CCTV and security invoices are difficult to get paid promptly… here we see how to force the issue.
I was speaking to a colleague of mine recently who was venting his frustration over unpaid invoices. Not surprising in this current climate. It is starting to become a trait that is affecting the industry and one that needs to be resolved to ensure the survival of all the small to medium sized security and CCTV installers out there. The crux of the problem is obvious, as businesses out there tighten their belts so invoice queries will increase. No one is disputing the right of a customer to challenge an expense that they consider to be unfair however it now seems to fall under the remit of the bean counters to stop payment rather than get the person on site who is actually responsible for the security system just to sign it off when happy . This is where the break down in communication starts. The bean counter does not care about the operation of the security cctv system and does not understand how it works.He will hold off payment as long as he can.
There are of course various methods that an installer can take to force payment, the first trick is to sit on the invoice until the customer wants a new call,then refuse to attend until it is paid. This is called the blackmail method and works rather well. The second is negotiation, especially where there is a grey area over the chargeability of the call in the first place, this also works well if you are a good negotiator. The third method is of course court action. This in my colleagues experience rarely works as most businesses would rather pay up and then use another installer than get a black mark against their name.The rest genuinely can’t pay so there is little point in taking them to court in the first place.
Oh, there is a fourth way, it works like this. The security installer carries out a service call and invoices for the work. The customer receives the invoice and he pays within 30 days. Unbelievable I know !!!!