Brian, Easier and cheaper than small claims, lawyers, etc. is a collection agency. There are plenty of them on line and easy to use. How do I know? I checked into it once, selected an agency, sent one final letter to the client telling him that I was referring the account to [name of agency] in [name of city] if he didn't pay in xx days. Didn't have to, but wouldn't hesitate to do so next time. Paul Larudee Brian Trout wrote: > Just had something I thought I'd run by the list... > > I've made some mistakes in the past, and I'll admit > that. Hopefully, some of these experiences will have > taught me valuable lessons. > > One that's still a bit of a thorn in my side... > > Left PA to move to LA in March. Had a job (reed organ > rebuild) sitting in my shop waiting to be started. I > didn't have time to do it before I left, so I called > up the customer and asked if I could bring the organ > with me to LA and return it in May, when I had > scheduled a return to the area. (Incidentally, I had > two of these things to be returned in the same trip.) > Rebuilt both of the reed organs in LA and returned to > PA with them as scheduled in May. The first one I > knew there would be a delay of payment because I was > doing the work for another technician who was then > going to do a bit of cabinet work and return it to the > customer, paying me upon completion and return to the > customer, all understood up front. No problem. Got > paid just fine. > > But the other one... Delivered it as scheduled. Sat > down and played a song on it, slowly pulling out all > of the "bells and whistles" all the way up to full > organ. The thing sounded fantastic and I practically > received a standing ovation from the family and a few > neighbors who came in to hear. Pulled out the bill > and handed it to them, to which they replied, "We'll > see to it that you get this right away. We're not > going to pay it, but our daughter who lives upstate > who will be getting the organ..." > > Well, I would have liked to simply loaded the thing > back into the truck and driven away, but I couldn't do > that. It was a rented truck and I was 1000 miles from > home. So I left it there and asked that they please > not put off making payment as I had a considerable > amount invested. > > And you know what's next, you can see it coming. It's > going on 6 weeks now. I haven't been able to reach > them by phone. At 4 weeks, I did send off a letter > reminding them that I haven't received payment and > that I would appreciate them sending it promptly if > they haven't already. > > I guess the question is, what's next? If it was just > a $75 tuning, I could swallow hard and really not miss > it so badly. But this bill was about $1000. (Should > have been more, but I stuck to my estimate.) > > Any suggestions on collecting? > > (This is what I get for 'trusting' a retired pastor.) > > Thanks for letting me vent a bit. This one's been > bugging me. > > Take care, all. > > Brian > > ===== > Brian Trout > Grand Restorations > 3090 Gause Blvd., #202 > Slidell, LA 70461 > 985-649-2700 > GrandRestorations@yahoo.com > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail > http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC