Stone and Associates

Looking for feedback on Stone and Associates. Any one use them yet

stoneandassociates.com

At first I read that as “stonedassociates.com.” Too many margaritas this evening, I guess…lol

I get paid before I ever start the inspection, which is probably the thing I like best about my business. Thus I have never needed such a company with my home inspection business.

Did you check yelp, angie’s list, bbb, etc.? Might give some information anyways.

Nope… but I get Spam emails from other companies doing similar. Most want a minimum of $2500-$5000 to get started. If you have that much $$$ in uncollected debt, you have much bigger issues! In fairness, I did have one commercial job Dec 2012 that fit the criteria that I got stiffed on. Two apartment buildings. Salt in the wound… I hired an assistant on that one (as it needed to be done in one day) and paid him out-of-pocket. I now have new procedures in place to prevent that from ever happening again!

It happened to me once last year on a mold job. Easily absorbed, but it is the point. Jeff, I would be interested in what you are doing to prevent it. Always looking for good ideas. I find that when it comes to money, people basically become liars. I start that way with everyone of my customers. May sound jaded but money makes even the nicest person do dumb things. These people were an elderly couple and had no problem stiffing us and smiling about it. I also get people who agree to a price and then want me to take money off the job at the end. They basically, lop the money off they want and send me a lesser amount. Because insurance pays them directly, I have had people get gold fever and spend money on things like new furniture or material upgrades out of the insurance money that was allotted for our work. There is almost nothing I can do about it. Seemingly. Because we are so internet based and review oriented, we cannot afford bad reviews by getting into these conflicts. People know it and use it as a threat. Makes it tough.

I have only had a couple people give me problems. I don’t even care about the money, so I am willing to give a large chunk to a collections agency just to give them a head ache.
Its the principle to me, if you owe money pay it.
I had one lady who paid me $25 a week until she was paid in full, only took 3 months but she was trying. No I do not offer that.

Had a bounced check last week ,lucky she sent it through PayPal right after I called.

I have used Stone & Associates for over a year. I became very frustrated with trying to collect on about half a dozen past dues that had been lingering for a long time. I was wasting my time trying to collect these and some I had totally lost track of. Within just a few weeks Marty Stone had collected 4 and was hot on the trail of the other two. I had written all of these accounts off and now ‘cash’ is coming in! He is amazing. Even tracked a guy down that was in jail and collected when he got out! Marty’s easy to work with and gets the job done. I don’t worry about past dues and more. Easy to use – send your past dues over the net with his on-line form. I highly recommend.