Customer not paying

[I Trippet]

Anyone got any advice on what to do please? I'm owed nearly £400 for various work for a customer. The work included replacing light fittings and accessories, all of which I supplied. I also, soon after doing this work, did two EICRs for her. To cut a long story short she was very unhappy that I'd failed them both, despite being for very good reason. Unknown to me she got another electrician to do the inspections a few days later who apparently passed them both, which I find hard to believe. When I sent the invoice she replied and said she'd give me £60 for my time and that was being generous. I pointed out the price is for all the work I did before the inspection and that I was being generous for not charging for those. She seemed ok with that but two months have since passed and not had any response to two reminders, so now working out what to do next.

 

[Risteard]

Anyone got any advice on what to do please? I'm owed nearly £400 for various work for a customer. The work included replacing light fittings and accessories, all of which I supplied. I also, soon after doing this work, did two EICRs for her. To cut a long story short she was very unhappy that I'd failed them both, despite being for very good reason. Unknown to me she got another electrician to do the inspections a few days later who apparently passed them both, which I find hard to believe. When I sent the invoice she replied and said she'd give me £60 for my time and that was being generous. I pointed out the price is for all the work I did before the inspection and that I was being generous for not charging for those. She seemed ok with that but two months have since passed and not had any response to two reminders, so now working out what to do next.

Why are you not charging for the inspections?

 

[loz2754]

Send a letter of intent to take her to court.
Give her 7 days to cough up.
If she doesn't, then start a claim with Money Claims Online. I did this for £220. The customer eventually ended up paying nearly £300.

 

[I Trippet]

Why are you not charging for the inspections?

I wish I had now to be honest.

 

[LukeD]

I made sure that when doing EICR test .I would warn the client that it might not "Go to plan" And they might have to accept spending money and in some cases a lot .Most had properties that needed very little .Some had not spent any money on the electrics for years and these needed lots of work. By making sure they are aware and getting that confirmed before saves a lot of time .

 

[Dustydazzler]

Charge for EICRs upfront , Charge for materials upfront , if the customers smells fishy then take a 50% deposit for the work upfront

Too many chancers out there these days who want to 'renegotiate' the invoice once the work is complete

OP take them to court , non payers are worse than dodgy people

 

[Intoelectrics]

I've had similar experiences myself many times, for much higher amounts on occasion.

Follow the advice been given so far, however, be prepared for possible disappointment also. Most importantly learn from this experience and apply measures that will help to avoid this situation in the future.

Unfortunately some folk are just a**e holes.

 

[I Trippet]

Thanks, sent a (polite) email to say she's got 7 days to cough up or I'll take legal action. I know she's got the money she's purely being awkward.

 

[littlespark]

Most importantly... Follow up on the 7 day letter, or she'll think you're not serious

 

[ipf]

OP take them to court , non payers are worse than dodgy people

Depends what you mean by 'dodgy people'
In most cases they're stealing..... criminals in all but name.