ughh.
Well I recently met a woman in my town who does the same thing I do, home baker, but we sell totally different products to here I am thinking, wow, someone to talk cake with all day and no competition! We get together for coffee, hit it off, talk on the phone, chat, etc. She orders an apple pie from me, paid for it. Then she said she was travelling to another country for a 1 week vaccation. She orders another apple pie and asks if I can do my "surprise delivery" (another service that I do, surprise someone and sing happy birthday or whatever) for her husband who is home who she misses.. I say sure, even give her a discount, go out of my way to make a custom card for her and make this gift basket look great. She asks me for my bank info so she can send me the money. I give it to her. Dumb me trusted her to send it, and I made the delivery. She then tells me that the bank will charge her extra money to send it, and can she just give it to me when she gets back at the end of the week. Dumb me, ok fine. Well now she tells me that she's extending her trip another 2 weeks. didnt mention anything about paying me. I tried hinting, even going as far to talking about APPLE PIES and talking about BANK TRANSFERS. this person is in the SAME BUSINESS as I am and should know how it feels to have to wait for your money. I think because she is the kind who is, well, lets say very beverly hills..(see my mansion, see my mercedes, see my versacce purse) she thinks the measly $40 is nothing that someone would be "waiting for". However I do have 7 children and the baking money is the only money I have. There were several times this week where I really could have used that money. The next time I see her online Im going to tell her sorry, I know I agreed to wait, but I didnt know you were gonna extend your trip like that and I really need this cash now so i'd appriciate it if you just wired me the money like we origionally said. She'll probably think I'm tacky (even though she's the one in the wrong) but I really dont care. If she was just another "cake civillian" then thats bad enough, but being someone who also is in the same business as us makes it worse. Lets just wait till she logs on so i can casually mention it. ughhh. I hate these situations.

I would say something. Hey, you forgot to pay me for that cake last week!

It's not tacky to remind a client about payment. It is tacky, however, to not pay for a product.

I agree! That's really wrong that she didn't pay you. Especially as she is IN the cake business and knows what it's like to have to wait for payment. RUDE, RUDE, RUDE. Ask her for your money, ASAP.

Please tell me you don't give people your bank info.....

Do you think she's a CC member? Wouldn't that be interesting if she was, and she stumbled upon this.

I would definitely let her know that you can't afford to wait 2 more weeks for the money. Business is business.

Good luck!

You give people your bank info every time you pay with a check. There's no risk with wire transfers. The only info given is the same info that's on every check in your checkbook. People can transfer money INTO your account, but cannot withdraw from it.

I have a client who was a victim of identity theft and PREFERS to do wire transfers as opposed to leaving a paper trail. We both have each other's account numbers. But neither of us have the passwords necessary to access the other's account.

This is why I use Paypal.

if you are in business...forget the "hinting"....she knows what she did....gee wonder if donald trump uses "hinting".

time for the big girl panties.

i didn't mean for this to sound mean....the peeps who put you in the position to have to blunt really hack me off....they know what they are doing...they count on that other peeps don't want it to be awkward ...it sucks...i've had the say "are ya gonna pay me or not?" before...i think once ya get past 40, you don't care as much if things are awkward or not

LOL little cake I didnt think you sounded mean, but encouraging!
And yes as diane said, there really is no risk with wire transfers and I actually prefer them. It's a little different on this side of the globe. Hardly anyone uses checks, money orders dont exsist, and neither do credit cards except for the richest of the rich. they can put money into the account via phone or internet, but nothing else.
well she hasnt logged on yet, but im going to offline message her right now...here it goes..
and yes she is a CC member, doesnt seem to be an active one though.

hi there XXXX, anyway I can get that transfer for the pie a bit sooner than when you come back? I'm kinda tight on cash at the moment and it could really come in handy! thanks.


ok there's the nice message. hopefully I dont have to go farther than that. From now on I dont care who it is theyre paying in full upfront or can go elsewhere.

lol. Yeah I thank my mom for that wondeful twin gene every day....(not).
theyre good kids though. very helpful! can get REAL loud though so I have a lot of alone in the bathroom time LOL.
How old are your twins?! Mine are 10, 8, and almost 3. And I have an oldest who is 12.
Something funny happened a couple days ago, a woman came to visit with a small baby. He was in his little moses basket and I told my three year olds to go look at the baby. They go over, look in, look at each other, look in the basket again, then ask me, "mama, wheres the other one?". Poor things just assume people come in pairs.

