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Problems with customers your opinions

J

JOCCO

Well-known Member
This is obviously my fault. I kind of started (with hay this year) and a few other things of saying no to these customers wanting credit, pay a little here and a little there. What I find is funny they would not do this at Tsco, Walmart and the such but all of a sudden they don't need the hay (or other service)!!! A heating oil/gas dealer did the same thing looks like his receivables went to zero and he lost 10% customer base. Myself just getting tired of that crap.
 
Nothing new when I recall my Central Tractor days. There would be people who only wanted 2/3 of a quart of oil or the sale price on dog food from 2 years ago or to layaway a 20 dollar item for twenty months. I understand that people have problems and while I am sympathetic it was my job to look out for the interests of the store.
 
It is not easy, takes give and take, I will give customer credit if they work at paying, and like it when my vendors do the same.
 
One horse; yes we will take your check. More than 1 horse; that will be cash please. 50 years ago, $0.50/bale delivered and stacked.
 
RR: one of my issues is many of these are total strangers not someone you have known for 20-50 years. Local plumber who I grew up with did some work for me so I went to pay him "hadn't got the bill figured" we see each other often so I would ask how much. "been busy will get it later" One year later he came over with the bill and I paid. Funny part was it would only been enough for about a weeks worth of grocery.
 

I have a couple of customers that are always conveniently absent when I do a job for them...I'm to the point where I have too many customers, so guess which ones will get cut first....
 
Jocco-- I just retired as a collection agent for a used car dealer. If you loose 1 account or 10 of these accounts--so what, if you gotta hound them for money, it isn't worth the time to deal with them. Our worst offenders were cowboys and horse owners. Right behind them were people that had 6 or a dozen dogs eating off the paycheck.
 
That is why I am closing my shop. Tired of people bringing me 20 year old junk. Then complain because I can't find parts for it. Then I get to hear the sob stories,while they are driving eighty thousand dollar trucks.
 
I sell cash only , have 2 customers I've let take 20 bales or so but I know them well . Always paid back by next pickup . But new people no credit and if u got a check its 5 bucks a bale.
 
"We don't give credit and the bank don't bale hay."

Amen. If they can't afford feed for their animals, then they shouldn't keep animals.
I would make exceptions for a local farmer/owner who had a barn fire, flood, etc.
But if that's there modus operandi, then no.
 
CASH!!! If your selling good quality product, don't worry,, the payers will find you
 
There was a guy that sold Corvair parts and lived in Arizona who said, "In God I trust and all others pay cash". Another fellow I heard say once to a known deadbeat that he had 3 plans; cash,check or forget it!
 
My business isn't related but I don't extend any credit to anyone I don't know. In fact I ask for half down and the balance on delivery. Customers I've done business with before and know I don't have any problem extending credit for a very long time. Sometimes it takes a year for them to pay completely.
 
When I had my shop I was very strict about paying up or the goods stayed with me. Those who threatened to take buisiness elsewhere were told buisiness required payment otherwise it was mooching, use the correct term!
 
Have terms set up before you do the job. Give an invoice with the terms... when it is due, and what the late fee is.

Ten years ago, when the farm economy sucked, we did a lot of fence row cleaning, and I sold about 2500 ton of rocks. Didn't get rich, but paid for the time removing fence rows and some more. Anyway, I dealt with a lot of landscapers. Sometimes you had to get pretty aggressive to get paid. I had one guy who did a major job for a hospital and bought ten quad axles of boulders for it. And then he tried to stiff me. So after 90 days, I packed a lunch, took a book, and went to his office in my dirty work clothes. He was gone, but his secratary was there... and I told her I wasn't leaving til I got paid. After her calling the guy in the back room, I had a check within minutes. I then drove immediately to his bank, and had it converted to a cashiers check.

Another time I got local law enforcement to rattle the cage of some rich dude. Or at least he had a fancy house... I think his wife was shocked to learn they didn't have any money to pay me when the cops came.

Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do...
 
some people are ok ,,,. but most these credit freebie folx are flippin nutz anymore ,, maybe its because their nanny candidate did nut get to ruin, auuhg... run the country ,.. i found ,,.you are best off to get by without their so called sales if you are not gonna be paid for your efforts,,
 
If your selling a product that can not be reprocessed then you had better not be giving credit on that product. Hay gets turned to manure pretty quickly. Providing a service that has more than your time in it needs to be COD.

I have sold equipment with terms but I always got a good sized down payment. I have done shop work where I carried the labor expense but made the customer pay for all the parts before any work was done. I NEVER give credit on hay or feed. It always has been COD.

I figure the business you lose by not providing credit is not worth having anyway. You can not be the low price seller/service provider and provide credit too.

I have a very good friend that runs a used car lot. He does a lot of the buy here pay here sales. On those cars he gets 20-30% more for the car on top of charging 12-18% interest on the amount financed. He has to work at collection but he is getting PAID for the hassle.
 
Cash is king. I have been buying hay from the same guy for years. Still cash. I don't even ask if he will take a check or put hay out on the arm (credit). Works well for us both. He always has what I need and never let's me run out. I can speak for all I want and he will have it. When spring rolls around and I spoke for more than I have taken I have to take the balance by first cutting paid in full. So far I have hit it real close each year and don't have to buy up excess over a few tons. People can afford animals or they can't. That's it. I used to help out a neighbor now and then that was short on feed and cash. After delivering her hay for a while and not getting paid I cut her off. I did sneak over at night and feed if she was out and I knew it. I was not going to let her animals starve. She finally sold down to what she could afford and promised to pay me back. Never got paid and I never asked. My good deed for the day. Don't be an enabler.

