I have a problem with individuals who come to gripe about an unpaid $40 bill which is most likely an oversight when the company they're complaining about has had formerly good pay history.  As a vendor manager who pays our searchers monthly, I'm continually amazed at how often we get calls or emails about non-payment and we research and prove they've cashed the check - shoddy bookkeeping on their end.  And we recently got a call about work that was done in August of last year - I told him I'll send him the remittance and he said "Oh, you paid it?  No problem!"  OooKay.

For unpaying clients I use this forum as a last resort.  I consider it somewhat personal but if they've been real jerks when we've tried to recoup, I will post here.  Watchdog is a different story - it's anonymous and I will post non-payers with the full story, when necessary.  Going through their local Bar, the BBB, etc is much more effective and as my second to last resort, a collection agency.  I do agree though it's helpful when people post here non-payers with their FULL NAME AND ADDRESS.  Too many companies have similar names.  If more people had posted about my former neighbor here, fewer people would have been burned so badly.  The problem is though, when you have an outstanding bill and you post negatively - are you more or less likely to be paid?  I think many don't when they're stil owed, figuring they'll be stiffed completely.

Fortunately, I can say we'll never have a negative post about our pay history - unless its someone who doesn't keep up with their bills (which about 90% of our vendors do not so I guess I shouldn't be so confident, right?).