Kevin, it was actually an attorney here in SC that tried that "my employee ordered it and she didn't have authorization" crap.  I responded with a certified letter espousing the undue enrichment argument, but the letter wasn't TO her, it was her copy of the letter I was going to send to the bar association in ten days.  I got my check.  Now, I'm sure as an attorney, you just had a viseral reaction to me saying I was going to contact the bar, but rest assured, I have only had to do this twice and only after I found that YES a closing had occured and therefore the monies due to me were pocketed by someone, just not me.

I usually don't have payment issues, not after getting burned so bad by Contemporary Realty. Although I eventually got all my money, I didn't make a plug nickel after I factored in the time of collecting. 

We have a very, very strong policy here at LCTE:  if we start working for you and you are immediately slow paying, we raise our rates to accomodate the extra time collecting--that of course usually sends them running to someone else, problem solved. 

The second policy is that if we have been working for you a while and you normally pay on time and start getting slow, we cut you off and post here to give everyone a heads up that there may be a problem coming.  There is NO EXCUSE in business for it to take an abstractor more than 60 days to be paid--even in the worst case.  Any company taking 60 days or more to pay, has cashflow issues and clearly doesn't have enough reserves to operate sufficiently.  Almost EVERY delinquent company uses the same excuse, my client isn't paying ME.  I don't know how many times we have to tell them--that is not MY concern.  YOU decided to work for THEM, I didn't.  YOU decided to accept their terms, I didn't.  MY employees expect to be paid every two weeks.  They might be friends, but they really could care less whether MY house payment gets made--in the end, they only really care if THEIR house payment gets made.  So, I can't say to them, you will have to wait because ABC company hasn't paid me.  They wouldn't be working for me long.  So why do the national companies say the same to use and expect a different reaction.  And appear confused when we have that reaction.

I had a rather enjoyable conversation yesterday with an owner of a national company who contacted me concerning some remarks I made on SOT.  While he was quite pleasant to speak with, I can't retract my statements because they were true.  As I said, the conversation was actually far from contentious and I found him to be quite humble about his cashflow issues.  However, in the end I felt we both came away from the conversation shaking our heads that the our person just didn't get it.  He tried, in vain I'm sorry to say, to explain to me how the national company level works--the competitiveness, the cost-cutting, the slim margins, etc. 

The reason I say he tried in vain is two fold.  First, because HE chooses to go along with these dictates.  What he forgets is that while he and I both have passion for this industry and we both can't picture ourselves doing anything else--the fact remains that we CAN do something else--tomorrow (Walmart is hiring for Christmas).  Would I/we be happy?--probably not, but if the businesses we both love so much can't be run profitably, with enough of a margin to maintain cash reserves for a rainy day, then we aren't really IN business.  So the fact that he has cashflow problems stemming from industry terms, is not my problem--HE chose to be dictated to. 

Now, I'm sure if he is reading this, he is still shaking his head that I don't GET IT., but the truth is, I DO get it and I simply chose NOT TO CARE.  Just because that is how the game is played at the national level, doesn't make it right.

The second reason he tried in vain, is because in the end, he wanted to work WITH me, not have me work FOR him.  That should be a good thing, right?  Why in vain?  Because, that only works IF he contacts me and advises that he has XYZ client that sends him volume work, work he wants to send me, but this client historically pays at 90 days, but they do pay, would I be willing to work with him on this, knowing pay would be slow.  Then I would take a moment to decide whether my business could afford to do the job on his terms.  That's working WITH someone.  But if remaining competitive on the national level requires him to make decisions for MY business, then he is wrong and LCTE doesn't work that way. 

None of which has anything to do with Kevin or his post, just venting.

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