Should I pursue a customer who does not pay or write it off?
Short answerPursue an unpaid balance when the amount is large enough to justify the time, your records are strong, and the customer still has the means to pay. Write it off when the cost of chasing exceeds the likely recovery. Decide by a rule set in advance, not by irritation.
The explanation
Chasing money costs time, calls, fees, and attention you could spend on paying customers. A twenty dollar balance rarely merits a court filing, while a four figure balance with a signed quote and photos usually does. Choose a threshold ahead of time, such as sending letters above one amount and filing above another.
Evidence decides the odds. A written quote, a signed completion record, dated photos, and a message trail make a claim simple. Weak records make even a large balance hard to collect, and that is information about your process worth acting on.
If you write it off, do it deliberately. Record the loss, block the customer from future booking, and tell your bookkeeper so taxes reflect it. A clean decision lets you stop thinking about it, which has value of its own.
Steps
- Set dollar thresholds for reminders, demand letters, and legal action.
- Check your evidence: quote, invoice, completion proof, and messages.
- Compare the likely recovery with the time and fees to pursue it.
- If you write it off, record it and block the customer from rebooking.
How Apex does it
Rolling out
The screen and the rules are built and tested. Saving real customer data is not connected yet. Status as of 2026-10-07; the badge shows the least-built feature involved.
Apex is designed with a do-not-service list, statements with a customer balance, and accounts receivable aging. These screens are built and not yet connected to saving real customer data.
- LD20Do-not-service / blocked customer list(Rolling out)
- IN17Statements / customer balance(Rolling out)
- RP10Accounts receivable aging(Rolling out)
Apex Flow Scheduler is in early access. See how we label status.
Where this question comes from: owners type it, or a close variant, into search boxes. It was returned by public search suggestions (Google, Bing or DuckDuckGo) when we collected them on 2026-10-06; the exact phrase seen was “what to do when customer doesn't pay?”. We do not have search volumes.