Debt collection any advice please

[Carberry]

£20 a month for a card machine ,waste of money IMHO
stage payments is the way forward
LLL

My turnover last year was £250k

£20 is a small price to pay.

[lutonlagerlout]

£240 a year mate
plus if you get defrauded then you suffer it
i take it its more for the gas side of things?
cheers LLL

[DNgroundworks]

Must be, quarter of a mill is serious money for (i assume) a one man band doing patios and driveways.

My old man used to sell calor gas from his garage said it was a pain? Do you do ok?

[Carberry]

£240 a year mate
plus if you get defrauded then you suffer it
i take it its more for the gas side of things?
cheers LLL

Yeah, Propane, butane, welding gas, red diesel, kerosene, oils & lubricants and autogas.

Gas sales are down just now because of mild winter but Welding gas is doing well so I have been out really pushing that.

Not been screwed over for landscaping work, it's just been gas and kerosene. The people that have done it have just done a runner and moved somewhere else but word gets back to me eventually because I talk to everyone or I see them when I'm driving around town. I'm also very patient... in high school I broke my ankle playing rugby and one t*at kicked my crutches out from underneath me, I ran in to him 7 years later, or rather he ran in to my fist 7 years later :laugh:

It is a tough industry because they have it stitched up and there is very little regulation. The big 4 companies are Calor, Flogas, Shell, BP. BP are pulling out of the industry, Shell sold big portion of theirs to Flogas so it is mainly Calor and Flogas with a few independents dotted around the country.
I do well out of it in the winter though and it does bring in other work because I deal with so many people and they trust me I get landscaping work, handyman work, fixing computers and butler in the buff / life modelling work from them or people they have recommended me to.

[London Stone Paving]

Yeah, Propane, butane, welding gas, red diesel, kerosene, oils & lubricants and autogas.

What about laughing gas ?

[London Stone Paving]

In the mean time, going to get a card machine so I don't get screwed again.

Stewart, there is a scam for a card machine as well. People will buy a shit load of gas and pay for it over the phone using a pinched credit card. You will then deliver it to a snidy address (usually a building site or a house where somebody is on holiday) they will then take the gas to wherever. A month later you will get a letter from your bank saying the card was stolen and they are pulling the money back from your account

[rimexboy]

In the mean time, going to get a card machine so I don't get screwed again.

Stewart, there is a scam for a card machine as well. People will buy a shit load of gas and pay for it over the phone using a pinched credit card. You will then deliver it to a snidy address (usually a building site or a house where somebody is on holiday) they will then take the gas to wherever. A month later you will get a letter from your bank saying the card was stolen and they are pulling the money back from your account

there are some scum bags around who dont care who they screw over..

[Bec@LondonStone]

We had a charge-back quite recently where the bank takes back money that was paid to us on a stolen card like Ste was saying. Biggest problem is that it takes a good 2 months after the thief pays with the card before you realise it was a scam and by then they're long gone. I always find it shocking to think that the person who did that will have phoned up and probably had a nice little chat with whoever answered the phone to take the order, all along knowing that they're ripping you off to the tune of X thousand pounds.

Carberry, I still think it's worth having a card machine - you just have to be very vigilant and make sure that all the security details are matched. The machine will match the cardholder address and security code on the card but will accept a transaction even if just one of those details is entered correctly. If you make sure you only ever accept a full match then you shouldn't have any problems. I think you are actually protected against charge-backs by the card terminal company if you do this.

[Carberry]

We had a charge-back quite recently where the bank takes back money that was paid to us on a stolen card like Ste was saying. Biggest problem is that it takes a good 2 months after the thief pays with the card before you realise it was a scam and by then they're long gone. I always find it shocking to think that the person who did that will have phoned up and probably had a nice little chat with whoever answered the phone to take the order, all along knowing that they're ripping you off to the tune of X thousand pounds.

Carberry, I still think it's worth having a card machine - you just have to be very vigilant and make sure that all the security details are matched. The machine will match the cardholder address and security code on the card but will accept a transaction even if just one of those details is entered correctly. If you make sure you only ever accept a full match then you shouldn't have any problems. I think you are actually protected against charge-backs by the card terminal company if you do this.

Thanks for the advice. Going to get the card macine, just need to find one that doesn't charge extortionate rent or % of transactions.