Since she is out of the country could the husband who is still there pay you? I would def. consider that as an option.

lol thanks guys.
Well this person has not been online all day since I sent the message. which is unusual cos she's usually on all the time, even if it's away mode. maybe I'm blocked now. I do have other contact numbers for her family members so if this goes on and I am 100% sure I'm getting blown off they will receive a call. again, my own fault though. should have stuck to my policy. chalk it up to experience.

sent an sms. no reply. >

"Where's the other one"...I LOVE IT! Too cute!

The gal is rude. Do you have anything you need to order from her? If so, just order and don't pay and call it even.

I dont have, nor ever will have, baby fever again lol. Maybe when my youngest turn 18 who knows but no time before that!

That's messed up! So sorry that happened? It's probably not worth the expense on your end...but you could send her bill to a collections agency and put a "ding" in her credit.

Well I know for a fact this woman signs on everyday. shes one of those people that is always online, even when she was on her vaccation. But after I sent her the offline message and sms, no sign of her. You've got the money to pay for a lavish trip to disneyworld but youre making me wait for $40?!
I did have the idea of ordering something from her and then not paying. But she doesnt have any cheap items on her menu that are of $40. Theyre all like 60 and up. very lavish and bautiful cakes, but something I'd order personally because I hardly know anyone here. (no parties, get togethers, etc for me!)
and yeah it really does suck.

I think you are being a bit hasty and was it worth it to push the issue and lose a friendship and future orders over 40 bucks? I could see if she was back home and ignoring your communication.

Well actually she did message me a couple days ago saying that she had retunrned home. She mentioned nothing of my offline message. I then casually brought it up myself and just got a simple "I forgot". She then told me she would "drop by later that day" with it, as I explained to her that although it's just 40 bucks, I do need it, and earned it, but she never showed up.
This wasnt really a "friend", we had only met once for coffee and chatted online. But I do think that a friend wouldnt make you beg for your money.
I am gonna just let it go though, I dont mwan forget about it, but I'm gonna chalk it up to experience and just not talk to this person anymore. Something else that is annoying me to no end is whenever she sees my website, she says "im going to do that too!" about everything. I try very hard to find things that are unique, and do not appreciate her copying my work down to the T. grrrr. im starting another thread about that!!

Oh boy, I really hope she logs on here and sees this post. Although she's probably totally clueless and wouldn't even "get" that it was about her.

Send an invoice to her house......let her husband see that she never paid you for his Birthday pie.

I know it's only $40 but it's the principle.............hopefully she really will pay you when she gets her routine back to normal after her "magical" vacation.

Weird, I know I responded again to this post last night but now I don't see it.

Anyways, I basically the same as above. If you have a house phone, call and leave a simple message there stating:

Hi xxxx, I'm calling to find out when I can expect payment for the apple pie and goodies that I delivered for you a few weeks ago. Please call me back asap to let me know.

Then hope that the husband intercepts the message and discovers that she hasn't paid for his birthday pie. I would immediately follow up with an invoice that leaves no doubt what it is in the return address.

Good luck.

True, the principle. I would never, ever, have someone wait for their money.
I once borrowed 5$ from a friend, and that kept me up at night until I could get it back to her!
To me this shows extreme lack of respect for my feelings, and my work, and me as a human being. She obviously does not think I am important enough to pay back, just to copy. ( I have another thread in the general section i think about that ughhh).
I am going to bring it up one more time, and if by then she doesnt give it to me then I'm done with her. Not because of 40 dollars, but the lack of respect.

I'd definitely bring it up one more time--ON HER DOORSTEP!

No way would she get away with it. The cops would have to drag me away.

Rae

"It's only $40" - but it's YOUR $40!! Go after it!! If she's trying to screw you out of it, how many others has she done this to? She counts on people not following up for the money because it's a small-ish amount ... and gets away with it - which is why she can afford a Disney vacation during a recession.

I'd do what others have suggested ... first, leave a voicemail (and hope DH intercepts it); second, send a bill in the mail if she hasn't paid or contacted you within 1 week; third, if no payment within 2 or 3 days, send a "FINAL NOTICE" bill stating that you'll send it to collections if she doesn't pay up within 2 days.

You've got to be tough ... it's your money - you earned it, go get it!!

Hate to be the one to disagree here... BUT - I just went on a 2 1/2 week vacation with my kids and it was overwhelming. I thought I had taken care of everything before I left, but I came back to find out that I had forgotten to pay my water bill (it's bi-monthly and I always forget which month I'm supposed to pay it) and my water had been shut off. It wasn't intentional, obviously - and it was only about $40 too. I just overlooked it in the chaos.

Give the woman a break - it's probably not intentional. Why ruin a friendship (even a budding one) over a few bucks? Sure you could use it now, but if you want to be angry at someone, be angry at yourself for not getting your money up front or at the time of delivery.

Give her a gentle reminder, and a little patience.