Being hounded for payment

[JJPP1234]

I've had a guy in decorating my lounge. The job took a couple of days and he finished today at 4.30. When he was leaving he asked how I wanted to pay so I asked if bank transfer would be ok. He said fine and emailed his details immediately.
An hour later I've looked at my phone and I've had 5 text messages and a missed call plus voicemail asking where his money is.
AIBU to have not paid him (I've done it now - was going to wait for DH to get home and i was making dinner) within an hour of him leaving my house?

[petbear]

Of COURSE she would have had the cash if the decorator has said he wanted payment immediately. Because she would have known about it, and got the money beforehand!!!

Some people on here really don't know how to work out basic shit do they?!

[MrsKoala]

When we have our carpets it's fairly standard you pay for the carpets at the shop and pay the fitters cash on the day. They make that clear. When you have trade come in for unspecified work it's different i think.

[BigBaboonBum]

I’d pay immediately.
Obviously this was somebody who had done a job and needed the money, maybe to feed their family, maybe to pay a bill - it doesn’t matter why, but they did the job and should have been paid when they did, imo.

[Sassychiccy]

Oh come on Big. I work every day and I don’t get paid for it until 4 weeks later...

[nancy75]

Working PAYE is nothing like being a tradesman.

[Spartasprout]

The money should have been there to pay him, or the transfer should have been done immediately. We have a business supplying soft furnishings, and we never leave a property without the customer fully checking they are satisfied with their fitted purchase, and with payment made (either in cash or by bank transfer). Got burned once, no one gets the opportunity to do it again. The best payers are people in social housing or small terraces - they always have their payment ready.

[mumofthemonsters808]

Never in all my years of having jobs done, have I not paid immediately upon completion.If I did not have the funds to pay a tradesman straight away, I wouldn't have the work done.I presumed this was the way everyone operated.

[JacquesHammer]

If he was that desperate for the money he shouldn’t have said he took payment by bank transfer.

He had ample opportunity to organise payment in a different way.

Loving all the “what if” sob stories.

[MrsKoala]

My Dad is an electrician who retired 5 years ago. Never once has he been paid on the job. No one has ever offered. He's always done a written estimate, done the job, sent an invoice, waited for a cheque. All of his friends did the same. He is shocked at what trades people expect today.

[BigBaboonBum]

Sassychiccy - Salary works differently. I expect to be paid once a month or whatever the contact says... If a tradesperson is working job to job then s/he should be paid job to job

[rwalker]

completely unprofessional if he's that bother had should of stated when you got a quote when he was finished he would like you to check the work and wants paying there and then .He completely hounded you contacting you 7 times in 1 hour .Wouldn't use him again or if you do get a quote and bluntly say how you felt and it was unprofessional 'the guy's running a bussines need to have his term and conditions sorted .had something similar with my front door he ordered it and said it would be roughly a week .Door came in a couple of days he fitted (smashed old door off to get in and put new key through letter box we agreed this) came home at 7.30 got 3 calls asking for money told him i would get it tomorrow as could only get £200 out of atm which i offered to do and pay rest in chq he kicked off "saying sick of this" told him if he would of rung me during the day could of got the money yet it was still my fault for not having £1100 in cash in the house I had offered a deposit when ordered but he said pay me when its done .Best was when had done the door mention about replacing a couple of windows when i paid he asked me if i wanted a quote ,said no and explained why and shut my new front door on him felt a bit intimidated by the whole thing very unpleasant

[PonderLand]

@Spartasprout I'm sure that you're company makes payments clear with a receipt so your payment terms are clear to customers.

Checking a sofa for damage takes significantly less time than checking plumbing/electrics/plastering/decorating/brickwork. When I have work done like that I usually ask my dad to come round to check it over. I never feel confident enough when the builders are there to query any of my concerns until I know that it isn't done to a reasonable standard.

[Spartasprout]

@Ponderland you're right, they sign upfront and know exactly what's expected of them. I think builders are different to a painter/decorator though.

With builders we always do staged payments and my DH purchases their supplies from trade suppliers, final payment is only given on completion of work.

Decorators, gardeners etc we always pay on the day of completion without fail, whether they've asked us to or not.

[HolyShet]

I think some posters here are just oblivious about the way small trades/sole traders operate. Round here it's cash on completion.

[HolyShet]

Also a tons of otherwise apparently reasonable and perfectly nice people are shocking for taking the piss and not paying.

[brownelephant]

then the trades
erson should make that clear before taking on the job and provide a good receipt/invoice before leaving.

[HolyShet]

Why would she have cash? Presuming it’s several hundred pounds?

Because she'd procured the work, having agreed a price.

[lottiegarbanzo]

If someone asks me to pay cash, I assume they're trying to dodge tax - because the very few times that's happened, they admitted or implied they were.

For small jobs, like a locksmith, I've paid on the spot by cheque or more recently by card - they had a portable machine.

For anything over £500 it's always been by invoice and bank transfer, promptly but in my own time.

For longer projects, sometimes payment by installments as the work progresses and materials need to be paid for, with balance on completion.

[ButDoYouAvocado]

I ask for same day payment but make sure the client knows before i undertake the job. I think he is wrong on 2 counts, 1. By not being clear about when he wanted payment and 2. By ringing 5 times. I usually just send a polite message the next day and thats all it takes.

[IrregularCommentary]

We had a plumber in to fit a new boiler before Christmas. He left around 6pm and I think I bank transferred him the money around 8pm once I'd got dd (baby) to sleep and had some food.

He text to thank me for prompt payment, which I also thought it was.

Don't think op has done anything wrong tbh. There's clearly been a miscommunication about expectations, but that's the decorator's job to be clear on his payment terms, not op to guess them.

[BringMeTea]

I am also surprised by so many people thinking his behaviour is reasonable. All tradies I have employed have invoiced. Usually get that a couple of days later through the letterbox. I now feel guilty that it has sometimes been about a week until we have paid after receipt. I will definitely pay asap after invoice henceforth but this guy was OTT and very off-putting.

Disclaimer - NRTWT, things may have moved on...

[SprinkleCakeLollipop]

Yanbu. I've encountered zero tradesmen who expect payment there and then unless we agreed it beforehand. Some prefer a bank transfer over faffing with cheques or cash.

We use a local garage that won't even take payment on collection because they need time to work out the bill so invoice everyone later although it's the first garage I've come across that does that.

I think some posters here are just oblivious about the way small trades/sole traders operate. Round here it's cash on completion

no. They're really not.

[BothersomeCrow]

Just to clarify, sending more than two texts was unreasonable, unless it was a phone glitch. But I can understand him assuming you were doing it the minute he left and then worrying an hour later if the money didn't show up.

We did pay for our kitchen in installments by bank transfer (so over 10k a time), but everything else up to say 5k has been cash to save on bank charges (some may have been fiddling tax but certainly not all).

[Allthecoolkids]

That is ridiculous behaviour on his part. And it would completely backfire on me because I would never use him again, and probably warn other people off using him too.

[PurpleRobe]

Did he give you an invoice with payment terms on it?