The Roof Cleaning Institute Of America Training & Certification Forum
"Find A Certified Roof Cleaner Directory"

Roof Cleaning Raleigh NC · Sep 18, 2012

Letter of intent??

Guest

Anyone have a good, proven, letter of intent to lein that you'll share? Key words here are proven and good.

Either that or I'll be calling Ed Thomspon to see what he charges to break legs NJ style down my way. I'm getting really tired of chasing dead beat customers for payment. I think I'll have the mailman do it.

Guest

or you could secure each job with a credit card.

Roof Cleaning New Jersey · Sep 18, 2012

I'll do it for a 6-pack of Old Milwaukee and a pack of Pall Mall's (unfiltered of course)

Guest

Roof Cleaning New Jersey wrote:
I'll do it for a 6-pack of Old Milwaukee and a pack of Pall Mall's (unfiltered of course)

Man, you ARE a rough character LOL!! (As Mr. Thompson reads this while cruising the Jersey Turnpike from the comfort of his Range Rover with smooth jass playing in the background)

Guys - I realize there are lots of other options out there, yet I'm quite happy with the model I have in place. I just might need a little strong-arm letter once in a while. Haven't yet, but I'm getting impatient with one particular client. I'll let the county deal with them unless a proven LOI does the trick first..

Roof Cleaning New Jersey · Sep 18, 2012

People are so accessible until the job is done. Or the customer who's house you finish then they go away for 4 days without letting you know. Cuz we are all villain businesses, heartless with no emotion. We're the phone company, with some fancy marble stoned corporate headquarters.

Its hard not to be emotional about collecting debt. Feelings of anger and deceit overwhelm us. Ive been embarrassed in a few situations: leaving long messages on voicemails like a 9th grader during a bad break up. We have to remember to maintain our composure to think and act like businessmen, trying our best not to act on emotion. We'll all take lumps and learn some lessons along the way. No one reads people the way we do. We can almost say customers words and questions before they even think it.

I feel for you Ted if youre going through this. It really sucks. Its a double swing when we dont get paid. Its our time, material and overhead plus the money we didnt get.

Guest

Roof Cleaning New Jersey wrote:
People are so accessible until the job is done. Or the customer who's house you finish then they go away for 4 days without letting you know. Cuz we are all villain businesses, heartless with no emotion. We're the phone company, with some fancy marble stoned corporate headquarters.

Its hard not to be emotional about collecting debt. Feelings of anger and deceit overwhelm us. Ive been embarrassed in a few situations: leaving long messages on voicemails like a 9th grader during a bad break up. We have to remember to maintain our composure to think and act like businessmen, trying our best not to act on emotion. We'll all take lumps and learn some lessons along the way. No one reads people the way we do. We can almost say customers words and questions before they even think it.

I feel for you Ted if youre going through this. It really sucks. Its a double swing when we dont get paid. Its our time, material and overhead plus the money we didnt get.

Very well said Ed. I would have said - it pizzes me off..lol You are far more more eloquent We've never been burned, at least not yet. However we're at a point where chasing down dead-beats is not a good use of time. It can be very irratating that's for sure. Just over a week ago we had over 9k in accounts receivable! It's down to about $1600 now. Final late notices just went out - next are the intent to lein notices hence this purpose of this post.

Appreciate your input as always.

MJ · Sep 19, 2012

We had a 75 year old lady call and complain that we missed a spot on the bottom of the gutter, we drove 50 minutes to touch it up and she would not let us, when we ask for payment, even a partial payment, she grabbed her head and said that she was so upset that she felt a stroke coming on and it was our fault.

Guest

MJ wrote:
We had a 75 year old lady call and complain that we missed a spot on the bottom of the gutter, we drove 50 minutes to touch it up and she would not let us, when we ask for payment, even a partial payment, she grabbed her head and said that she was so upset that she felt a stroke coming on and it was our fault.

Holy cow! I respect the heck out of our seniors but that's slimey!

Whaddya do next?

Guest

I would have dialed 911 and told them that the lady is having a stroke over the bill i just handed her could you come and make sure she's fine so i can get paid. Thanks.

Roof Cleaning New Jersey · Sep 19, 2012

That funny Mike. I would not hesitate to call the cops for Theft of Services. Even though they will show up and not really do much about it, hopefully it would shame them into paying. and if you dont have a signed contract, which is something we rarely have, you have no pull.

