[Ron Soukup]

Dale,

You would file a lien against a client for less than $300? I ask this, because I have a client we have done a lot of work for in the past that has turned into a bum.

We performed service on his property in May (irrigation start up) and he called two days later with problems (heads clogged and what-not), we told him it would be a few days to get back. He was not happy with the response and sought another company to fix it and did not tell us of his intentions. We then showed up to fix the issues.

[Lake irrigation always creates problems in the spring, due to scale inside the lines which clogs heads (no big deal, because when we start systems, growing season is barely underway)]

We bill him for the services, and he doesn't pay, we assess finance charges and send statements, still no response, calls placed, messages left, still no response...

Meanwhile, he sells home, and starts building new home...

[8 months later]
We finally get a response from him, says he WILL not pay for those services becuase (long note shortened) of his inconvienence.

Should I file a lien or take it to court? If he would have responded immediately (we have call logs) we could have resolved this without delay. Him and I go way back but not so much anymore. It pisses me off he would pull this. I am half-tempted to let it go, but the other owners don't see it my way. I am mostly responsible for not taking care of this myself and that is why I think I should let it go...

What do you think? What does anybody think?

I figured I'd use this thread instead of starting a new one, because we are talking about the same subject matter.

[Fine Edge]

Ron,
We have all taken a loss in our businesses and, while it's not good practice, it may be less of a headache if you just walk away.
Like Dale said, we cover EVERYTHING that will be done in a very detailed contract but you can't do that for every little maintenance job.
Is it worth your time to chase this $$ down or can you make better use of your time concentrating on making more $$ from people who will pay.

[Dale Wiley]

A couple things going on here Ron..

The problems that developed AFTER you serviced the property... were they additional problems or problems from he original service ??

New problems would be a new service call, and problems from the original call if your fault needed to be dealt with immediately, instead of an extended call back period.

If you have a service policy set up to address these issues, then if you follow it, the client has no basis for protest or non payment. Now some clients are pretty sharp, and he probably saw this as a chance to welch on the payment for the original service, and there is probably some reason for a price ADJUSTMENT, not a write off.

Now this does say something about the clients character, so maybe he's not such a great person if you guys were not able to work this out.

Now he has sold the subject property, so your chance for a lien is gone, and usually liens , at least in Oregon are subject to a bit of pre job paperwork and precedence work. You may still have recourse against him in small claims court, but the minute he brings up , twists and distorts the service problem and issue, most SC judges would find for him.

I would offer a price adjustment in this case right now, a fairly significant one, but he does own you some money, because he did receive value from a portion of the service. I would find out what he paid another company to "correct" whatever problem it was, and then bill him for the rest of the work you successfully did.

In our larger estimates and even service calls, we have the work estimated out on an internal estimate sheet, that allows us to assign a value to every line item in the project.

This way we can show what the client has received value for and what is in dispute. Our contracts are worded such that a client CANNOT withhold the ENTIRE amount when only a portion of the service is in dispute.

I think if you offer a credit for th disputed or services by others, then bill for the balance, you have demonstrated good faith in trying to solve the problem, and would prevail in SC court for the reduced balance.

Outside of that, Rick knows some Jersey boys that might help you out...

[Ron Soukup]

Thanks Dale...

You bring up some good points, of which I will use to discuss with the other owners.


And that is better because it might cost too much to bring in those "Jersey Boys!"

[jackt]

I had this same problem with a non- contract client last year. I went to small claims court and was given a judgement against this person. The court also ordered him to pay court costs and interest on the balance owed as well. Smallclaims court worked for me.

[mow-n-man]

You contract. Always! And here's why.
Here's what is in my contracts T&C (along with the normal verbiage). A lot of guys use it now from another forum.

"Should it become necessary to bring action to collect amounts due under this agreement, you agree to pay all cost incurred in such proceedings including reasonable attorneys fees and court cost."

Whenever I have a customer running behind I just remind them that it isn't any fun paying my attorney to sue themselves.
Works. No problems, especially when I remind them that there isn't an attorney I know of that does not collect his fee one way or another. They don't want to pay after the judgement... then it's MY attorney ripping THEM for payment. And believe me, they can think up some juices scenarios, and like a judge wouldn't find in their favor to boot.

My guy has NEVER went unpaid and not one check came out of my pocket either.

Good luck!

[pineapple]

You might look for a local collection agency.

Your time to file a lien or go to court would be balanced against what they are going to charge you to collect. It is usually 50% only if they get the money, otherwise you owe them nothing.

I am not wild about doing that, but you have to figure the client is not going to pay you or they already would have and do you want to put more time and effort into this?

At least you will get some money and the collection agency will make their life miserable!

[Greensmith]

Another vote for collection (scum) agencies. Most people suddenly connect that to a loss on their credit rating and pay up. Especially for a couple of hundred bucks.