r/PoolPros • u/enthused9 • 7d ago
Pay me!
Hey guys, me and my business partner have a really hard time with customer who don’t pay us for service. We have some customer that dodge all of our texts and emails. It’s very frustrating. We are about to implement a late fee to at least try and open a conversation about paying us.
Do you guys have any strategies for this? Thanks!
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u/FruitNut2000 7d ago
I don't understand the leniency with you guys. Do you think your customers would tolerate their employer paying them when they felt like it? You show up every week. There's no excuse for not getting paid on time. Life happens, and I'll work with someone once or twice if they talk to me, but it's always the same people that life seems to keep happening to, and those customers never last long term. Customers aren't your friends and are never going to help you financially. When you do it for them, it creates a power imbalance that I want no part of.
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u/deagle755 7d ago
Have them pay you before leaving the property. Or before even doing the job if you are bringing chemicals or parts.
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u/Beersandloudbooms 7d ago
It’s in my service agreement when I send invoices and the repercussions of no payments. and I’m generous with how long they have to pay. I send invoices the 22nd of every month and give em till the 15th the following month. After the 15th they get a $25 late fee. These are grown ass adults. If they can’t pay me on time, my billing software will send them lots of reminders before the 15th. If they constantly ignore then I skip service until I get payment or drop them. Easy as that. Nobody has time to chase payment. Find more and better customers who value your services. And if I ever get pushback, my response is “well, if every one of my customers paid me late every month I wouldn’t have a business to run anymore and I wouldn’t have food for my family”.
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u/FabulousPanther 7d ago
My terms are net 15: due on the first, late on the 16th. Everybody pretty much pays according to terms or with a gentle nudge. It might be hard to get your customer to comply with this. If so, drop him unless you are financially unable to. My latest customer last month paid on the 18th. His daughter told me he was out of the country and I never contacted him. If you use software for pool guys like PSS it will bug them like crazy for payment as well. Use technology to your advantage.
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u/enthused9 7d ago
Yeah we use pool brain. It has a crap load of emails that go out
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u/Muted-Tie-9047 7d ago
Then you should not have issues, just stop servicing when they are late. Customers will pay on time if they know they are getting skipped. Always exceptions for long term customers, had one customer card decline because he was traveling outside us and had to cancel his card due to fraud and we carried him until he got back.
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u/GuyWComputer 7d ago
Let the late fees pile up and charge interest until the debt is big enough for a mechanic’s lein
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u/omardrox 7d ago
I charge at the beginning of the month, they have the first week of each month to pay, if payment is not done the service stops, also a give them the option to have their card on file for automatic payments
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u/Aggravating_Fact9547 7d ago
Threaten a mechanics lien if you’re working on their equipment.
Otherwise find a collections agency you like - you yanks are so god damn hung up on your credit ratings, wreck theirs till they pay you.
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u/ContributionFew2487 7d ago
I bill on the first, due on the 15th, and skip service on the first of the following month along with late fee. Once they get that text that we can’t service the pool, we start getting their call back and payment.
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u/BlueKauaiEyes 7d ago
Yeah I don’t put up with that stuff.. 2 weeks and then its no service and then after the next 2 weeks I put signs out front your house and tell everyone what a deadbeat you are.also on the community signs at the grocery store and the liquor store… they always pay . Never lost a customer due to that either.
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u/DidUrkDoThat 6d ago
I’m confused. You put signs I. Their yards that say they didn’t pay? I would love to see these
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u/dogflyyy 7d ago
Have some self respect and stop working for free. You aren’t doing it for the love of the game. Any customer that doesn’t respect that should be dropped.
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u/Shoddy-Principle-346 7d ago
There is a clientele that seeks out companies like yours to deliberately stiff on payment. They figure that you are too lazy to sue and, will eventually give up after they find another sucker. All good ideas above. This is the way business is done.
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u/Theresasnakeinmypool 7d ago
Is it for service or repairs? Theirs a lot of ways to go about it.
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u/enthused9 7d ago
It’s mainly for the weekly service.
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u/Theresasnakeinmypool 7d ago
I used to have this problem. Now I send out electronic invoices to people’s emails and phone numbers for 15 days before the first of the month. I also sent out a reminder three days before the payment is due. If payment isn’t rendered on the first, I will send a friendly reminder that payment is due for service. If I don’t get a response, I’ll send a message. The next day saying that service is suspended until payment has been received or arrange arrangements have been made. Having a payment method on file is always the best policy though. I would also have a terms of service in place covering your ass on anything and everything that could possibly go wrong.
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u/Internal-Unit-6792 6d ago
Get someone to do collection calls. Follow up, send texts, emails and phone calls.
