Jun 23, 2020
Recessions can be a large part of running a business because of how it affects your own business and your clients. We've seen a rise in the number of times our client's debtors have made excuses as to why they can't pay their debts.
The Top Debtor Excuses So Far in The 2020 Slowdown
Going into a recession, you can expect a few things to happen. But the main concern for the staffing and recruiting industry is how recessions can cause their debtors to become more aggressive and have all kinds of ridiculous excuses. We've listed down just some of the worst offenders when it comes to excuses that have come straight out of the left field.
"Our Plant in Wuhan and Along With Our Office in New York City are Shuttered"
This is one of the cases where you may think it would be near impossible to collect on. However, we were able to collect from this company, and our client has received 75% of what they are owed. It is certainly possible to get things done even in this business climate we're in right now.
"We're Not Paying for This Temp Because There Were Too Many Occasions Where She Was Parking and Making Out In The Employee Parking Lot"
This may seem like a sensitive topic to discuss. But according to the debtor, the temp was enjoying her time at the office parking lot too often.
"We're Not Going to Pay It Because Your Client Did Not Send Over What We Deem as a Resume"
This case certainly has some legitimacy. However, by dictionary definition, the client did send a resume, and it met all the requirements to be called a resume. What sealed the case was that the debtor previously sent a message thanking our client for presenting a "wonderful resume."
Final Takeaways
If there is one thing that needs to be learned in these cases, you must be careful about what you say to your debtor, especially their attorney. If an attorney contacts you, you should be ready to kill all communications until you have your attorney speaking for you. This is because they will use their authority to trick you into saying something that will damage your case.
Quotes
-Going into a recession, a couple of things would happen. And one of them is that the debtors become a little more aggressive and the excuses come from left field. I mean they're not based in reality in any form or fashion.
-If you say "Wilson I don't think we can collect this because of the pandemic", we have literally collected from a company located in New York with a plant in Wuhan. It can be done.
-If the attorney calls you, you need to kill all communication because attorneys will try to use their title, their aura and they'll just feed this horrible line of cr*p that's not based on reality or fact.
-We're probably going to have six more months of pretty interesting stuff. And it will get bad. They will get much more bizarre and they will become much more aggressive with their delivery before this is over.