We have a list at work of people we don't do work for anymore due to not paying. They call I ask their name and search the list...its a pretty short list, but its still one of those things that happens. We changed our policies at the beginning of the year where the customer pays for the service at time of service no excuses...We also do a few billing customers for rental properties that we simply send out the invoice and the customers come in and pay, send us a check, or call and pay over the phone. Our rental properties always pay on time, occasionally they get busy and forget but they come in later on that week and pay...they understand how it works. Its the single customers who want everything for nothing, want you to fix something right then because all of a sudden its an emergency but yet its been broken for months LOL. They whine and cry about the repairs, and service call all the time. The town I live in is full of people who want handouts...So policies were changed, they either pay before we leave or the service isn't performed. No parts are ordered or installed until paid for now either. Last year we had $10k in parts that were ordered and never paid for...yet the customers call and ask why we haven't installed the parts, repaired their equipment, etc....well let's see have you paid for the part? No, did you pay when we came out for the service call? No....then why would we come out and install a $300 part, why would we even order that part if you haven't paid for it. Yep payment required at time of service is a necessity in today's society. There's a red list on the wall at the shop we look at that list to see who we've had issues with in the past. Stuff that is brought to the shop for repair is held until the service/repair bill is paid. Until then its the property of the business. Nope we don't need every customer, the customer isn't always right contrary to popular belief LOL. I've had a couple cases where the customer just plain forgot to come in and pay, a simple phone call was all it took and they were very apologetic. However, not every customer is like that, many seem to think its a great idea to try and argue about the price of the service call and/or parts. The ones I love are the ones that come in and say well I can get the part from xxx place for cheaper. I say that's perfectly fine but we will not install it or work on your equipment as a result. They also don't stop and think that many times there's no warranty on those parts, plus they have to pay shipping/handling charges, or they have to drive 30+ miles one way to pick up the part....so now how's that saving $15 helping you LOL. Those are the customers we say have a nice day bye bye to. We don't have time for people like that.
"While the tears are still wet.." Fantastic, that's in the bank. Kinda off topic but another quote I liked from my self-employed days is "Fast, Good, Cheap... You can pick two." It usually shuts the hagglers up.
As a software engineer, I am currently employed to a company, so I don't have to worry about this so much, but a few years ago, when I was doing freelance engineering work, including both systems and software, I tended to take any money (as you put it) while the tears were still dripping. I did a lot of work for schools and they're absolute fuckers for paying. They used to use lines like "don't worry, we'll send you a cheque", "no problem, send us your bank details" only to not actually do anything. I found many of them very very flakey. Eventually, there was one particular school who simply refused to pay for a piece of work I had done. I was owed in the region of £2500 (I charged £500 a week, 5x8 hour days) by the time I was finished. A few months after I had given up trying to get paid, their servers fell foul to an attack from a massive DDos attack by one (or more) of their students. They lacked both the experience or expertise to track down where the tool was being deployed, which workstations, which servers were affected, and how to prevent data loss or damage. Their IT guys only idea was to shutdown the ThinClient servers which would have resulted in several people losing large amounts of work, but not actually fixing the problem because the tools were deployed from none of the ThinClient's. They phoned me and begged me to help them. I told them I would be unable to help them unless they wired me the entire sum from the previous job AND £2000 deposit for this job, which I would refund based on any overcharging. They politely declined, only to phone back an hour later begging for my bank details. Shit was really hitting the fan at this point. They wired me the money within the hour and I was there until midnight fixing their problems (I arrived at about 3 in the afternoon). I agreed to charge them 1200 for the second job, refunding them 800 in the process. Their finance director told me that I had been a lot more charitable to them, than they had to me. Don't shit on the people who feed you.
+InvisibleYetVisible It's surprising how much the money can leverage them. That was a great way to get your money back and get paid for the job. Granted it may not always end up that way, but it just goes to show you how risking integrity over a single payment just isn't going to work.
You sound like a moron. A lot of IT professionals have failed to learn from the construction industry. Contract with an outline of payment periods. After the first day if you don't pay me I walk away, simple.
MetusBatmanV4 To be honest, when time is of the essence, it's hard to get a contract in place man. Think about this, if I knock up a contract with a solicitor and it takes 3 days? I can't work that entire time?
