Am I doing the right thing - payment related

[PrettyFlowers]

I have a lad just started with me, payment is due on a monday each week. On his first week with me I was paid at the end of the week by bank transfer and they paid me the one week in arrears and 1 week in advance. Now its payment time again and on monday she said that she would transfer the money that day, it didn't happen.. I have texted asking for payment, and she hasn't responded, yesterday I texted giving her the total figure for the week gone and week in advance, no responce, no payment. I have texted her again today at lunchtime saying that if payment isn't in my account by the end of the day then I will be enforcing the late payment charge of £5 per day as stated in the contract, she still hasn't responded.

Am I right to do this? She hasn't paid me yet still so I will have to charge her late payment fees from tomorrow. I haven't had to charge anyone late payment fees yet as I like to give parents a little flexibility.

I prefer to deal with things like this via text as I tend to back down if I speak to them on the phone, also I have a record of the correspondence.

[mum24]

If you have stated these terms in your contract and she has signed, then you have every right to enforce the late fees.
I know it can be difficult to do things like this at times, but you have given her the chance to respond and speak to you about any difficulties she may be having, and she has not done that, so she is really not leaving you much choice.
Maybe she will learn from this and you won't have problems in future.

[MrsP2C]

Assuming you sort out this immediate late payment I'd be putting her on monthly rather than weekly payment.

[kats]

I had this happen so many times when i first started minding but im a lot tougher now and parents are told at the very beginning that if they dont pay upfront i dont mind,rightly or wrongly it works!!! i never have any non payment issues :)

[Candy apple]

is she hasnt paid you and hasnt replied maybe she hasnt got any money for phone credit. it doesnt make an excuse for her not paying but it may be why she isn't answering. if you phone her up you will know.

[bunyip]

I have a lad just started with me, payment is due on a monday each week. On his first week with me I was paid at the end of the week by bank transfer and they paid me the one week in arrears and 1 week in advance. Now its payment time again and on monday she said that she would transfer the money that day, it didn't happen.. I have texted asking for payment, and she hasn't responded, yesterday I texted giving her the total figure for the week gone and week in advance, no responce, no payment. I have texted her again today at lunchtime saying that if payment isn't in my account by the end of the day then I will be enforcing the late payment charge of £5 per day as stated in the contract, she still hasn't responded.

Am I right to do this? She hasn't paid me yet still so I will have to charge her late payment fees from tomorrow. I haven't had to charge anyone late payment fees yet as I like to give parents a little flexibility.

I prefer to deal with things like this via text as I tend to back down if I speak to them on the phone, also I have a record of the correspondence.

Face it OP: your client started taking the wee-wee on day one, so this needs addressing now.

Assuming your contract doesn't contain things that a court might deem "unreasonable", then you are perfectly correct to enforce the terms of the contract. In fact you have a responsibility to yourself to do so. Failure to enforce contracted terms consistently can lead to more problems further down the line. If you keep letting the client breach the terms, they can claim the right to keep on getting away with it because that has become "custom and practice".

Like many CMs I make it clear to parents that it's strictly: no payment = no childcare, no exceptions. If someone gets into arrears, then there's every reason for them to stay in arrears. Let's face it, if someone is living beyond their means, then it's probably going to take a lottery win to change that.

If you find you've been too lenient with your original contracts, then it's time to review them and tighten up. At the very least, make sure they get only one 'strike'. eg. If someone bounces a check or messes up a voucher payment, then they lose the priviledge of paying me anything but cash. If they have got into arrears once, then withdraw the weekly payment option (as a previous post has said) and make it clear you'll withdraw care immediately if payment is not made in advance.

I certainly would not use text messages for anything that matters. You have no proof of texts or their content if you ever have to take something further. Emails and letters can be printed out and filed for future reference.

I'm well aware of how difficult it can be to "talk money" with a client, but it is a fact of life in this business. The easiest thing is to ignore it, and just get walked over. Actually, the next easiest thing is to stand your ground and demand everyone stick to the agreed contracted terms. What people often don't realise is that the hardest and messiest thing is to try to muddle along with half-baked compromises that don't please anyone and don't provide a satisfactory solution. :(

Hope it all works out. :)