Quick bit of background

Customer orders a server for a month
Jumps out of payment (after many warning / talks on the phone etc)
We go through the legal loops to get money back via solicitors
Debt paid off and customer account is again in good standing
Customer signs up again...

Now I'm not sure should I risk having this customer again to repeat the same thing or politely refuse their business...Any expierence / thoughts?

Rus

The usual thing companies does around here to prevent problem:
Make them pay for acocunt opening, ie. phone company here might ask 500€ to open your new subscription, while the regular bill epr month would be ~30-60€

If you don't pay, they get that money, and in the end of subscription returns that cash if no payment problems has occured.

that's what i would do, make them prepay N+1 euros.

Now thats an intresting idea...a deposit..

Thanks

Rus

No need to directly refuse their business. Just ask for an upfront deposit of at least 1 months fees. Maintain this in reserve at all times to protect yourself against payment failure. Make it 100% clear in their new contract that your payment terms are strictly by the due date and that failure to pay on any one month will result in termination of the account and forfeit of the deposit in full.

Specify that if all conditions are met, including termination conditions when they eventually cancel, then the deposit will be returned or used as the final months payment.

If you like, you could even specify that the client would revert to standard terms, and the deposit returned, on satisfactory completion of a 12 month term with no account problems.

The ball is then in the court of the client to decide whether he wishes to abide by those terms or look elsewhere for his service. Either way, you are protecting yourself against being out of pocket on server fees and monthly payment.

@mjb-is I will admit I didn't think of the deposit idea but it is very simple and for this customer it will have to be some customised T+C's but with that said this particular customer will probably refuse them

Rus

to keep it simple, just ask for six months payment in advance

How do you normally charge them? By credit card I presume? Perhaps it'd be good to ask their permission for a background check to see if they're indeed capable of continuing to pay from here onwards. This, of course, depends upon the what they're using your services for. If its basic shared hosting, then I wouldn't go through the trouble and would likely take the risk that the individual would be deliquent on payment.

@mjb-is I will admit I didn't think of the deposit idea but it is very simple and for this customer it will have to be some customised T+C's but with that said this particular customer will probably refuse them

Rus
If it was me then that would suit me fine. Like I said, you don't directly refuse the customer, you just say on what terms you will take his custom back on.

If he refuses the terms then it is HIM making the decision not to return to YOU. You are no worse of than if you refused to take him, but you have been totally reasonable in defining a way in which you would be prepared to do so after the previous problems.

It's a simple rule for any kind of business. You ALWAYS cover yourself as much as possible. You NEVER directly turn work away unless you really have absolutely NO way you could do it. If you really would prefer not to do a particular job then you simply price it high. That way you have 2 possible outcomes. 1: The customer accepts your price and the income makes it worth doing. 2: The customer refuses the price and effectively turns themself away.

Obviously for a service based industry, like hosting, the 'price it high' model doesn't work in normal day to day. It does work in a situation like this, though, where you are thinking of turning the client away due to previous issues. In this case you simply modify your thinking to make it worth the risk/hassle, if he decides to take the terms you offer.