MetusBatmanV4 Well I moved away from that sector and now work for a company. It's easier. The money works out better, the hours are easier and life is far more stable. As for having contracts written up, in local schools, getting a contract signed isn't as easy as you think. Many have to go through governors, financeers etc. These things can't wait. Construction work is probably done outside of term time when it's easier to get that stuff sorted. Thanks for calling me a moron though, really necessary lol.
I love the art of collections, I spent my entire career doing so! You hit much of it spot on! My only comment would be to advise forming a relationship with the accounts payable person. These folks who do accounting have great pride in keeping things in order. If they know you and your priorities then you move up the food chain when collecting. Thank you for all you do! Rich
My favourite is when they pay you little money and they "presume" you will do much more than you are willing to do. Then when you don't want to do "everything" for them they are shocked, digusted and insulted.
In computer repair shop we would always have the customer fill out and read a document will not store your computer for more then 30days. And after the its our property. 😇 oh yeah people Paid.
+Xmod's Gaming (Xmods) This is exactly what a company I used to work in does. Also they put in stuff like "If the authorities asks about your equipment, they WILL get it", "We do not guarantee data loss" etc. It is all writing off any responsibilities most customers THINK should apply but really doesn't.
We ALWAYS have them sign contracts. It's important because of data reasons as well as payments. We work out of Aberdeen but have many Baltimore clients.
I guess it's different in the US but in the UK it's very easy to take someone to court. You do it over the internet and it costs you nothing if you win, although there is an up-front cost associated. I've never had to use it but I hear it works quite well.
I had a client that would write different amount on the checks. The amount on the right would be correct. but the handwritten portion would be for a lower dollar amount. Then they would argue with me that the bank will give me the higher value. They became a 'fired' client.
I live in Dundalk, and my main market is Baltimore as a DJ(although I get more work in the DC area). It's interesting that I type certain things into TH-cam, and your videos come up as a suggestion. This is the 4th video of yours I have watched. Anyway, I always have a signed agreement with my clients as a Wedding and Party DJ, and I always require 40% to 50% non refundable deposit to book. The balance payment is due at the event in cash, or DUE 10 days prior via check. Anyway, I have one corporate client I did a last minute open house event for at a apartment complex. They booked me the day before the event. They did not have enough time to cut me a check from corporate, and have it ready at the event. Now I am waiting for them to pay me. I have contacted them twice asking if the check has been mailed out with no response other than an apology for it taking long. It's been almost 30 days, and still no check. I'm not use to invoicing and waiting for a payment after the event. I'm getting worried that they may not bother paying me. I learned my lesson on this one though...ALWAYS TAKE PAYMENT AT THE EVENT, OR BEFORE HAND, OR DON'T BOTHER DOING THE WORK.
Same here buddy. I am a fine artist, and I had an informal client wanting quick work with short notice. The simp is ghosting me now. Always a formal procedure including advance payments is a must! #lessonlearnt
In my country you ask for them to pay 30% of money at the start which is called _advance_ and the rest after you finished the website for example. If they don't pay you don't give them the website and they've already lost 30% of the cost. You will find out that out of 20 people who want you to make their website only 1 wants to pay decently.
+Theodor Berza I had a customer some 10 years ago who decided he would only pay me 50% of the agreed price once I was done with their homepage. So I ftp'd into the site and took down 50% of the site. Then he went apeshit and told me he would not pay me anything, so I took down the rest, didn't restore their old homepage either and told then to F-off.
Hey man I really appreciate the video. I have a client that won't pay me and I really like what you said about letting them know that you're just not going to work for them anymore, it's perfectly fine if they don't want to pay and all that but you will no longer be a contact
Didn't even know this was Eli the computer guy until 11 minutes in he mentions people say "eli..." - Then I realized oh shit, this sounds exactly like the influential guy Louis Rossman is always talking about!
I have my clients fill an order form out online from our website prior to service with them agreeing to our terms with payment required to submit the order. That takes care of most issues payment wise. If an invoiced client doesn't pay you always have small claims court.
That's really good advice. If you just remember that the tech industry has insufficient supply for the demand in services for the most part, then you can construct that into leverage to make the costumers pay, since walking away from them will hurt them more than you.
More often than not, they'll need you again. I've had to deny service to clients stating they were on "credit hold". I'll need a check before I start any new work. I took the check, walked out, and never took their call again.
