Non paying clients

shockym

shockym

New member
If its a first time offense and a general slip up are you sending them a friendly reminder or shutting them down right off the bat? I have most clients setup for an auto suspend after a certain time span has gone by but just wondered if anyone worked this a little different.
 
We send 2 e-mail notices with messages that have increased urgency in their tones stating they will be turned off if billing isn't sorted out within xx period of time and then we send a shutoff notice when that period of time has been reached. We also try to call them prior to shutoff. Good luck.
 
I think sending a reminder or two before sending the shut off notice is a pretty agreeable process. I know I hate when a system is set to just shut off with no reminder and I have to start over again or jump through hoops to get it turned back on. People have busy lives and need reminding here and there.
 
Clients get three warnings, with the final one saying right in the subject line: FINAL NOTICE.

There's one client who has paid on time perhaps four times in six years (quarterly billing, multiple accounts). They just keep paying the late and reconnection fees...and those seem to be the only things that will get them to act. (Maybe they have trouble getting the money from their clients? I have no idea. They've never said a thing, never responded to the initial emails asking if they needed to change the billing cycles. Nothing, nada, zip.)
 
Three warnings, then they must be suspended, still, we keep their files for a month and continue to attempt contact, to see whats going on, sometimes clients get major issues in their lives, where they can't get online for weeks, but still want their files. Normally we come to some arrangement and everyone wins, some just leave, some get angry then leave.
 
We personally feel that it's better to send some non-automated friendly emails to the clients. This is more likely going to make them order hosting from you again.

Although this is only the way we feel works best from experience.
 
Mark, it might be your client base that does it. I have never really noticed a difference between personal/auto emails about late bills. Client Exec sends them out for me after the 24 mark on when its due. Depending the client I can usually tell why its late. I have one client that is about 22 (and no offense to others this age group) and has issues remembering what is in his bank account. The first email he gets he calls me and goes "oops". This has happened about 4x in the past 2 years, and each time I keep reminding him that banks do offer online service to see whats in the account besides calling them on the phone. :D Lucky hes a kid brother almost to me, but that never stopped me when I need to collect his bill. ;)
 
Automatic withdrawal is the best option to avoid billing issues with customers. Setup paypal subscription and that's all. When a subscription got canceled, just notify customer once and suspend the account in the next 24 hours.
 
I think a couple of warnings before taking action would be the best. Three seems a bit much to me but if it works then why not. You could also think about having a "reconnection" fee because of non/late payment be a bit higher just as another way of getting your point across.

Chris
 
Sending a reminder email/letter before the due date might help some of them that have a history of simply forgetting to pay. This in addition to the bill itself. And then a friendly reminder when they are late, followed by more stern one and then a final notice with shut-off say a week later or a few days, depending on how its sent.
 
I give my cleints 3 warnings then suspension and after 30 days of no contact/payment from that clients, I teminate the account from the servers.
 
You know they say that many things come in three's, even your name has a three in it! :D

We still do the auto email reminder, well I don't - Client Exec does for me (it runs over at midnight). And need I even mention the almost brother type that I talked about before, called me up and tells me "I'm going to pop the question to my girl, but I just went over my budget at the bank, and transfered money from one account to the other, my hosting will be paid a day late".

:D
 
Well you know that's all well and good for him but it's lucky that he is family because anywhere else he might have been refused, or turned off till it was paid. I mean, you know the truth but so many places will have just heard every excuse in the book, and be completely sick of them.
 
If you provide a stable hosting solution that keeps your customers happy they will generally pay on time anyway.

We operate a policy where by they have 2 days after the invoice due date to pay or their service gets suspended. 1 Week after due date a 5% charge gets added to their invoice. 1 Month after due date we arrange collection of funds.

We have never had any complaints about our policies and people always pay on time. I think sometimes you need to show clients that you do mean business. This also attracts a lot more business clients that are willing to pay more money and clients that expect an outstanding service.

Hope this helps
 
You always need to show they that you mean business I don't doubt that at all, but sometimes there are clients who think they can get away with things like that. I actually had someone ask me recently if they were allowed to try our services for 3 months w/o paying - it makes me wonder where these people come from sometimes. :D
 
I have many clients signing up with me, but most of them signs up just signing up for an e-mail account. No trail after that. Just a load full database with no currencies on line........yikes....
 
We follow a 3 warning process as stated in the client service agreement. it is not good customer service to take a site down on the first non payment. Sometimes they forget to change their card or they have other things that they are doing. Either way, giving them a warning save you from having to deal with upset customers when they call wondering why their site is down.
 
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