What would you think?

A friend of mine, at least I thought, still owes me money for work I did last winter. I plowed snow for him for commercial clients. He got paid by them but seems to have a hard time paying me. I stopped over to see him, the old hard luck story about he owes me, they owe me, etc. This is while he is standing next to his new bobcat trailer. His son also has an almost new truck now also, along with a bunch of new little toys. So, should I just mark it up for experience, or pressure him. It's about $1000.

I'd move on. With all the new equipment he's probably telling others the same story. David...............

You go right to his house and ask to be paid.
If he can't pay you ask him what he can afford per month until the bill is paid.
It you still don't get any good results he is no longer a friend. I call them spam sucking low lifes.
He knows the differece between right and wrong and it sounds like he has very little character.
A man is only as good as his word.

I don't think the word friend should be used in your post. I have other words I could use but I can't post.
Friend:
Main Entry: 1friend
Pronunciation: ˈfrend
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English frend, from Old English frçond; akin to Old High German friunt friend, Old English frçon to love, frço free
Date: before 12th century
1 a : one attached to another by affection or esteem b : acquaintance
2 a : one that is not hostile b : one that is of the same nation, party, or group
3 : one that favors or promotes something (as a charity)
4 : a favored companion
5 capitalized : a member of a Christian sect that stresses Inner Light, rejects sacraments and an ordained ministry, and opposes war —called also Quaker

Thresherman: Don't move on. Ask for at least 50 or 100 in a check marked part payment. Photocopy it befor cashing. Use this written check as leverage. No $ at all, then suggest you'll have to contact those you plowed snow for and ask them for payment since you were the one doing the plowing for them. Your "friend" wants to play hardball. Start talking about the $2k your still due. ag.. ( this should be in the chit-chat topic?)

Come on Thresherman, where is your backbone? This one is simple. He owes you. He's counting on you to just go away. And he ain't your friend...he has you pegged as a guy who will wilt after a while and then he's home free.

Climb on your horse, straighten your backbone, plant your hat on tight and go ride over there.
Then you look him direct in the eyes and say "Joe, you know why I'm here. I want my money for helping you and I need to be paid now". And say it with conviction! Don't measle around while nervously shifting from foot to foot. Lock on your eye contact.

Right now he has no respect for you whatsoever. He will have even less with you giving this up.

Don't play his game.

Tell him to pay or you will contact all those customers you plowed snow for and will try to collect from them. As word gets out those customers will likely come to you (if you want them) for future work.

If you can't do this, then go to your courthouse and ask how to take him to small claims court. You can ask for the money, plus interest and the court costs to be assessed against the defendant.
I've done this several times thru my 40 years of sales and I collected on everybody except one guy. To do this, have written down all dates of what was said or done...it's called documentation.


Be up front with everybody. Don't go out of your way to just complain to people about what a bum the guy is...others will tire of hearing this over and over and realize you don't have the backbone to get this done.

Remember, even deadbeats don't like to do business with deadbeats.

LA in WI

PS If his name ain't Joe, use whatever works.

PPS Want some fun? While talking to him, write down what he is saying. Write it all down, even it if slows you down. Even ask him to repeat what he just said "so you can get it down accurately". This little tactic can scare the bejabbers out of deadbeats because he knows where you might be going with this.

I'd say. How about if you give me that new Bobcat trailer and we call it even!!

Suppose it depends how bad you need the money. IF you need the money or don"t think you can let it go, then you have to do what you have to do. However, you can"t get in a pissing match with a skunk without getting some stink on yourself. If you"re able to chalk it up as a lesson on being careful who you do business with in the future, you"ll have a lot less stress on yourself.

I'd let it ride,and make'em think You have forgotten it.He'll one day return for another favor,then you can remind him of his prior obligations.

I don't know. I used to comment on topics like this, but finally figured out this was a forum about Farmall tractors - and to those Farmall questions, I try to help when I am able.
As for other type questions, it is hard to know all the facts and the "psyche" needed to motivate the other party to do what is right from the information supplied here on the forum. However, I wish you the best of luck.
Maybe if you bought him a bottle of whiskey.....? (Just kidding.)
mike

Assuming of course you can ultimeatly afford to do without the money is it really worth all the hassle an trouble you are going to go through to get it? No doubt about it, it's not pleasant and it's not right but I've learned that sometimes the price you pay to get paid comes at too high a cost. You can press him for it if you feel he is secretly playing you for a fool and laughing about it and that certainly is going to give you some satisfaction but in my experience it usually is not the way those things work. I've got a feeling he simply doesn't give it much thought at all and probably doesn't feel guilty over it either. I'm not excusing it by any means and I don't agree with it nor entirely understand it but that is the level I have found many people operate at. In fact I strongly suspect in his mind you would be the heavy if you choose to push it. Not that that should influence your decision.

I don't see it as an issue of lack of backbone, etc. if you chose to just forget it. I certainly wouldn't do business with him again and chances are it would give you some satisfaction to turn him down if he asks again but to be frank I believe you'll probably wind up damaging yourself and losing a great deal of upset over it if you choose to pursue it. It's not a perfect world and during our lives we see many things some of which include people doing things that are not right, often for no good reason and likely no reason at all. I had a real rough time with that more than once and I still just don't really see how it can be but many people just seem to blithely take advantage of others without the slightest thought about it. He probably doesn't even think he did anything wrong. He just doesn't think at all.

Think of the whole thing as a front row seat on someones else's character. As I've gotten older I have found that to be worth quite a bit at a number of levels,though many of the lessons are not pleasant. A year or two from now you'll find that you did fine without the money but the experience of actually seeing someone pull a bald faced stunt like that off and pretend that nothing is wrong helps to take the blinders off regarding just how common such things are but frequently remain unseen and generally unknown most of the time. I remember how long it took me to actually finally believe that people do things like that or treat each other the way they so often do. It just had no part of the mindset in which I was raised or the paradigm in which I tried to exist.

I guess what I'm saying is while I wouldn't repeat the favor I'd just move on. Try and work with and for good people as much as you able, help those you can, don't blame yourself, let it go and just be at peace. Forget it.

Thresherman,

I went through the same thing with a so called freind I"m self employed and remodled his bathroom got it done and gave him the bill after 2 months went by I went to see him he said he didn"t have it I told him my truck doors didn"t say Stewart"s Bank and Trust and I needed the money or I was going to take legal action got paid within a week and I won"t do work for him now unless the money is up front he acts like it never happened

Explore the possibility of using a small claims court. Inexpensive and effective.