihih:
 
Why not go the whole hog...and stick some of that 2 part syringe glue in the locks n all....:56:

Now you're talking.

I always thought the potato up the exhaust was a good one, they usually get about 50 yards down the road before it conks out, and it's a ba$tard to figure out what the problem is..
 
On a serious note here though......its about time that there was a site dedicated to "non payers" and conners for the edification of the whole public and buisinesses alike......:shuriken:
 
It might be an idea to start a place here..... a Bad Payers/A******* customers topic, with some strict rules, who are they, what was the job, why are they refusing to pay.
The only problem I could see is that it would get bogged down very quickly but it might be a help, maybe a bad payers by region topic.
Discuss please guys.
 
This isnt the first post regarding this and will not be the last.
1: Always take a deposit
2: Always ask them to sign an order ( specifying the work to carried out and agreed cost )
3:Also ask them to sign the work off when your finished
Then if it does go ---'s up at least you can take them to the small claims court ( £60.00 )
 
Slightly off topic.

When I did wedding photography I got a lot if work in the farming community. They would always pay in cash and I never had one argue, but after paying they would stand there with their hand held out wanting “luck money”. Once it got around that I always gave luck back I soon picked up more work. What they didn’t know was I had two different price lists. Even the tax office accepts the practice of “luck money” with farmers.
 
A written quote signed by the customer and 50% cash or cleared cheque up front if I do not know them, a signature for the work when completed, any greive the signed acceptance goes to my solicitor for £50.00 he takes over, all costs are met by the blagger they soon stump up faced with £280 costs
Pict
 
Go into the house and remove your materials, at the end of the day its your property which someone has effectivley stolen, failing that call their bluff and tell them the heavys will be around
 
Although this does not apply to domestic, you do have a level of protection the late payements act in commercial business although still a ball ache.

http://www.bis.gov.uk/files/file37581.pdf

I used to work for one of the biggest chemical companies in the world. For small works they would use local companies. God knows how many they put out of business with their standard terms of trading, 90 days from the date of final invoice! Even big companies would run a mile from them.

I worked for a while in the planning department, the number of times I was told to $od off was unbelievable. To save a bit of interest with making late payments it cost them a fortune, as they had to pay top whack for everything.

I used to send hours on the phone to our buying department, we need XXXX, well order it and we’ll sort the rest. Oh no you won’t it’s letter of credit then the parts will be sent, otherwise forget it! I had every sympathy for the suppliers, it got to the stage that they were holding us to ransom and I don’t blame them. No cash, no goods!

The last company I worked for had a slightly more pragmatic view of things. Again international but with local roots. I needed a tripping relay for an OCB. The buying department spent a week looking for something I’d told them was obsolete, they came back with the “next generation” relay for £650. I made a quick phone call to a local electrical salvagers and got the exact replacement for £75 after a bit of haggling. BUT it had to be cash on the nail! I was sent off in my own car with £75 in my pocket so the salvager didn’t know the company I worked for. The company was happy and so was I with £25 beer money in my pocket, I’d known the salvager for years!
 
Go into the house and remove your materials, at the end of the day its your property which someone has effectivley stolen

That is only legally possible if you have inserted a 'retention of title' clause into your contract, and the customer has signed it.
It is also debatable if this would even be applicable as your materials will have become part of the fabric of the building. 'Retention of title' is normally best invoked when you are supplying tangible goods that are then sold on. But even then its gets complicated by you having to prove they are actually the goods you supplied.

Given that credit is now so hard to get hold of, its always worth mentioning that if they do get taken to court and the case goes against them, it will impact on their ability to get any sort of cheap credit for a good while. However, if at the end of the day they plead poverty and offer something like a fiver a week, there not really much you can do at all, as the court is likely to accept that as being OK :cry_smile:
 
A large tin of Nitromors poured over their car at about 4am, together with some expanding foam up the exhaust.
You may still be out of pocket, but I guarantee they won't be smiling :ihih:

dnt use nitromors it only damages paint and not glass . you should use acid it damages glass as well makes a nice mess .:83:
 
A large tin of Nitromors poured over their car at about 4am, together with some expanding foam up the exhaust.
You may still be out of pocket, but I guarantee they won't be smiling :ihih:

Did that some time back to someone... with one of the long-nozzle pro foam guns, and shoved a bit of 10mm microbore in for good measure.
It would start and idle lovely.... but try and drive it.... heehee!

Simon.
 
Did that some time back to someone... with one of the long-nozzle pro foam guns, and shoved a bit of 10mm microbore in for good measure.
It would start and idle lovely.... but try and drive it.... heehee!

Simon.

I like that! Now is it the micro bore first and then the foam around it?

15mm is better for a normal motorist, it will let them pull off before choking the exhaust. Try and accelerate and then your bu**ered!

Mind you with some of the little boy racers around here 22mm would be better, give them a bit more rope.
  • Open car
  • Sit in car
  • Switch on boom box
  • Start engine
  • Rev the bo%%cks off it
  • Reverse and try to pull a doughnut in the road
  • Foot hard down and head to a blind junction
With enough back pressure the exhaust will explode! (With any luck).

I wonder how I know about that?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Another good one is if they’ve got a V6 or V8 with genuine twin exhausts, you choke down just one side! Talk about it running like a bag of bolts!
 

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