Paperwork is great, still every consultant has gone through this. Best to explain clearly your rates BEFORE you do the job. This is my hourly rate, there are no terms, everything is COD, just like most in the service area, plumbers, electricians, etc.
Have you seen the videos where he tells us there’s no money in IT? Or have you seen his “ccna” roll of toilet paper? Lol I’m not ragging on you, I just don’t see him as inspirational. Maybe informative... and refreshingly real ?... I don’t agree with his views on money regarding IT. I think there’s plenty of money and jobs in this field
I use a contract that say. "If service on speciffied ecuiptment is not paid." I can then take the equiptment with me. Then i can sell it 15 days later to cover the bill they did not pay. So if i do a server work (somehting i normaly dont do.) lets say i give them a bill on 200$ and they tell me i'm not going to take that. Then i will say okay. You've signed the contrct so im gona go unplugg your server and take it with me. If you dont pay within 15 days. i will sell the server and all the information on it. Easy picey :P
I have a client that not only refuses to pay on a regular basis, but when they do pay they only pay half. I bill them on a monthly basis and sometimes they would put payments off for two months, when I suspend their account and tell them to pay both invoices they only pay one invoice. It's a big company and i charge them way below the industry norm but they still seem to think that they dont have to pay me. What really grinds my gears is that they do not communicate, after a hundred mails they will send me half of the payment without any explanations. At the end of the day you are in the business of making money and if you waste your time with non paying clients you will not have time for potentially good paying clients.
Ditch that client. They are doing it because they can get away with it. Another option is to hire a P/T Accounts Receivable person to take care of it. I'm in the process of setting up a third-party bookkeeping business and A/R will be one of the services I plan to make available in due time.
Funny thing, I've doing same thing for last 19 years and I thought it was me only ;) Now I keep like 5-6 bigger clients and if something cool is out there for me to do, I'll get rid the last one form the list, either in a nice way or just will say goodby if there ware issues before.
I don't extend credit (net terms) until a relationship is established. Until I have a few jobs paid in a timely matter, customers are on a held deposit basis.
The same is true in design and architecture- and never do work for family because they will want to play both cards; family with discounts and hard line business to beat down fees.
this is what we do in Australia. if they don't pay, you sabotage them and leave them with gaping holes in their security and architecture, so you get money out of them later no matter what. You can't lie down and die. Your work is valuable if you're not a burger flipper. It's hurting everyone else in your industry.
Great advice! I have found this to be so true! Some times I would like to take Julio Nunez advice. :-) It's not always possible they may have a bigger gang then yours! :-)
@Eli the Computer Guy What if your system crashes tomorrow? That sounded like a threat to me!!! And what if the system did crash! Wouldn't the client think you may have something to do with it?
Ya but it would be pretty hard to prove that if he actually didn't do it. For most companys operating on the internet if their systems go down they can't do business. Active directory goes down, cant do business. For companys like this going down isn't really an option
We have a list at work of people we don't do work for anymore due to not paying. They call I ask their name and search the list...its a pretty short list, but its still one of those things that happens.
We changed our policies at the beginning of the year where the customer pays for the service at time of service no excuses...We also do a few billing customers for rental properties that we simply send out the invoice and the customers come in and pay, send us a check, or call and pay over the phone. Our rental properties always pay on time, occasionally they get busy and forget but they come in later on that week and pay...they understand how it works. Its the single customers who want everything for nothing, want you to fix something right then because all of a sudden its an emergency but yet its been broken for months LOL. They whine and cry about the repairs, and service call all the time. The town I live in is full of people who want handouts...So policies were changed, they either pay before we leave or the service isn't performed. No parts are ordered or installed until paid for now either. Last year we had $10k in parts that were ordered and never paid for...yet the customers call and ask why we haven't installed the parts, repaired their equipment, etc....well let's see have you paid for the part? No, did you pay when we came out for the service call? No....then why would we come out and install a $300 part, why would we even order that part if you haven't paid for it.
Yep payment required at time of service is a necessity in today's society.
There's a red list on the wall at the shop we look at that list to see who we've had issues with in the past. Stuff that is brought to the shop for repair is held until the service/repair bill is paid. Until then its the property of the business.
Nope we don't need every customer, the customer isn't always right contrary to popular belief LOL.
I've had a couple cases where the customer just plain forgot to come in and pay, a simple phone call was all it took and they were very apologetic. However, not every customer is like that, many seem to think its a great idea to try and argue about the price of the service call and/or parts. The ones I love are the ones that come in and say well I can get the part from xxx place for cheaper. I say that's perfectly fine but we will not install it or work on your equipment as a result. They also don't stop and think that many times there's no warranty on those parts, plus they have to pay shipping/handling charges, or they have to drive 30+ miles one way to pick up the part....so now how's that saving $15 helping you LOL. Those are the customers we say have a nice day bye bye to. We don't have time for people like that.
"While the tears are still wet.." Fantastic, that's in the bank. Kinda off topic but another quote I liked from my self-employed days is "Fast, Good, Cheap... You can pick two." It usually shuts the hagglers up.
A tear can only be wet, moron. The same way a drop of water can only be wet, moron. The moment they stop being wet they are no longer tears, moron.
Frozen tears
+MetusBatmanV4 What the fuck is wrong with you?
@@plowed4weeks I don't thing he is English speaker? He learned the English words but not the idiomatic expressions?
As a software engineer, I am currently employed to a company, so I don't have to worry about this so much, but a few years ago, when I was doing freelance engineering work, including both systems and software, I tended to take any money (as you put it) while the tears were still dripping. I did a lot of work for schools and they're absolute fuckers for paying. They used to use lines like "don't worry, we'll send you a cheque", "no problem, send us your bank details" only to not actually do anything. I found many of them very very flakey. Eventually, there was one particular school who simply refused to pay for a piece of work I had done. I was owed in the region of £2500 (I charged £500 a week, 5x8 hour days) by the time I was finished.
A few months after I had given up trying to get paid, their servers fell foul to an attack from a massive DDos attack by one (or more) of their students. They lacked both the experience or expertise to track down where the tool was being deployed, which workstations, which servers were affected, and how to prevent data loss or damage. Their IT guys only idea was to shutdown the ThinClient servers which would have resulted in several people losing large amounts of work, but not actually fixing the problem because the tools were deployed from none of the ThinClient's.
They phoned me and begged me to help them. I told them I would be unable to help them unless they wired me the entire sum from the previous job AND £2000 deposit for this job, which I would refund based on any overcharging. They politely declined, only to phone back an hour later begging for my bank details. Shit was really hitting the fan at this point. They wired me the money within the hour and I was there until midnight fixing their problems (I arrived at about 3 in the afternoon). I agreed to charge them 1200 for the second job, refunding them 800 in the process. Their finance director told me that I had been a lot more charitable to them, than they had to me.
Don't shit on the people who feed you.
+InvisibleYetVisible It's surprising how much the money can leverage them. That was a great way to get your money back and get paid for the job. Granted it may not always end up that way, but it just goes to show you how risking integrity over a single payment just isn't going to work.
Looooooool
You sound like a moron. A lot of IT professionals have failed to learn from the construction industry. Contract with an outline of payment periods. After the first day if you don't pay me I walk away, simple.
MetusBatmanV4 To be honest, when time is of the essence, it's hard to get a contract in place man. Think about this, if I knock up a contract with a solicitor and it takes 3 days? I can't work that entire time?
MetusBatmanV4 Well I moved away from that sector and now work for a company. It's easier. The money works out better, the hours are easier and life is far more stable. As for having contracts written up, in local schools, getting a contract signed isn't as easy as you think. Many have to go through governors, financeers etc. These things can't wait. Construction work is probably done outside of term time when it's easier to get that stuff sorted. Thanks for calling me a moron though, really necessary lol.
“Collect the money when tears are still wet” I remember watching this the day you released it and it’s stuck with me ever since.
I love the art of collections, I spent my entire career doing so! You hit much of it spot on! My only comment would be to advise forming a relationship with the accounts payable person. These folks who do accounting have great pride in keeping things in order. If they know you and your priorities then you move up the food chain when collecting.
Thank you for all you do!
Rich
My favorite comment is "My attorney doesn't cost this much!"....well get your attorney to fix it next time.
My favourite is when they pay you little money and they "presume" you will do much more than you are willing to do. Then when you don't want to do "everything" for them they are shocked, digusted and insulted.
