Big Ticket Items

TrudysMom

I did a wedding for a client that found me on Thumbtack. The wedding was July 14th and they still owe me a balance of $1000. They are giving me some BS story that he had to order a new card and it has not come in the mail yet. I did take a deposit and was paid $200 in cash that night but when he tried to pay me the $1000 through Zelle it showed as pending. My bank told me that if he did not verify it was him trying to send the money than the transaction is cancelled. Thumbtack tried to contact the bride who hired me but to no avail. Lesson learned get the money up front or have a credit card authorization form they fill out. I will be taking them to court.

DustiO

I'm so sorry this happened! I had a wedding cake business for years and I experienced this type of things a few times and I finally learned some best practices to avoid this.

• I always got a signed contract before any work was done, plus a 50% deposit
• I always got the final payment the day before the delivery

I think your ideas about getting payment upfront or getting CC authorization are great too.