Brickman

[shooters480]

What Brickman did was posted events or one service on their checks. Making it impossiable to post payments correctly. When we could not post payments for services on our invoices, brickman advised to apply payments on the oldest invoices. We went back & forth for six months trying to get older invoices paid that had no payments coming for those amounts. Getting older & older I finally told them no more sweeping on the one big lots with the past dues. They then cut us loose from the four lowes we were also doing but had no payment problems. I got so pissed that I told them we would be returning the debri to the big lots location. If every thing is going well with brickman they are good. But when there is a payment problem forget getting anything but lied to & screwed.

[hatefulmechanic]

Not to come across as an ******* or anything, but this appears to be more of an accounting process issue on both ends that could be easily rectified in a timely manner had the right procedures been followed.

I understand your frustration and wanting to get paid for your work, but I find it hard to fathom a clerical issue, whether it be on their part or yours, brewed into a six month long fiasco.

Again, this is just me looking in from the outside with no knowledge of your invoicing methods, accounting procedures, or billing cycles.

[dfd9]

Hateful, something that needs to be kept in mind with many of these companies is they use multiple reasons to get out of paying.

The ones I heard several years ago went like this:

#1 You didn't fax in your sheets within 24 hours as required.

Oh really? See, I kept all my sheets as well as a fax log and it shows right here that I sent in X number of pages on the date in question.

#2 We were changing billing systems, your paperwork must have gotten lost in the changeover.

I don't care. I filled out the paperwork and sent it in on time: PAY me what you owe me. Not to mention, you're idiots for changing billing systems in Jan\Feb, the busiest, most important season.

#3 The person in charge of that isn't in the office today.

I don't care, PAY me.

#4 The person in charge of that is on vacation.

Again, I don't care, PAY me.

This BS went on for 6 months or longer. Mind you, thanks to PS and other green\snow forums, I knew the list of excuses and just about the order they would come in. We ended up calling the company that this company was subbing for and explaining the situation. They were not happy; said "we really don't get involved in this kind of thing, blah, blah, blah" and within a week we had our money.

Sometimes it has nothing to do with accounting or the service provider. Sometimes it's just the NSP being a-holes.

Disclaimer: I am not referring to Brickman in this case, just pointing out what many of them do.

[hatefulmechanic]

Oh, I know exactly what you are referring to when it comes to run-around from payment companies. My main business is auto repair, and I deal with extended warranty companies all the time, they are notorious for doing this. So are some insurance companies for collision repair claims too.

There is an implied PITA factor dealing with any management company, and one should anticipate or at the very least know what to expect. Document everything you do thoroughly, keep detailed records of your calls, who you spoke with, dates, times, etc, and stay on top of things.

Not taking care of an issue in a timely manner is exactly what most larger companies plan on, it's in their nature. Ever had a very wealthy customer who is a major pain to pay their bill on time? It's basically the same theory, every day they can use someone else's money to operate on and not theirs is another day they save money on financing their dealings.

Bottom line: BE THOROUGH and stay on top of your billing. People do not realize money is made in the office, not in the work performed. You can spend 48hrs out in the field pushing snow, clearing lots, sweeping etc, but if you do not bill it correctly, you are not making money.