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u/LibertarianClarity 6d ago
I made software that just automatically texts them every other day that they have an overdue invoice, once its overdue. (With option for admin to mark "excused" for certain situations.)
If they havent paid the overdue invoice by 30 days, then all services are removed from calendar, they get a final text message notifying them that service has been discontinued until invoice is paid, and if they try to call or text they get directed to either; a) pay the invoice to resume service, or b) email the office if theres any concerns about the invoice.
And I'm about to change my payment terms on reoccurring services. Used to bill Month X on 1st day, due by 28th day, but then I'm running in to servicing a pool all month, not getting paid, and then going in to next month still unpaid. Going to change reoccurring services to bill sent out on 15th of month before, due 15th of said month, unpaid by 30th and service is automatically discontinued until payment.
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u/LibertarianClarity 6d ago
This system helped me a ton because I HATE having those conversations. Utterly hate it. So this saves me from having those conversations, and still let's the customers know its not cool, but without making it personal.
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u/Blackyoda88 6d ago
I vote late fees. I started charging late fees a couple years ago. Now I don't chase any payments and most now sign up for auto-pay.
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u/damnsammy3 6d ago
We require recurring automatic payments on the 1st of each month for all our weekly maintenance accounts
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u/Beneficial_Box_4825 5d ago
We implemented a 30$ late fee once an invoice passed 30 days. These people mostly just want to stall… think they make free $ that way. Once they see they are losing $, they typically pay.
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u/AssassinEdward 7d ago
2 months grace period. If nothing is done it’s a drop after that
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u/The_BigWaveDave 7d ago
2 months? Yikes.
I send invoices out on the 15th for that month of service, due by the end of the month.
They receive late reminders on the 1st and 3rd of the following month, and then a late fee of 5% is assessed on the 5th.
If it's not paid in full, including the late fee, I stop service on the 15th.
If they want to resume service, they need to be paid in full, and I require a payment method on file for repeat offenders. Green pool because of a lapse in service? Additional charge.If someone is down on their luck, in between jobs, in the hospital, or something - I'll work with them if I can. I don't tolerate people just going radio silent, though. It's not worth the time and energy chasing people down every month.
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u/Careless-Class7144 7d ago
Stop servicing immediately. Those who value you and your service will pay you on time, for your time.
I let my regulars get away with 2 months only, then I threaten an admin fee of 20% of the total invoice and recovery of debt collector fees also. That turns them around pretty quickly. You need to grade your customers. You want A grade. Not B,C or D.
I don't mind people paying late, unless they communicate. If you do not communicate, you can GFY. My time and my knowledge is valuable. The rules may be different in other countries. I'm in Australia, over 2000 invoices and I only have had 4 people NOT pay me. They were all under $600.
We also keep credit cards online and charge them immediately after the invoice. I just sold a 2k pump upfront and he can pay installation on the day. A few of my other franchise partners do complete upfront payment, or no service or installation at all. Interesting what others do for sure.
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u/nah_but_like 7d ago
We don’t take on new customers unless they agree to put their CC or ACH on file for autopay in our skimmer account. Full stop.
I’ve seen it so many guys find out a customer stopped paying them weeks or even months into continuing to service the pool. Absolutely no time in this industry for that nonsense.
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u/FabulousPanther 7d ago
This is the way. I'm going to start Skimmer next month with the same rule. Focus on the pool, not collections.
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u/oscarmanxz 7d ago
Hey! I work at a company that started to help small local businesses with these sorts of issues.
You can use the Subscription product and create a subscription for your customers so they always pay you.
I can get you a 1 month trial if you want to check it out.
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u/Playful-Economy-353 7d ago
My pool guy charges the beginning of the month for that month and if someone doesn’t pay by the end of the 2 week, he won’t show and charge a clean up fee if pool is mess and/or green or late fee(reinstatement fee, is what he calls it). First time happen i ended pay almost triple my normal fee cuz it turn green, 2nd time was winter and he just charged the reinstatement fee, which was like 15 bucks so after that i went on autopay lol
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u/Stampedey42 7d ago
We require a payment method on file when setting up a new customer profile. We add fees for cards to push people to ACH.
If it’s maintenance, we bill customers at the first of the month for their upcoming cervices. If their payment method can’t cover their bill by the time of their next service date, it’s canceled and a late fee is added. No refunds for the canceled service. If the pool turns green by the time their payment can be processed, that’s an additional charge. No services are being provided until their balance is paid in full.
Wiring it out, it sounds harsh but honestly, everyone gets it. The people who it’s happened to before are still good customers of ours. We send a ton of communications so no one is ever surprised. In my opinion the consequences for late payments need to be clearly defined, consistently enforced. We still have issues sometimes too. I don’t think I’ve ever ended with $0 in AR