Not Getting Paid

[Graham Bright]

I was listening to radio 5 live today (yes getting old) and the theme was tradesman not getting paid for their hard work.

The feature story was a guy who put up 15K worth of new conservatory after only recieving a small deposit and then the woman lied and cheated her way out of trying to pay him. She even said her husband had died when he hadnt and then in the end she flat refused to pay him anything.

Although this is effectively stealing the government treat it as a civil matter and the police cant get involved. The only thing he could do is get his materials back. He went round with a group of people and smashed it all down with a sledge hammer live in front of Tv cameras and a gov official.

Another guy filled up a womens drive with so much rubble that she couldnt even get in her house.

Have you guys got any "not getting paid" horror stories or better still ways in which you have got Rogue customers back.

I've seen my old man smash up a couple of walls before now.

[doug boardley]

so few posts and already so cynical Viaticus we couldn't possibly condone that sort of behaviour, it'll be fun to see what gets posted tho

[whitebeam]

Thats maybe where a contract comes into it's own, I'm sure some have the intention not to pay even before the job starts

[Dan]

I know a guy that knocked down a porch with a hammer (not even a sledge hammer) only minutes after the woman said she's not paying him anything. I asked afterwards why he did it so soon and he said he thought there was a chance she wasn't paying during the job, but for the couple of days work it cost him he may aswell not have a reputation of a push-over locally and he'd much rather ruin the womans house (as he had to remove a couple of bricks to attach the brick porch) than let her even suggest she's not paying.

Fact is; if they don't pay (even if you've done wrong) the courts back the trader somewhat before the argument even starts. As a customer I'd pay anybody even if it's bad work, that's why I'd seek good reputation over price. As a tiler, I'd do a bloody good job every time knowing I will get paid, or the courts will force the customer to (or probably would do - every case being a bit different). If all else fails, I'd enjoy smashing up what I'd done.

I know another guy that did some work in motorway services for a big firm. He tiles their loo's and what-not and didn't get paid. He arranged to mee the guy who should have paid him at the services to discuss a couple of issues the guy raised (as an excuse to not pay him when there wasn't anything wrong) and the guy didn't show. He left an answer message on the guys phone of the noise a tile makes when it's breaking as he smashed every other tile in there for a minute or two. The guy called back and said he'd pay. God knows who fixed the work afterwards because he didn't.

LOADS of stuff on the forum already about this and we've helped customers against dodgy work, and tilers against dodgy customers. I'm sure you'll get some good replies though too.

[diamondtiling]

Like I have said before.

Black eye Bob and Bruiser Bill, they will sort it.

[garythetiler]

unfortunately there are some sharks out there, i got caught last year for 30m2 of tiles supplied and fitted to a landlord/property developer, the guy thought he had one over on me until he tried to get a tiler for his next job not one tiler in my area would do it for him even though there very little work around ,he ended up having to get a chippy to fit a travertine bathroom which cost him 3 times what it would if a tiler had fitted it, moral of the story reputation is worth more than money

[poynton phil]

Ther's a program on itv tonight at 10.30 called cowboy customers, might be worth watching

[doug boardley]

They should show it Prime Time Phil, they seem to like showing "cowboy traders" type progs at peak viewing times

[poynton phil]

My bro in law had a bad customer done him out of £45000, went court won his case, set debt collectors on him, still lost £30000ish, if they dont want to pay they wont.

[whitebeam]

Ther's a program on itv tonight at 10.30 called cowboy customers, might be worth watching

Got the reminder on for that

[Graham Bright]

Got the reminder on for that

That TV program is done by the man who smashed the porch up.

[poynton phil]

So have i, but like douge say's why is'nt it on prime time,like rogue traders

[davy_G]

Talking with my plasterer tonight, he is out 29K with one builder alone! Couldnt believe he let it get that far! Crazy situation to be in!

[whitebeam]

Talking with my plasterer tonight, he is out 29K with one builder alone! Couldnt believe he let it get that far! Crazy situation to be in!

Thats crazy

[Dan]

Ther's a program on itv tonight at 10.30 called cowboy customers, might be worth watching

Excellent I've been waiting for this for ages! Years I tell ya, yeeeaarrrrssss!

[Dave]

Excellent I've been waiting for this for ages! Years I tell ya, yeeeaarrrrssss!

Mee too...deffo watching it..

[davy_G]

Any good? I dodnt see it!

[Dave]

I thought it was....Nigel gray the builder who set the program away and narrated all the way through is doing a great job at trying to make it illegal for customers to not pay for work .