In computer repair shop we would always have the customer fill out and read a document will not store your computer for more then 30days. And after the its our property. 😇 oh yeah people Paid.
+Xmod's Gaming (Xmods)
This is exactly what a company I used to work in does. Also they put in stuff like "If the authorities asks about your equipment, they WILL get it", "We do not guarantee data loss" etc.
It is all writing off any responsibilities most customers THINK should apply but really doesn't.
Be like The Witcher. Make them pay you.
We ALWAYS have them sign contracts. It's important because of data reasons as well as payments.
We work out of Aberdeen but have many Baltimore clients.
I guess it's different in the US but in the UK it's very easy to take someone to court. You do it over the internet and it costs you nothing if you win, although there is an up-front cost associated. I've never had to use it but I hear it works quite well.
I had a client that would write different amount on the checks. The amount on the right would be correct. but the handwritten portion would be for a lower dollar amount. Then they would argue with me that the bank will give me the higher value. They became a 'fired' client.
I live in Dundalk, and my main market is Baltimore as a DJ(although I get more work in the DC area). It's interesting that I type certain things into TH-cam, and your videos come up as a suggestion. This is the 4th video of yours I have watched. Anyway, I always have a signed agreement with my clients as a Wedding and Party DJ, and I always require 40% to 50% non refundable deposit to book. The balance payment is due at the event in cash, or DUE 10 days prior via check. Anyway, I have one corporate client I did a last minute open house event for at a apartment complex. They booked me the day before the event. They did not have enough time to cut me a check from corporate, and have it ready at the event. Now I am waiting for them to pay me. I have contacted them twice asking if the check has been mailed out with no response other than an apology for it taking long. It's been almost 30 days, and still no check. I'm not use to invoicing and waiting for a payment after the event. I'm getting worried that they may not bother paying me. I learned my lesson on this one though...ALWAYS TAKE PAYMENT AT THE EVENT, OR BEFORE HAND, OR DON'T BOTHER DOING THE WORK.
Same here buddy. I am a fine artist, and I had an informal client wanting quick work with short notice. The simp is ghosting me now.
Always a formal procedure including advance payments is a must! #lessonlearnt
In my country you ask for them to pay 30% of money at the start which is called _advance_ and the rest after you finished the website for example. If they don't pay you don't give them the website and they've already lost 30% of the cost.
You will find out that out of 20 people who want you to make their website only 1 wants to pay decently.
+Theodor Berza
I had a customer some 10 years ago who decided he would only pay me 50% of the agreed price once I was done with their homepage. So I ftp'd into the site and took down 50% of the site.
Then he went apeshit and told me he would not pay me anything, so I took down the rest, didn't restore their old homepage either and told then to F-off.
This is how the construction industry works as well, but this guy is a moron and a lot of nice guys work in the IT world.
Keep coming back to this for tips! Thanks Eli
Hey man I really appreciate the video. I have a client that won't pay me and I really like what you said about letting them know that you're just not going to work for them anymore, it's perfectly fine if they don't want to pay and all that but you will no longer be a contact
Didn't even know this was Eli the computer guy until 11 minutes in he mentions people say "eli..." - Then I realized oh shit, this sounds exactly like the influential guy Louis Rossman is always talking about!
I have my clients fill an order form out online from our website prior to service with them agreeing to our terms with payment required to submit the order. That takes care of most issues payment wise. If an invoiced client doesn't pay you always have small claims court.
That's really good advice. If you just remember that the tech industry has insufficient supply for the demand in services for the most part, then you can construct that into leverage to make the costumers pay, since walking away from them will hurt them more than you.
More often than not, they'll need you again. I've had to deny service to clients stating they were on "credit hold". I'll need a check before I start any new work. I took the check, walked out, and never took their call again.
Hahaaa badass right here
Paperwork is great, still every consultant has gone through this. Best to explain clearly your rates BEFORE you do the job. This is my hourly rate, there are no terms, everything is COD, just like most in the service area, plumbers, electricians, etc.
I cannot agree with you more on this subject!
You have to be the single most inspiring person on you-tube.
Have you seen the videos where he tells us there’s no money in IT? Or have you seen his “ccna” roll of toilet paper? Lol I’m not ragging on you, I just don’t see him as inspirational. Maybe informative... and refreshingly real ?... I don’t agree with his views on money regarding IT. I think there’s plenty of money and jobs in this field
Did you think of installing KillSwitch and then remotely activating after it becomes obvious that they are never going to pay?
