I called a lady today who owed me money: Hello, I'm Mikel Dawson, farrier, when are you going to pay the money you owe me? Lady - "Oh I thought you wanted to wait until we do all the horses." Me - "No, you need to pay the bill which is a month over due now." Lady, "I can pay you when you come to do the other horses." Me - "No, I can not do any more work for you until the money is paid. We can make an appointment for the other horses" Lady, "Well they are out on summer grass and won't be in until September." Me - "You need to pay me now as there is a late charge already on the bill, and it will grow if you don't pay. I will not do any more work until previous bills are paid in full." Lady. "Ok" And get this, the lady wasn't even my customer. She called me late in the day saying her horse had an abscessed hoof and needed immediate attention. She had just moved into the area. I was kind enough to go out, contact a vet who came immediately and the both of us got our jobs done. Now she waits over a month and still hasn't paid - So much for being nice.
I like the ones that call to book an appointment.. and then ask how much I charge afterwards. I don't even write them down now 'cause I know I'm going to get a text about some family emergency, have to go to a funeral, WW3 has broken out, horse either now sold or abducted by aliens or something equally unbelievable.
Yeah you have to love those. Mikel, I once had a lady owe me money for six months because she lost my phone number, won the lottery and then the bank took all her money. All in the same week. I finally got paid and then didn't hear from her for about eight years. she called awhile back and wanted me to shoe her horses again and I politely declined.
I finally received a check for $255 that is 6 weeks from yesterday.. I called her and texted her and messaged her on fb..she finally tells me she has had family problems and the cashiers check is on her desk..just hasn't sent it? It is dated July 26th.. but will be in the bank tomorrow...if I do them again it will be cash up front...
I've been able to collect everything for about the last twenty years. when someone has some tale of woe about the forgotten check book or some such story, I know I'll get paid and it's a great opportunity to lay on the guilt trip.
So true Bill.. I really don't care if she cans me because the work place conditions at her place are severly LACKING.. no power for my fan, and nasty dirty area to have to work..believe me....She Loves me...
A lady called me last week. She has 2 ponies and a mini, and her current farrier had hurt his back and had given her my name. I told her I had a full schedule but she sounded like a nice lady so I talked to her for a few minutes - how nice her horses were, what great horse owners they were, etc. I was about to consider trying to fit her in when she asked me what I charge. I told her forty dollars for trims. She asked me "for all three?" and I replied each. She said "Oh, my old farrier was only charging twenty dollars each." Rather than discuss it further and make us b feeothl uncomfortable, I told her I had hurt my back too, and gave her another farriers number. Haven't heard back. Regards
I remembered one from about 15-16 years ago when I shod a horse for a gal on the first of the month we'll say. She couldn't show up so we arranged for her to mail me the check. So a couple weeks went by and I called her about the check, we'll say on the fourteenth, and she said that she had just received the check back via return mail as she had mixed up a couple numbers on the address. We got the address straight and she said she would put the check in a new envelope. A few days later I got the check and noticed it was dated for the fourteenth.
