Credit Card Only

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XxJamesAxX

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After being burned majorly twice in the last few months with big accounts running up a balance and not paying we are making the switch to credit cards only for all new accounts and any account that doesn't have a solid track record of paying there bill on time with us.

We are gonna require the card to be on file and each case to be charged at time of shipment. If they don't like that they can send it somewhere else I'm absolutely tired of dealing with past due balances.

I've read John Wilson's post on this many times and it's time for us to listen.

The reason for our switch and my rant is to bring awareness and hopefully others will make the switch before getting burned as we have.

1st burning. Account had actually been with us for several years and was always a late payer. Constantly requiring phone calls to get money. Well long story short he finally quit communicating with us and it turns out he is filing bankruptcy and retiring. Quit paying several different labs and suppliers in his last few months and Pocketing the money then filing bankruptcy on the debt. $8500 burning for us.

2nd burning - we get a call from a new account in Florida. They have 6 offices and are upfront they do lots of work. First month they collectively send $8700 worth of work. After a couple weeks into month 2 when we start trying to collect the money for month 1 they quit sending work and quit communicating with us. We are still trying to work on this collection but haven't got a penny of our almost 10 grand they owe us.

It's hard enough trying to be successful in this field without these kind or setbacks guys. We've been very lucky over our almost 10 years of being open but these two burning hurt very bad. This is money that could of been reinvested in our business and employees in many ways.

Something for everyone to think about.


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2thm8kr

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Most all of my clients and every out of town client is on credit card payment. They are charged before I even do the work or I don't bother with the case. I am a small operation and don't have the time to keep track of who owes what from what month etc. I am sure I miss out on a lot of business with this policy, but I haven't been burned since going this route.
 
JMN

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Most all of my clients and every out of town client is on credit card payment. They are charged before I even do the work or I don't bother with the case. I am a small operation and don't have the time to keep track of who owes what from what month etc. I am sure I miss out on a lot of business with this policy, but I haven't been burned since going this route.
How did you manage payment before service? Run their card when the case is received?
 
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All of my clients but one dinosaur who pays with check are on CC, they are charged one a month when the statement is sent out.
 
JMN

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I have signed agreements for backup, but only one wants to pay this way. One has a check waiting at delivery, one mails it that evening, none have ever been over 32-35days, except one time when a doc misunderstood thaey were on monthly net 30 instead of casely 30 days. All new accts are going on 1st of the month auto processing.

As for recevables traking, my invoicing program does that for me and tells me if I need Guido to pay a visit.
 
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I have signed agreements for backup, but only one wants to pay this way.
That's weird since they collect decent reward points on their CC's... which could be used towards flight/goodies etc...
 
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XxJamesAxX

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All of my clients but one dinosaur who pays with check are on CC, they are charged one a month when the statement is sent out.

I have some that pay with credit already and they all get billed at end of month when statement is sent out. Problem with that and what I want to avoid moving forward is large accounts can rack up several thousand in one month. Even if they provide you a credit card at the beginning if you wait until the end of the month to run it then it fails you can be on the hook for several thousand. Only way I can think to avoid this is to charge per case.




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XxJamesAxX

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For years we never had any trouble. But IMO the world we are living in will only get worse and this problem will only get more and more common. We gotta protect ourselves as much as we can.


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XxJamesAxX

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I have signed agreements for backup, but only one wants to pay this way. One has a check waiting at delivery, one mails it that evening, none have ever been over 32-35days, except one time when a doc misunderstood thaey were on monthly net 30 instead of casely 30 days. All new accts are going on 1st of the month auto processing.

As for recevables traking, my invoicing program does that for me and tells me if I need Guido to pay a visit.

Problem is if they decide to quit paying you by check the chances are that card that is authorized for backup won't go thru either when the time comes.


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zero_zero

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Even if they provide you a credit card at the beginning of you wait until the end of the month to run it then it fails you can be on the hook for several thousand. Only way I can think to avoid this is to charge per case.
It happens once in a while when their CC declines...then they receive a friendly phone call to pay up, all their cases go on hold till that happens.
 
JMN

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Problem is if they decide to quit paying you by check the chances are that card that is authorized for backup won't go thru either when the time comes.


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I know, but most of these guys here still look at even checkbooks with distrust. It was interesting getting agrrements as it was. I'm in the position of having handshake trust with the majority of my clients. The only time any of the active docs in my immediate neighborhood went bad on bills was when their internal moneyhandlers took them for a ride on the embezslement express.
 
2thm8kr

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I have some that pay with credit already and they all get billed at end of month when statement is sent out. Problem with that and what I want to avoid moving forward is large accounts can rack up several thousand in one month. Even if they provide you a credit card at the beginning if you wait until the end of the month to run it then it fails you can be on the hook for several thousand. Only way I can think to avoid this is to charge per case.




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Charge weekly or by case. You can't leave the grocery store without paying upfront. I don't see how the lab business is any different. The patient is expected to pay at the time services are rendered.
The older generation pushes back a bit on this, but the newer guys not so much.
 
rkm rdt

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The only one to stiff me was a dental technician named Harold Bennett from Newfoundland.
I will hunt you to the end of the earth you effing prick.
 
JMN

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The only one to stiff me was a dental technician named Harold Bennett from Newfoundland.
I will hunt you to the end of the earth you effing prick.
If you're serious, I know a guy who knows a guy that can find anyone. Not cheap, but effective. Tracks bail jumpers nobody else can find.
 
rkm rdt

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I've been watching Joe Pesci movies for ideas.
 
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The only one to stiff me was a dental technician named Harold Bennett from Newfoundland.
I will hunt you to the end of the earth you effing prick.
Harold Bennett
RDT- Owner/Operator at Artisan Impressions Dental Lab
Newfoundland And Labrador, Canada
 
rkm rdt

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Harold Bennett
RDT- Owner/Operator at Artisan Impressions Dental Lab
Newfoundland And Labrador, Canada
I know. His profile is on Linked in. Ph # is dis connected
 

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