I posted about it simply because I found it to be a bit humorous, especially after I had to explain it to my husband, as he couldn’t figure out why anyone would do such a thing.
But as a small business owner myself, and currently running the local water authority, I know what it’s like trying to collect from people whom don’t pay. It does matter to small businesses – even the utility companies. The water authority that I work for had buy without a prescription lost money, been way in the red, for the past year, now that the reserve fund is almost depleted… Wait a sec, that’s not what this post is about.
This post is about, or is supposed to be about the things people will do to collect money owed them…
Living in a small town, I’ve seen some pretty bold moves that small business owners will try, trying to collect what’s owed them. Some have worked out wonderfully, others have backfired in the business owner’s face and cost much much more than what’s owed.
But what interests me the most is when people get creative:
A land surveyor after having not been paid for a huge survey and subdivision hanging a laminated sign stating that the landowner whom was selling the land hadn’t paid the bill on it, on the six foot by six foot wooden map showing the lots and prices. While not announcing it publicly to totally shame the guy, it shows thought because anyone thinking of buying a lot saw it. It was targeting the landowners future customers. It also had the intended results, the landowner quickly coughed up tens of thousand of dollars, that he had been claiming he didn’t have.
An accounting firm printing “Past due” on the outside of all invoices that were past due, got them a stern warning from three different law firms, informing them that that is illegal. Ironically enough the law firms found out the accounting firm was doing this, because all three received past due notices.
Copies of bad checks, hung at the checkout lines, facing the customers, not the cashiers at small stores. This seems to be a favorite around here, and probably pretty effective with regular customers as you rarely see the same checks generic cialis best price there again, except at the place where my parents get their rv repair done – that guy never takes the copies of the checks down – EVER!
A landscaper that took back the trees he had planted and never been paid for, resulted in police charges for the landscaper. Guess this one kind of backfired and ended up costing him more.
A mobile home manufacturer sending a truck to hook up to someone’s house to scare them. The company knew they couldn’t move the house, the customer apparently didn’t, but he quickly caught up his account and never again missed a payment.
So what creative ideas have you seen from people trying to collect money?
How far would you go to try and get someone to pay up?
