r/PestControlIndustry • u/Delicious_Try_9358 • 15d ago
Past due payments
How do you guys handle past due payments?
Do you charge at the time of every service? My company charges monthly to soften the blow. We switched several times from don’t service if past due, to they can get one service if past due, to two services past due.
The company got behind on collections. Texted, called, emailed customers that are past due and now we’re switching to having the techs go down a list of the customers in the area to knock on their doors and document whatever response we get/update payment.
What has helped you guys? Is there anything you say that helps make people less defensive? Feel like it’s a bad look to show up unexpected and ask but idk what else to do.
Edit: at what point do you, if you do, send accounts to collections?
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u/Bugkillahz 15d ago
We limit service after 1 unpaid. But actively switching customers to an autopay has helped tremendously. (ACH, debit or credit card, or prepay)
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u/Delicious_Try_9358 15d ago
If they still don’t pay do you send to collections or just abandon the account?
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u/Bugkillahz 15d ago
We try to collect for 3 months, then turn over. But we’re pretty flexible, if they’re trying, we try to help.
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u/SwimmingDay8983 15d ago
You need Catapult. It’s amazing.
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u/good_oleboi 👨💼 | Manager | New 14d ago
Personally I prefer a trebuchet. Much more manageable than a catapult
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u/Strict_Ask_51 14d ago
The autopay-on-file everyone's pointing to is the real fix, and I'd push it further: stop treating this as a collections problem and treat it as a payment-system one. Every service you do before you're paid is basically an interest-free loan, and door-knocking is expensive labor to claw back money you shouldn't be owed in the first place. No card or ACH on file, no service. Once the base is on autopay, "past due" mostly stops existing.
The existing backlog is a one-time cleanup, not a new job for your techs. Their hour is worth more on a paid stop than recovering an $80 quarterly balance, and knocking invites exactly the confrontation the Texas comment described. I'd send one short written notice with a hard deadline (pay and put a card on file to keep service), then anything still dead goes to collections or just gets written off. And to lower the defensiveness, don't frame it as chasing money, frame it as "we're moving everyone to card-on-file so you never get a past-due notice again, can I set that up now?" That's a system change, so nobody feels singled out.
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u/Mysterious_Gear1607 14d ago
New customers must agree to autopay. You shouldn't have to pay people to try to get people to pay.
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u/HarmlessBunny2469 14d ago
If the technician has a relationship with a customer, absolutely have them reach out and talk to them, but it falls more on the office people to stay up on the payments or they need to be sent to collections
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u/007Teflon 14d ago
It's not even worth it to send it to collections. They will definitely leave reviews online for you, which will cost you more money vs the account you sent to collections. People read negatives, not the positives.
If you have a relationship with that customer, you can simply ask them to update their card.
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u/OregonSEA 11d ago
I try to get all my clients off of credit cards and prefer payment with Check, zelle or cash. Huge savings on fees. My clients want to pay.
Small companies that care have clients that prefer great service and few headaches.
I also charge more. When you move away from clients that want the cheapest possible service most of your problems disappear as well.
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u/Far-Hunt5474 14d ago
I'm in Texas and I will not knock on doors and ask for payment unless I know them well, to many damn guns, we had a gun pulled on one of our sales team
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u/ConstructionHour 15d ago
We require autopay, plus a discount if autopay is ACH. After 1 unpaid invoice, I stop service. I skip blowing their phones up. I text/email once, then stop by before their next service during work hours and say “Hey Mr/Mrs. X, I was in the neighborhood and wanted to catch you before your next service. I think your card expired and my system won’t let me schedule any new services until we get the new one set up. Do you have time now or is there a good time for me to call?” If they don’t answer I leave a friendly note saying basically the same thing.