Greg
 
If the number of potential customers is high enough, I'd look at taking credit cards. No, or little risk, to you and could keep them buying. You don't have to use a bank processor any more either. Paypal or Square provides a smart phone attachment that reads the card and deposits into your account with them.

Of course it's not free, but the 3% can be added to the selling price. Local auctions etc, charge 5 to cover the cost and a little extra.
 
Then you get the no shows......and the bad checks. Had a lady try talking me down on price after it was loaded. I've about had enough of the hay business. We've got some really good customers, but have had a few stinkers too.
 
yes ,that is different , i like to help those in need , the look on their face is Priceless when you tell them i am not takin
your money , this load is free , , i gave hay to a fella that had a house fire , he just felt so beatup from the insurance
company trying to duck him , and deck him ,and dik him ,he and his wife was havin troubles all around with that stress , of
not havin a house , he said thru quik welling up tears" jim , i gotta go now ,, but i wont forget this" ,,. the local fire
dept , helpt out by giving him a nice 35ft job site office on wheels ,,////... also boarded flooded out horses ,from the 97 o-
higher- n-higher flood ,. had 7 here with the cows, that went well enuf,,. but a a month later i still had 2 , the flood was
in feb . and i still had them in june ,, the fella and his wife were about to divorce, , just so beat up mentally by
FEMAphkinthem around , and insurancebulshyt,just stressed unecessarily ,, sometimes when i see those carpetbaggers comin thru
here with there bottled water and little tiny craker paks for food , i wanna get my gun and run their lazyprimadona az off
..TRUE STORY ,.. those same people runnin such organizations will come back as a non paying customer for hay ,. thinkin they
are worthy because they helpt out in the flood . man o man , if i had a normal tuf tuf day ,,.i woulda dekt that guy..
 
If he lost 10% of his customer base but has eliminated his bad debt expense he's probably money ahead.
 
I'm not in the tractor repair business, but in an entirely different business where credit can be a problem. 2 things I did to help fix it:

1. Anyone who wants to buy anything has to put money down....10%, 20%, whatever. Until there is some money down, there is no deal. It commits people to the deal and is an important step.
2. I don't "hold" items for anyone. It is truly first come, first served. I can't tell you how many times I've had someone say, over the phone, "I'll take it" and then I never hear from them again.
 
join the club see it everyday in shop, can i pay you when i get chance,or cash discount and that includes tax right? probably be my last summer doing this just way to much bookwork and deal with public. it used to be fun not nowdays.
 

A local small implement dealer/repair shop (used to be our Allis/Claas/Rino dealer) was forced by the bank to close and sell out is year, their dad had bought the business back in the 60's.
Sad part is they had nearly $200 grand on the books from customers that wouldn't pay their bills, most of it was owed by less than a dozen of the bigger farmers in the area that would get mad and threaten to never come back whenever they were asked to pay their bill.
Owner said in hindsight he should have told them to pay up and never come back unless they brought cash with them.
Hated to see them close, now it's a 45 mile drive one way to get parts for some of my equipment and they had one of the best selections of hydraulic fittings and adaptors around.
Don't know how many thousands of dollars worth of fittings and hoses where purchased from them for the two local sawmills I helped built.
 
I spent 13 years in the retail agriculture business. When I looked at my customers and the accounts receivable, I never worried about my small and medium sized customers and their ability to pay. I had my concerns about a sizable portion of my large customers "sticking it to us" when times were lean. There were around 30 percent who had come through the farm crisis of the 1980's under a variety of "finance modifications!"
 
Sometimes some clear signage stating your policies will spell it out for them. It is hard to ask for credit in front of a large sign stating "NO CREDIT" .
 
One word of advice: Keep very good records, easy for anyone to read and understand.
If, god forbid, anything unexpectedly happens to you, your family/heirs will want to know who still owes you. My late father, a very kind and generous man, passed away several years ago. When he did, we really had no idea who owed him what (lots of hay / straw / feed grain deals that were never recorded). He had also loaned out a few small implements that I'm pretty sure we never saw again. Sadly, people aren't always as honest as we assume.
 
i know of one dealer that did that pay up or no more service then is CASH! only no checks.
he said what business he lost was a not a big deal big as the no payers where just that no pay so he wasn't out anything bit the head ache of trying to collect money owed him.
i do business with several who will not let anyone charge less head aches and book keeping.
 
I sell hay..strictly cash before it leaves the property. One guy sent two guys to load a trailer. After it was loaded he called to say he would mail the check tomorrow. I did not know the guy. I told them to unhook the trailer in the barn under roof..and come get it tomorrow. The guy was mad as the dickens, but the check came the next day with the driver. No, I have not seen him again....but I never saw him before either.
 
Like others have said most people are honest. I have close to 80 customers I do mowing, or disking for. The wife does the billing. I have a card file. If I forget to give her the card with the address, and name the bill doesn't get sent out. Most people will call, and tell me they didn't get the bill. I wonder how many others I forgot. I found an old check in my truck one time, that was a few years old. You would think the person who wrote the check knew it didn't get cashed. Then there are others who will send more than the amount on the bill, because they liked the job. Stan
 
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