When I feel like Im getting jerked around I daydream of loading a paint ball gun and....well, you know.

sweetwaterfish · Guest

We've been fortunate so far. But my wife wears three main hats: sales, collections, and office mgt. She's brutal when it comes to collections. These commercial accounts are brutal on the length of time they take to pay and it takes weekly harassment to sometimes get the check in the mail. We've had a couple of months where we've been out 20k in billing for 30+ days. It hurts to carry those kind of costs!

Guest

Roof Cleaning New Jersey wrote:
That funny Mike. I would not hesitate to call the cops for Theft of Services. Even though they will show up and not really do much about it, hopefully it would shame them into paying. and if you dont have a signed contract, which is something we rarely have, you have no pull.

When I feel like Im getting jerked around I daydream of loading a paint ball gun and....well, you know.

Ed - I know absolutely nothing about Jersey, but in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a verbal contract is binding up to $500. Anything greater than $500 needs to be in writng to be legally enforcable.

Roof Cleaning New Jersey · Sep 19, 2012

Either way Ted, I sell 98% on the phone with no contract. If I feel I'm about to lose the sale, I hit them with: " I'll tell you what Mr. or Mrs. Whatever, we will come and do the work. When you come home today look around, really check it out good. When your satisfied with the job give us a call tomorrow and make a credit card payment over the phone." They really like this because they get a chance to taste and feel it before they make a payment. It let's them feel safe about doing business with us and also let's em know your confident in what your doing.

Most poeple just want the cleaning done. If they commit they usually have all intentions of paying. If they insist on being there it usually means they finicky, which is ok too.

I was talking to Mike earlier about a woman who dictated when we can come according to the weather. She finally let us come and my guys told her that cleaning the moss from the pavers would result in losing some sand. She was ok with it until she lost the sand. She authorized half the payment and she'll call us when her husband comes home to look at it. Well, her husband finally called 2 weeks later when he got the statement complaining that we charged the full amount. He probably would of never called if we didnt charge the full amount. Making a big deal about he whined and yet I have no problem sending the guys back to fix it. They could care less that we went without payment and they just make their own rules as they go. I felt a little vindicated, like I finally won one.

Sep 19, 2012

All states are different in N.Y. it would be reffered to civil court. Theft of service is enforced for Taxi cabs and restaurants, you either pay or spend the night no and ifs or buts...I think thats about it. So if you didn't pay a lady of the evening it would not be theft of services as one would think....the John is arrested for engaging in prostitution although I forget what its called.

sweetwaterfish · Guest

Roof Cleaning Long Island N.Y 516-763-4108 wrote:

So if you didn't pay a lady of the evening it would not be theft of services as one would think....the John is arrested for engaging in prostitution although I forget what its called.

I think the legal term is "double screwing a hooker"

Sep 19, 2012

LOL very good

RCIA Founder

Roof Cleaning New Jersey wrote:
Either way Ted, I sell 98% on the phone with no contract. If I feel I'm about to lose the sale, I hit them with: " I'll tell you what Mr. or Mrs. Whatever, we will come and do the work. When you come home today look around, really check it out good. When your satisfied with the job give us a call tomorrow and make a credit card payment over the phone." They really like this because they get a chance to taste and feel it before they make a payment. It let's them feel safe about doing business with us and also let's em know your confident in what your doing.

Most poeple just want the cleaning done. If they commit they usually have all intentions of paying. If they insist on being there it usually means they finicky, which is ok too.

I sell this way too, and try my best to get out of the customer being there (I don't want them to see how fast we are)!

Ugly Shingles LLC · Sep 23, 2012

Roof Cleaning Northern Virginia (571) 250 9650 wrote:

Anyone have a good, proven, letter of intent to lein that you'll share? Key words here are proven and good.
Either that or I'll be calling Ed Thomspon to see what he charges to break legs NJ style down my way. I'm getting really tired of chasing dead beat customers for payment. I think I'll have the mailman do it.

Ted,

I have Business in a box Pro and this is the lien they provided.

( Check your email I sent you some files :)

The Roof Cleaning Institute Of America Training & Certification Forum "Find A Certified Roof Cleaner Directory"

The Roof Cleaning Institute Of America Training & Certification Forum
"Find A Certified Roof Cleaner Directory"