Man, it seems like the law is on the side of debtors and schemers. I have recently had a situation where a past client passed a credit card to me that was really under the name of someone else as his own. The real account owner disputed my charges and I have been left holding the bag. When I factored how long it would take me to make up the profit loss I was staggered – nearly seven months!
In the meantime the past client has now given me a new credit card to cover the disputed charges but every time I try to transact the card they are over their credit limit. To get my money I am now getting up at midnight every night to transact money on their credit card to cover their debt (with their knowledge). Unfortunately I have to get my payment in $15 to $400 lumps. I never thought that I would have an issue like this, but have found that the credit card company won’t help me, the client won’t help me – so I only have myself to rely upon.
What I have found out from this issue is that I will do anything to legally get my money from a debtor. I used to be afraid of collection agencies – no longer after three bad debts last year, and now I am not afraid of personal inconvenience – with the situation I am currently in. I am also no longer afraid of taking a debtor to small claims court to get a judgment.
What I have found is that with the economy the way that it is, as a small business person, you must be very careful, be sure (with verification) that the client is the actual owner of a credit card you take for services, and be extremely proactive when someone falls behind in payment. Why? Because no one will help you resolve the problem other than yourself. You know it only takes being burned badly once to make some serious changes in what you do to prevent being burned again.
So my question to you is, what would you do to get your money that is owed? Would you sue? Would you get up in the middle of the night to ring their card before another debtor snagged the available cash? Or would you just let the “bad client” move on to the next unsuspecting party and take the hit?