Debt collections

andy_the_pirate

Hi All,

I'm an accountant at a veterinary clinic and we've been looking at ways to improve our debtors list. One suggestion has been to contact bad debtors via a direct message through facebook using the clinic's profile. Has anyone tried this before and had any success in communicating with specific clients?

Andy

shamil91

Hi Andy,

This is my opinion so everyone is entitiled to theirs. With direct facebook messages I would see it as really personal even if sent via the clinics profile (so wouldnt see that as professional). If you want to communicate with them I would suggest a phone call and providing a letter which is letter headed and signed (also recorded delivery and have a copy of the letter aswell). That way you know that they have recieved the letter and you have spoken to them on the phone. This way if the company had to take legal action against the debtor (customer) you have copies and hard evidence that you wrote and spoke to them. Also if you have issues with bad debtors reduce the credit limit provided to debtors or provide them with a small % discount if they pay within certain days such as 30 days or you can restrict services as worst case situation, but I would recommended working on a payment plan. But in terms of communication in my opinion not facebook, would mainly suggest Phone, letter or email. do bare in mind you will never see companies message you via facebook to chase for payments.

Hope this helps, but do bare in mind this is just my opinion others may say great idea etc.

Many thanks

Kind regards

Shamil Karia

andy_the_pirate

Thanks Shamil.

I can see it is an effective method, as we've phoned someone who knows the client and they've contacted them via a direct message, then we've started receiving payments to reduce their debt. I do still worry about the ethical side and the boundary between professional and personal environment.

We've taken legal action against some clients, had a judgement in our favour, yet still not seen the money. One client even sent an email bragging how he could keep dragging it out and avoid paying for years!!!

shamil91

Hi Andy

Thanks for the reply I appreciate it. You could go ahead with it with certain clients if they feel that would be the best method to go ahead. If you can make it professional like an email style then I mean you can make an exception but you need to know which clients would feel comfortable messaging on Facebook.

If you have had court judgements in your favour and the debtor has not paid you can pursue further again with another court case otherwise worst case is it will be written off as an irrecoverable debt. If they are bragging about it, keep it as evidence and pursue them further and use it as evidence that way if the client is doing the same with other traders they can be stopped as it is fraud.

Many thanks again

Kind regards

Shamil karia