I use a contract that say. "If service on speciffied ecuiptment is not paid." I can then take the equiptment with me. Then i can sell it 15 days later to cover the bill they did not pay. So if i do a server work (somehting i normaly dont do.) lets say i give them a bill on 200$ and they tell me i'm not going to take that. Then i will say okay. You've signed the contrct so im gona go unplugg your server and take it with me. If you dont pay within 15 days. i will sell the server and all the information on it. Easy picey :P
I agree with the psychological bit... if it comes down to it, you can always drop them as a client, too.
how do you deal with a negative review??????????
I have a client that not only refuses to pay on a regular basis, but when they do pay they only pay half. I bill them on a monthly basis and sometimes they would put payments off for two months, when I suspend their account and tell them to pay both invoices they only pay one invoice. It's a big company and i charge them way below the industry norm but they still seem to think that they dont have to pay me. What really grinds my gears is that they do not communicate, after a hundred mails they will send me half of the payment without any explanations. At the end of the day you are in the business of making money and if you waste your time with non paying clients you will not have time for potentially good paying clients.
Yha, just get out of that.
Ditch that client. They are doing it because they can get away with it. Another option is to hire a P/T Accounts Receivable person to take care of it. I'm in the process of setting up a third-party bookkeeping business and A/R will be one of the services I plan to make available in due time.
Fire them. Get some peace of mind to do better work in your own feild
Funny thing, I've doing same thing for last 19 years and I thought it was me only ;) Now I keep like 5-6 bigger clients and if something cool is out there for me to do, I'll get rid the last one form the list, either in a nice way or just will say goodby if there ware issues before.
6:15 in is a key part. this is business 101
I don't extend credit (net terms) until a relationship is established. Until I have a few jobs paid in a timely matter, customers are on a held deposit basis.
Always install a kill switch ;)
Great info! Thanks for your time. Question. Where did you buy the whole demographic package for your Consulting business from? Thanks!
The same is true in design and architecture- and never do work for family because they will want to play both cards; family with discounts and hard line business to beat down fees.
This was really cool to watch.😎
Were you the person, who asked the question?😃
Wow! I'm the 100th comment, on this vid.👍😃
Well put!
Why do some clients do that? What a lack of dignity! Bad character! I pay my bills on time, whether some have paid me or not.
Lol. I would (not) install a backdoor and let loose a virus that formats the HDD.
I would mess up their database/network if I were you guys.
this is what we do in Australia. if they don't pay, you sabotage them and leave them with gaping holes in their security and architecture, so you get money out of them later no matter what. You can't lie down and die. Your work is valuable if you're not a burger flipper. It's hurting everyone else in your industry.
Actually, I have been quite successful in litigating those clients who refused to pay me.
THANK YOU
Great advice! I have found this to be so true! Some times I would like to take Julio Nunez advice. :-) It's not always possible they may have a bigger gang then yours! :-)
I took an xbox360 one time to fix the disk drive tray and the IT wanted to charge me for a red lights that was not exist
Buy a sword and challenge them to single combat.
And only fight to the death.
Watch the video again. There is a sword behind his head.
What percentage of the 24,000 do you think are worthwhile? Deadbeats?
@Eli the Computer Guy What if your system crashes tomorrow? That sounded like a threat to me!!! And what if the system did crash! Wouldn't the client think you may have something to do with it?
Ya but it would be pretty hard to prove that if he actually didn't do it. For most companys operating on the internet if their systems go down they can't do business. Active directory goes down, cant do business. For companys like this going down isn't really an option
"normal occurrence"??
maybe in Baltimore
In Denmark the paper is legit evidence for court and if I have picture is over xaxa
Don't listen to this guy, he is a moron. Contracts are legally binding and will easily hold up in court.
He didn't say they wouldn't hold up, just that it will cost more time effort and money then what the bill is actually worth
Time to find a new industry folks. IT is sort of a joke junk industry now.
Do you do wrestling or boxing? :)
Put on your black hat... no wait, don't do that.
But Eli, I thought you hold only contempt for ethics & morals!
Your bears is so full.
опапа)
Brian Laundrie??? I found him. Dude you have eye lashes like a chick.