‘I’d like to see someone try and hold me responsible for 3rd party activity.”
Its done all the time. At the very least you will incur significant legal costs to defend your choice of collection companies.
You are the one who stated you don’t care if your vendors violate the law. And yet you complain about bottom feeders?
I don’t accept credit cards. Thats a business decision. If they want my services they pay a retainer and then as work is completed. Its either a wire transfer or check.
Uncollectable revenue is now 1-2% of total revenue. That cost is figured in my prices as a cost of doing business.
Banks are the worst customers IMO.
As far as IT consulting goes... law firms are the absolute worst. UGH!
“Its done all the time. At the very least you will incur significant legal costs to defend your choice of collection companies.
You are the one who stated you don’t care if your vendors violate the law. And yet you complain about bottom feeders?”
Like I said, we don’t employ anyone to collect our debts, we sell it off to a 3rd party.
Now, if I sell you a hammer, am I responsible for you hammering your neighbors car? You do with it what you want.
At one time we DID hire a collection agency, but the return was only a small percentage more on each claim, but with NO guarantee of the claim. The people we sell to varies, its whoever offers the highest rate, and we sell off usually 2x a year.
Very few small business can afford to do their own collections or hire an agency, most the folks I know through the chamber of commerce and our other business social networking just sell their debt off as an unfunded liability, but in some cases, we can sell it off as a secured liability (where equipment is involved) in which case we can get sometimes %22-%27 on the liability, but its still a guarantee, and it saves us litigation fees and general bad PR with the community. Once we sell the debt, the collector no longer collects in our name, they collect on their own name, and are required to represent themselves as such.
I know they have gone into restaurants and hotels and started dismantling freezers in the middle of the day with a sheriff in tow. The restaurant owner can scream and yell all he wants, he shouldv’e paid his bill.
I also know these agencies are there to put liens on homes, and when you go to sell your home, you will NOT get clean title, and then they tack on all sorts of fees. So, they get their money one way or another.
This IS within the law like it or not, but its dirty business, and something we want nothing to do with anymore, but still, I contend, I have no use for the scumbag who stiffs those he owes money to. I will work with anyone who TRIES to make payments, and we have done that, even if its $10 bucks a month, we will keep the account open, not charge interest (if its a likely story, such as a layoff or divorce, something like that), and not sell your debt, but if you are just a deadbeat, if you give us the runaround, if you start making up excuse after lame excuse then I drive by or one of my service trucks drives by your home and sees a new car, or you are using a landscaper or whatever, I will peg you as a scumbag ASAP (because the fresher the debt, the more they pay us for it), and sell it off.
Now, I’m not defending the collection companies, I am sure they study and get reports on the litigation costs to defend themselves versus various practices to get their money, so however they do it, it must work for them.
If you are getting harassed and you don’t owe anyone money, then by all means, you should retain council, but that is not what we are discussing, we are discussing deadbeats who refuse to pay and who game the system.