Contractor that never wants to get paid

[Rob K.]

Has anyone come across this?

I don't like owing money to anyone. When someone does a job for me, I want to pay them. I also don’t like when people owe me money. (I also don’t like giving or receiving bites of food in a restaurant. Not sure if that’s related.)

The guy that cleans carpet for me does a great job and has been doing so for years. I always tell him to let me know how much it is or send me an invoice and I will pay it. It’s like pulling teeth with him. He will clean some carpet and then I don’t hear from him. I will call him next time I need carpet cleaned and tell him that I still owe him from last time. He will let it go for months and months. He’s not made of money. I don’t get it.

My electrician is slow to bill, but it’s usually within two weeks. He’s a busy guy, but he always does it in a semi-timely manor. The plumber that I’ve used for years is the total opposite. He wants to be paid the minute he’s done. He told me how he tracked a guy down over $180, beat on his door like a cop, and demanded payment. He said if the guy hadn’t paid him, he was going to drive back to the rental house where he did the repairs and rip all the plumbing out. He looks just like Santa Claus – if Santa was a foul-mouthed biker. I once mailed him the check for my electric bill and sent his check to the electric company. He called me right away demanding an answer to the mistake. I'm similar to him where I expect to be paid and not have someone owe me.

I’m just curious if anyone else deals with someone that, for whatever reason, doesn’t want to get paid. I can’t figure it out. It’s not an end of the year thing where he’s trying to float the income into next year. It happens at all times during the year. Now I have no idea how much to pay him, so I won’t be able to deduct it until next year (or maybe the year after if it takes him that long). Weird.

[Callum K.]

Rob K haha, ya, if he is stuck in some hole in Buffalo Bill's basement and I am his only way out my recommendation would be to "put the lotion on the skin" and send me the invoice. Other than that, he is going to have to find someone else to help him out.

Since this effort, I have convinced myself that if these guys don't have a proper Accounts Receivable process then they can either pay me to do it for them, or they can come get the money themselves. I will make a few calls to attempt to pay them but that's honestly just to maintain moral integrity. After that, if they don't want to invoice me or call me then that's their problem.

At the very least, I was hoping to send my tree guy a Christmas card for the free $1300 tree removal, but I don't know his address. I guess the best I can do is give a shout out to my tree guy for the free removal!