Late payments

[A-two]

I am getting no response from the family who booked July 4th week way back in October and are 3 weeks late with their payment. What's reasonable and did anyone else have a similar situation?

There has been a thunderous silence in response to my polite requests for payment. I have sent 2 emails and phoned twice, each time getting an answering machine, the last message left 2 days ago. Still no response.

There is a legally binding lease which entitles me to repossess the property if they do not pay within 3 days. Now nearly 3 weeks overdue and no response, shall I send a recorded delivery letter asking for payment in full within 3 days, and if still no response, cancel the lease and make available again?

This hasn't happened before and has taken me by surprise. I am holding $500 against $4,100 total, but even so, it seems a bit harsh to cancel the booking. They are coming from the UK for a wedding in NY, so one would have thought they already have flights and all arrangements made.

[enid]

I've had to chase a late deposit - from a returning client who I can trust - she just kept forgetting to post the cheque carrying it around with her for weeks.

My problem is quite the converse - I have received a bank transfer from Holland for €4022 for a rental which only costs €1300 and I can't get a reply from phone or e mail?!!!

[Normandy Cow]

My problem is quite the converse - I have received a bank transfer from Holland for €4022 for a rental which only costs €1300 and I can't get a reply from phone or e mail?!!!

Enid! Be careful about refunding the difference!!! Could this be one of those scams???

Joanna,
I understand your worries, but also your reluctance to cancel the booking. I'm not too sure what I would do in your circumstances, but I think that your idea of sending a recorded delivery letter is a good one - that way at least you will know whether or not they have received it (after all, they may be on holiday hence the lack of response from emails and phone calls?).

[A-two]

Enid! Be careful about refunding the difference!!! Could this be one of those scams???

This does sound like a scam, but can an electronic transfer bounce later like a cheque? I think I'd give the bank a call to find out.

My people use a Blackberry to keep in touch when they are away. I know this because I had trouble reaching them by phone when they made the original booking. I don't know them (not repeat bookers), but they have 6 month old twins, so it seems odd they are never at home, or maybe it's somebody who filters all their calls as a matter of routine. I'll send the recorded delivery letter tomorrow, which will take a week from here, but still time to get another booking if still no response.

Thanks

[Guest3]

Enid..it does look like a scam..why would they transfer more than the required rental fee?

[paolo]

My problem is quite the converse - I have received a bank transfer from Holland for €4022 for a rental which only costs €1300 and I can't get a reply from phone or e mail?!!!

Whatever you do, do not refund the difference for a period of several weeks, and when you do, get it in writing from your bank that the funds are cleared.

[paolo]

Joanna,

Your renters may be away and caught out by the long lead-time on the payment of the balance. Perhaps they have rented before and were expecting something more like 2 months.

[enid]

Well I have contacted my client - in Belgium - who has sent me a virement for €260 which is the 20% required as deposit. I think my bank must have made a mistake and put someone else's virement in my account. This is an account that I don't follow by internet and only discovered how richI was when my bank statement arrived so I guess the amount has cleared. Any way someone has probably received my €260 and is going bananas!!!!! Glad to hear that my client is a real one anyway

[A-two]

Joanna,

Your renters may be away and caught out by the long lead-time on the payment of the balance. Perhaps they have rented before and were expecting something more like 2 months.

Paolo,
Sorry, I didn't make myself clear. It's not the full balance due, it's the first 50% due March 1st, with the 50% balance due May 15th, which is less than 2 months, being 45 days.

My policy is 50% to secure the booking, then 50% payable 45 days in advance of arrival, but if the rental is for the next calendar year (which is the US tax year), then I only ask for a nominal payment of advance rent in the current tax year, either $500 or GBP 300 depending on which currency they choose. I then split the rent into 2 payments of 50% each, with the final payment due 45 days prior to arrival. When I receive the final payment, I convert the original $500 into the refundable security deposit.

This is explained to potential renters in triplicate at every stage, by email, in the Lease, in a separate mailed invoice, by email reminders and by receipts for payments - that's more than 3 times - so i start to wonder what other parts of the agreement they feel they can also ignore. Do you know what I mean?

They have July 4th week, which is a tricky week to rent at short notice and they have had it blocked out on my availability calendar for 5 months. It's not so much the money I'm after, as to hear from them that they still want to go ahead. Hopefully, I'll hear tomorrow.

Enid,
Glad to hear it's not a scam.

[enid]

Enid,
Glad to hear it's not a scam.

No it isn't a scam - it's my entry for idiot of the day competition. I finally realised that it is a payment from a client of Kevin's - I gave them the gite account details by mistake!!! So it's our money after all - we're off to the market and then for lunch on the strength of that!!!

[A-two]

update: good news, she phoned this evening and apologized profusely. They have not been receiving the emails and only received my phone message when they got back from a long weekend away. Reading between the lines, and knowing that she's been on maternity leave, I deduce that her work colleagues have not been forwarding her email. She has now given me a different email.

I always send reminders by email thinking it's a little pushy to make a phone call to ask for money, but in this instance, it was actually the only way to contact them, although I didn't realize this at the time as emails did not bounce. One to remember.

Cheers

[enid]

update: good news, she phoned this evening and apologized profusely.

I am pleased - it would be galling to have lost the rental after it had been blocked out on your availability for do long

[A-two]

Enid, I'm beginning to wish I could lose this rental. These people are driving me nuts. After the Monday phone call, I sent an email to the new email address. On Tuesday I received an email from a different new email address asking me to confirm the amount owed. I replied to that immediately, asking them to let me know when they had received my email. It's now Friday for them and I'm still waiting........<sigh>

[Hells Bells]

It may be hard to believe, but some people don't check their email all that regularly. I had a read receipt this morning for an email i sent three weeks ago to a prospective renter.

[enid]

We should think of a collective noun for these type of clients.

I had a phone call form a woman who wanted to rent a gite for 11 days in March - she has a house here and was coming over to sell it as she wants to go back to the UK. During the phone call, which went on and on as she told me her life story, she even said that she would be happy to bring me any shopping I wanted from the UK when she came! I sent her the booking form then zilch. I tried contacting her but no response. It wasn't a big deal as we really were happy not having anybody in March - but it's just so time wasting.