Yes, but very rarely.

Great customers combined with our high satisfaction rates, integrity, professionalism, sensible pricing and clear communication, deliver a non-payment rate of virtually zero, thankfully. Operating ethically and with integrity generates goodwill. I also carefully filter enquiries and enquirers. That said, I’ve had three non-paying customers in a decade, maybe four now, given the most recent one in 2024.

Non-Payer Examples

#1 The first was a crooked real estate agent we’ll call JVS… I repaired his turntable, but he failed to respond to emails or collect it. In my final warning after 12 months, I stated that I would sell his turntable to recoup funds if he did not collect and pay for it immediately. Whatayaknow, JVS suddenly wanted to collect! The collection was a drama, with a crying baby, a screaming wife and a sweaty man attempting to wiggle out of paying the charges he’d accrued while I ‘stored’ his turntable for 12 months. I insisted he pay in cash, in full, and he did.

#2 The second non-payer asked me to service and repair his turntable as a high-priority job. I did that for him and had his deck running perfectly again, but he also failed to respond to calls, emails, and abandoned his turntable. After the mandatory warnings, I sold his turntable for twice what he owed, but this was another unnecessary waste of time and energy and an act of utter stupidity. Hello, Mr John Messina!

#3 The third is a gentleman who asked me to repair and refurbish his Mitsubishi pre/power amplifiers. I came in comfortably under his budget limit, but I sent the invoices, and never heard back. Well, not for more than 6 months, anyway. This gentleman did finally reappear, paid in full and collected his equipment!

#4 The fourth, incredibly, is a friend and customer who I allowed to take his equipment and pay later, as he’d run out of cash. The only problem is that he never did. I mentioned it once, but two years on, and I’ve yet to be paid, and I doubt I will be. That’s OK, perhaps he needs the money more than I do.

Upshot

The flipside is that anyone doing this loses all future access to the best advice and technical assistance available. My colleagues and I have a simple policy for dealing with cases like this, placing the individuals on our customer blacklist.