[smurf21]

first and formost is to make sure you do the job correctly and not give them a valid reason not to pay,
Then if the customer doesnt pay for any reason at least you know its not because of quality and bad workmanship and you can then fight your corner.

[wacker]

I agree with Smurf21, finish the job to a high standard and you should have no problems. Had a 2 customers cheuqes bounce before. First one I think was just bad luck, guy came round that night with cash and a large tip. Second guy took a couple of day's to get the money. Had a couple of problems with builders before. They all seem to moan about lack of cash flow etc. Why get me in if you have not got the funds to pay for my work and time???

[doit4u]

Heard a story from a mate, don't know it it is true or not or if it might be one of those apocryphal stories. Anyway this is what he told me about a plumber who was having difficulty getting paid for a job. The customer asked him to go back and do another small job and he would pay up then.

He did the extra but the money still wasn't forthcoming so he walked a way knowing that he would get a call in a day or two.

He had put a ball bearing in one of the pipes {not sure exactly where} so that when you turned on the tap initially it would flow until the ball bearing got a certain point and then would restrict the flow. Once you turned the tap off the ball bearing dropped back and the same thing happened next time.

A few days later he got the call but said he would only turn up if he got the cash for his previous work in his had before he started. The customer agreed and had the cash ready when he got there. He removed the ball bearing and then charged the customer for a call out to fix the 'problem'

[Diamond Pool Finishers]

i know a guy in the pool indus ,no names,he sprays concrete pool shells he did not get paid from one job, so he had his lads follow the guy in yes his rolls, when he left the car they rammed the pump through the window of the rolls and filled it with concrete. this move sort of made him famous in the pool ind . i just loved it

[Bartlett]

Interesting thread. I'm pretty new to this and have had no probs so far with money outstanding. I wonder how you all work out the payments? Do you ask for a deposit first? Payment in stages? Or simply collect full payment when job is finished and customer happy? Would be interested to know.

[Oli]

If im getting the tiles, or supplying more that a couple hundred quids worth of materials then I ask for a deposit to cover them, then worst case you only lose the labour not money you've shelled out.

I've only ever had one customer who caused problems, it was very recently, I took note of her complaints and changed what she wanted, she was super picky, but paid with a smile and a thankyou, yesterday in fact.

Even though it was the first time and worked out in the end it has made me extra cautious from now on and all my quotes will be very detailed.

But as I said, I wouldnt start worrying about it happening as this is the first time its ever happened to me.

[david campbell]

glad to hear you got it all sorted oli

[gizzy2007]

hi there a done a bathroom for a company and didnt get paid for it she phoned me up saying the client wasnt happy so i went to see the job and there was nothing wrong with the job and the client said she loved it so the company was talking **** just saying anything not to pay a was wondering where i go from here

[faithhealer]

heres a story from todays news, a builder tearing a roof off
BBC NEWS | England | Derbyshire | Builder tears down family's roof

[whitebeam]

That would worth looking at of the outcome of that one, reads a bit of a 50/50

[gizzy2007]

what can you do if you get bumped then a would have done the same thing

[bootsmckiber]

Last year I had a pretty good gig going,a high end job on the oceanfront,about 28,000 sq ft all tolled,all travertine and slate,well I was about 3 months away from finishing and it was mid aug, I knew it would be around Christmas time when I would be wrapping it up so I started to have the guy (carpet,hardwood,tile,contractor)who's contract it was take about 500-1000 dollars every two weeks(depending on the size of my cheque)so as to have a little nest egg for christmas,I have eight kid's so I thought this was a good thing.well comes christmas eve,payday,we'd been waiting to get most of our big shopping done on christmas eve,well I had to my figures somewhere between 5-6000$ saved up,but this contractor just flat out denied I gave him anything saying it was all for material,I only had to pay for mud and as I'd been paying all along my total bill for thinset was $ 1800.00,it still worked out that I had about $5000 saved up,but he flat out refused to give me back what was mine,I couldn't believe it because up until that moment we'd had a pretty good working relationship.I worked my ass off,made him money and made his company look good.this was two years ago and I'm still ****ed about it,we got by but man was I bummed,last christmas I'd just finished 6weeks of radiation therapy for mouth and throat cancer but it was a better christmas than the year before,sorry for boring all you tilers that have heard me whine about this before but the topic was not getting paid,I thought I'd gotten over it till you reminded me of it,thanks.
A hard lesson learned but hey,we're still here to tile another day so rock on,cheers,Bootsmckiber