Squeezing Blood From a Turnip

From the traditional to the unorthodox, pumpers share their methods for getting customers to pay up

Question:

Is anyone having trouble getting paid once you’ve pumped a tank? It seems to be getting harder to collect money these days. We go as far as telling customers we require payment when the job is complete, and they still have some excuse not to pay. How many contractors add late charges for billed jobs that are not paid on time?

Answers:

You might try telling the customer that it is this price on completion and $20 more if you bill them. You can also just unload the truck back into the septic tank; they usually find a way to pay you before you get all your hose strung out.

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In my opinion, a customer that doesn’t like to pay is not a good customer. They either have money problems and won’t be a customer long anyway, or they are just playing games. Either way, the method that I have used is to increase the price. If they go to another company, what have you really lost other than a headache? The customers I have had problems with are nursing homes.

As an example, I was charging one facility $250 per month and got a check on the spot. Then they wanted me to start billing them, and my checks came 90 days after I did the job. So I raised the price to $375. They started being even later, so I went to $550. When I didn’t get paid for six months, it went to $675. They went another six months before sending me a check. I went to $975, and now they pay about every six months, but it’s well worth the wait.

Several facilities are paying 4-5 times my usual rate and I smile when they finally send payment. This is my way of getting over the frustration, and it works very well for me.

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We require payment at time of service, or no service. Before you start working, make sure the checkbook is there, there are checks in it, and collect a deposit check against the work you plan to do. We take credit cards, which helps a lot in getting paid.

You have to be hard-nosed about it. It’s just not worth it for us to work our tails off and not get paid, or have to wait forever to get paid. The plumber is getting paid, the appliance repairman is getting paid; why not us? Make it policy and stick to it!

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We require payment at the time of service also. What we do is leave our hoses hooked up from the truck to the tank until we receive cash or a check. If we are not paid, we simply reverse the pump on the truck, and put in what we take out. With dumping, fuel and everything else rising in cost, the last thing we need is to be on the other side of town and be stuck with a load that we didn’t get paid for. In 98 percent of the cases, when you say you are going to unload back into their tank, they quickly find a way to pay.

I also understand that a lot of people are in unfortunate circumstances. We do help people who are having a hard time. We help veterans on a fixed income with free or discounted service.



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