Cancellations

[robbieraven]

Be interested to hear how everybody deals with these, of course things happen but I got a call Sunday evening that has left me empty for 2-3 days this week, just suck it up I suppose

 

[Qwerty]

I have T&C's I serve with every quote or estimate which covers this scenario. I always ask for a deposit but I know a lot of tradesman don't like this. Always worked for me though [emoji106]

 

[Andy Allen]

I have T&C's I serve with every quote or estimate which covers this scenario. I always ask for a deposit but I know a lot of tradesman don't like this. Always worked for me though [emoji106]

What do your t/c say about a cancel job?
Is it just the deposite they lose? Or do you invoice them for loss of earnings..

 

[Andy Allen]

Be interested to hear how everybody deals with these, of course things happen but I got a call Sunday evening that has left me empty for 2-3 days this week, just suck it up I suppose

This pees me off to. Get few a year cancel at the last minute. ......if they were self employed maybe they could understand how much it can cost us. .

 

[Qwerty]

What do your t/c say about a cancel job?
Is it just the deposite they lose? Or do you invoice them for loss of earnings..

"You may cancel your order with no charge by informing us within 14 days of the order being placed. We Plan Tec Tiling & Wet Room Solutions *reserve the right to retain any deposits made if the cancellation terms are breached"

Under UK consumer law you would be on very sticky ground trying to write loss of earnings into any T&C's (would be deemed an unlawful term). You would have to try your luck in a court claim for that really

 

[Andy Allen]

"You may cancel your order with no charge by informing us within 14 days of the order being placed. We Plan Tec Tiling & Wet Room Solutions *reserve the right to retain any deposits made if the cancellation terms are breached"

Under UK consumer law you would be on very sticky ground trying to write loss of earnings into any T&C's (would be deemed an unlawful term). You would have to try your luck in a court claim for that really

Do you take a deposit on every job even if your not supplying any materials..?

 

[Qwerty]

Yes

 

[Andy Allen]

Fair play .....I think I would lose work if I insisted on a deposit on a £300 job that I wasn't supplying any materials on..

 

[On one]

I have just had a domestic customer on the phone tonight trying to delay a full week of tiling work by a week, because they and the joiner aren't up to speed.
No can do....it's been booked in for 3 months and my other work can't be brought forward.

 

[andy8758]

I find this a frequent annoyance. I try and keep things moving by:
- Try customers who are waiting - this can work, or even reduce the lost time from one week to a few days.
- Keep some personal work to one side for such gaps.
- Go onto a trade web site, and buy an appropriate lead - I have done a few jobs for people who want the work done immediately, discuss in detail what the sub-strata /tiles/material requirements are, agree conditions on the phone. Then go for it. Works best for "tile-in-day" style jobs.
- Offer cancelling customer a date 8 weeks ahead - on hearing this they somehow find the enthusiasm to re-arrange things to reduce the delay or even cancel the cancellation!

Then again I get at least one phone enquiry a month from people who say "The tiler I wanted to do the job has now cancelled......"

 

[On one]

I think rearranging a date 8 weeks later would definitely concentrate the mind a bit!

 

[Andy Allen]

Offer him another date in 8 weeks then cancle it the day before. ...see how he likes it..lol

 

[kilty55]

deposits for every job even small jobs just take a smaller deposit relevant to the job cost will sort this out, used to get this sometimes too but its stopped since i went the deposit route

 

[widler]

Unfortunately I just think it's part of the trade, some jobs have hidden problems and can run over , I'm sure even some on here have got behind on some jobs, s few days here and there, when you do , do you ring the customer up and give them a discount ?????
Yes it's a pain , more so when you have a couple of employees , I just juggle , but taking a deposit (I would if I'm buying materials on a big job, say a grands worth or more) it's like holding them to ransom[emoji33] [emoji379]
Just my opinion like [emoji41]

 

[andy8758]

If you make it clear in your quote that deposit is required then the customer can make decision whether or not to accept. I don't think that unduly bad, and I would not consider that is "holding them to ransom."

it it all depends (to me) on the value of the work. I have lost a lot of sleep on customers owing me several thousand pounds. On bathroom conversations I now require materials paid and delivered to customer, and staged labour costs. A friend in the roofing trade went bankrupt on one customer failing to pay. I learnt from his lesson.

 

[Andy Allen]

I think wilder makes a valid point. . (For once:lol
What if you take a deposit and over run on a previous job are they then entitled to a reduction, a free job.....there money back. ...that then puts you back to square one again

 

[widler]

If you make it clear in your quote that deposit is required then the customer can make decision whether or not to accept. I don't think that unduly bad, and I would not consider that is "holding them to ransom."

it it all depends (to me) on the value of the work. I have lost a lot of sleep on customers owing me several thousand pounds. On bathroom conversations I now require materials paid and delivered to customer, and staged labour costs. A friend in the roofing trade went bankrupt on one customer failing to pay. I learnt from his lesson.

If it's thousands of pounds on materials , then fair enough, but most of my jobs are not massive, maybe a full house to plaster , maybe £1300 in matts, but my merchants give me 30/60 days so I wait to get paid ,then pay them.
Think I've had 2 non payers and they are the BIG nationwide company's who I never work for anymore, most big building firms are tossers with the subbies .

I also have mates who have gone bankrupt through none payments, but it tends to be thousands upon thousands they go for, (again big company's who treat you like ****)it's usually massive jobs not little bathrooms .
I'm ALWAYS owed a few grand , Most of it is labour though, I'd be a insomniac if I always worried about thousands owed

Any hoo, it's just my opinion, but most of my work if not all is word of mouth or builders I have known most of my working life so I suppose I don't need to ask for a deposit [emoji106]

 

[widler]

I think wilder makes a valid point. . (For once:lol
What if you take a deposit and over run on a previous job are they then entitled to a reduction, a free job.....there money back. ...that then puts you back to square one again

I'm touched [emoji15]

 

[Time's Ran Out]

There's two seperate issues here deposits/cancellations and deposits/overruns .
The first you keep the deposit.
The second you inform them of the delay and see if they accept the inconvenience or return their deposit.
If you do the work and they don't pay, what good is it to have a trade account - apart from still having to pay for materials 30/60 days after you haven't been paid.
When you've put your family under pressure because you've not been paid you have a different view of this business.

 

[widler]

There's two seperate issues here deposits/cancellations and deposits/overruns .
The first you keep the deposit.
The second you inform them of the delay and see if they accept the inconvenience or return their deposit.
If you do the work and they don't pay, what good is it to have a trade account - apart from still having to pay for materials 30/60 days after you haven't been paid.
When you've put your family under pressure because you've not been paid you have a different view of this business.

I don't see it that way john, both exactly the same just from both sides of the spectrum.
The customers job has run over, you wait, your job has run over ,they wait.

I agree if they ring up the day before and say they don't want it doing now, ok fair enough, they are knobjockeys.
John, not sure if that's aimed at me, the family under pressure bit, but I've been self employed since the early 90s , the wife is self employed as as well, been through the poo many a time.
But hell if folk get a deposit then good on them, I've never done it, I remember some folk years ago start charging for estimates, didn't last long