Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Running a Web Hosting Business : Debt Collection

[James Cross]

We're currently looking to change debt collection agencies and would like any reccomendations the members might have.

Any help apreciated.

[Marcus]

Just want to add another question to that.
are there debt collection agencies that handle internet transactions(worldwide) or do they just handle country specific transactions.
If any one knows of companies that handle multiple countries, please do tell.

[gcjeepster]

Originally posted by JamesCross
We're currently looking to change debt collection agencies and would like any reccomendations the members might have.

Any help apreciated.

What Agency do you use now? I would like to establish a relationship with one for possible debts not paid by clients.

We currently write them off as a bad debt but on-going debt collection activities would be nice and may reap some payment relief benefits to us.

_____________________________________________________
theVSP.com - a Collaborative Talent Web Services Company
http://thevsp.com

[James Cross]

We're now trying a company called: www.access-receivables.com We only signed up with them this month, so I can't report on their performance yet.

They do manage international debt collection though, so their probably suited to the hosting market.

[Phoenix]

We've been using IC Systems and Adams, Cooper & Marks for several years and they aren't terribly effective, but then there isn't much they can do.

They can call, send letters, and threaten, and then report the balance to a credit agency, but unless the company wants to take the debtor to court, not much else can be done.

There are a number of things the customer can do to avoid collections for legitimately owed balances, such as:

* Dispute the charges, muddies the water and causes the agency to have to review every cent of the charges with us.
* Insist they never received an invoice or anything notifying them that they owed the money.
* Tell the collection agency they won't accept further contact from them-they are legally bound not to further contact them, but few people know this little trick

We ended up going to advance billing to cut down on the problem.

[gcjeepster]

Originally posted by Phoenix
We ended up going to advance billing to cut down on the problem.

Good Point on advanced billing, but we also use recurring billing for clients to ensure payments are made on time each month/quarter or what have you.

The issue is if a client closes the account or the account is maxed not allowing further transactions to be passed. I was just looking for recommendations on collecting those accounts after all efforts have been made from a particular company.



_____________________________________________________
theVSP.com - a Collaborative Talent Web Services Company
http://thevsp.com

[patrickw]

Thankfully, the IRS gives you the ability to write the bad debt off your tax returns.

Collection agencies can't really do too much to collect the funds you are owed. With the advent of caller ID, it's too easy to not answer the phone when the call is coming from "ACME COLLECTION" or whatever.

I used to work for a company that did collections, and you (the collector) are constantly being bombarded with a string of lies, denials, and threats.

The most effective method (from what I've seen) is to threaten to report the amount owed to all three major credit reporting agencies. Anyone that cares about their credit will perk up and pay attention to this, because the record will remain for seven years.

Good luck with your collection efforts,

[Fred]

What I dont understand is how you can report them to a credit reporting agency if:

a) they were never issued credit by the hosting company
b) you dont have their Social Security Number

[Phoenix]

and Fred saith:
[quote]What I dont understand is how you can report them to a credit reporting agency if:

a) they were never issued credit by the hosting company
b) you dont have their Social Security Number[quote]

Whenever you provide goods or services to someone without them paying for it in advance, you are providing them those goods or services on credit.

One of our long time policies is that we won't open an account for a customer without a Tax ID or their Social Security Number. We do this for our protection in case a customer leaves us with a bad debt and they need to be put in collection and possibly credit reported.