AIBU to ask for payment now?

[Hoople]

I look after people's dogs when they go away. Only now and again and I have a few regulars who always come back to me because they have total peace of mind that their dog will be treated like one of the family. I only have one dog at any one time

One of my regulars has just left their dog with me for over a fortnight at a total cost of £224. He picked him up on Saturday evening at 7pm and said he'd 'try and send payment through in the morning.' It's now 36 hours past Sunday morning and he hasn't paid

Now I wouldn't usually be too worried about this but this regular has form for taking a while to pay and I usually have to send an awkward reminder text. Sometimes two or three. This isn't an issue when the money owed is 30 odd quid but this has been a long chunk of time that I had his dog and the money owed is over £200.

Do I leave it longer? How long? It's been 48 hours since he collected his dog. Or do I send a text now?

God I find this stuff so awkward. All my other regulars pay immediately or within an hour or two. It's only pressing a few buttons to make a transfer isn't it?

WWYD?

quim they once paid a week or two late, a measly (to them) bill of around £15 and I kid you not it was mostly in loose change and the last few pounds they wrote me a bloody cheque for!!

Op if you do take his dog again (or anybody's for that matter) always do a contract with them, even if they are just a few regulars.

What if their dog got ill while you were looking after it? Without a contract that agrees to pay for vet care, you could be left holding a bill for treatment and it could be thousands.

It happened to us once when the dog had a really bad fit. The owner knew it had fits but had never got treatment or warned us. We took it to the vets and the owner wasn't answering their phone. It has to have tests, an overnight stay and stitches for the damage to its leg and paw during the fit. Then it had to have medication.

The total bill was £1800 and when they got back they refused to pay it as they wouldn't have taken it to the vet. We had to go to small claims court but fortunately, they had signed our contract which said they agreed to pay if we had to get treatment unless we had been negligent.

Quim - trust me, my terms aren't secret. He was always invoiced and he was always WELL AWARE that payment was to be made within 24 hours. Through, you know, talking prior to me taking his dog the first time. He's just always pushed his luck ... every single other customer I've ever had (and like I've said before, this is only a few now) has just paid. That evening in arriving home or the following morning. Never has one person not done that.

Apart from him

Is he a cheeky thoughtless fucker? Absolutely he is

Am I too soft? Yes

you shouldn't be embarrassed, he should be as you having to chase for payment, its out of order on his part. Hope you get it sorted soon.

I dunno what you're reading Quim - and there's always one on AIBU - but I don't telepathically communicate my terms. He knows them FULL WELL.

So.. like I've said, I'm not doing this anymore for him. Others, yes, just my regulars (these only three in total anyway). But him... no.

Would you do this Quim? Out of interest? You've dropped your dog off with me to a fortnight, collected him on the Saturday evening and assured payment and then err ... just not bother? Despite knowing the terms? You would do that? I doubt you would

I won't threaten legal action, no. Bloody hell, can't even gear myself up yet to be pissy with him can I ? I'll text again this evening. And once I receive the money that's it... can't keep having this with him, much as I love the little dog

In which case apologies OP - you made it sound like you hadn't actually stated your terms of payment and had just expected it quickly because that's what your other clients do. If you told him 24 hours then he is certainly being unreasonable and inconsiderate.

Would you do this Quim? Out of interest? You've dropped your dog off with me to a fortnight, collected him on the Saturday evening and assured payment and then err ... just not bother? Despite knowing the terms? You would do that? I doubt you would

No, but as you could tell, I was under the impression you had no "terms"!

I'd send a text which says , hi xxx I have just checked and have not yet received your payment can you check that you sent it to the right details . Thanks . ( we had a similar issue when a neighbour owed us money for something , took 8 weeks of me badgering in the end , wasn't a lot of money it was the principle) . The text above was about the third / fourth note that I stuck through her door , having failed to get hold of them .

OP, you obviously have a gentle character. When you can't bring yourself to be assertive in business affairs then I don't see what you can realistically do with taking customers to task who take advantage of your verbal agreements and friendly assumptions. You don't like sending authoritive messages and being firm with no room for misinformation, then you'll have to settle with quietly seething and waiting it out for your payments in future if this happens again.
I understand really because I'm a little like this which is why I never could persue the more managerial positions at work.

Hurry - ah, now if you knew me under my other guise (I have a well known business), then you wouldn't say that! I'm not gentle but I am too bloody soft and I get all awks when chasing money like this

Quim - yeah he knows it's immediate payment. You pick up, you send me the money over at your earliest convenience. I don't take cash and again, people know this

And bizarrely I'm very assertive. But it appears not where money is owed like this. It just feels all personal to me

You pick up, you send me the money over at your earliest convenience.

Not to rake over this again, but just to clarify you do specify "at your earliest convenience within the next 24 hours"?

Yep BUT on this occasion no. Because he's been coming for well over a year and I've wound all this stuff right down, I no longer say 'payment within 24 hours' when I get a text asking if I'm free to have Dog on such and such a date.

And that's my fault for assuming that he'll just pay for the service he's received asap. Even sending me a message last night at 7pm assuring me he'd 'sort tonight.' He didn't. So blame firmly back at him I think

Agreed that is not cricket.

As you didn't reply to his last message I would reply with "Thanks did you manage to make the payment as it isn't showing in my bank?"

Text 'Still waiting for payment. Please ensure this is done today'.

We used to put our dog in kennels and he loved it, plenty of other dogs to run about with at playtime, handlers very affectionate towards him etc, but we had to pay when we picked him up and there was no exceptions. Maybe in future let this guy know he must pay upon collection or even when he hands the dog over , tell him "I've had ppeople let me down with payments in the past and this is what my accountant advised" thereby passing no blame onto him.

Quim, I'm not suggesting the OP should threaten legal action. I am advising that she sets out a clear way forward, so that there is no confusion from this point on. If the client pays his bill, all good. If he continues to fail to do so, he knows where this will go.

He probably just forgot. Send him a text now.

Red where will it go?

How about ", I am still waiting on your payment of £XX for X nights worth of dog-sitting for . My terms state that payment should be made within 24 hours; that time was exceeded 2 days ago. Please make payment immediately or unfortunately I will not be able to accept in future. Kind regards etc.

Sorry but he sounds like a bit of a twat at this point.

You don't need to get annoyed with him in a text to get your point across, would you not just check tonight say around 8pm when he will most likely have put any kids to bed, had dinner etc. And say something along the lines of "Do you think you could make that payment this evening? Generally I try to ensure all payments are made within 24 hours of pick up or I start losing track. Thanks so much for your understanding."

I don't think there is any reason to be rude, and probably won't be effective. In fact, I'd keep sending a similar polite reminder every couple of days until it's paid.
Incidentally, I think he is a proper dick for not having paid you upon pick up and most certainly wouldn't look after his dog again but until he pays you, you're at his mercy which is why it's worth playing nice until you get the money. I hate people like him.

Actually I wouldn't text again I would phone much harder to casually disregard a request for payment made over the phone. Might make him squirm a little too.

"Hi it's Hoople, just doing my banking and accounts and see that your payment still hasn't come through. Thought it would be quicker to phone so we can get this done tonight are you able to log in to your banking and do this now for me?"

You really should get the money at the start of the dog sitting