# Is this weird or what?



## rynd2it

About two weeks ago I gave a substantial cheque for 30% of the devis to the business that will be installing our heat pump. As it had not been deposited, I contacted them to ask why and they told me they only deposit ALL the payments when the job is finished! As it will be several weeks before they start work this you have to wonder why they wanted the deposit.

Anyone else come across this?


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## Clic Clac

rynd2it said:


> Anyone else come across this?


Nope. But they sound like a reputable company. Must have good cash-flow s well.
The cheque will be guaranteed, so it shows your commitment.
It may also solidify the contract.

Must admit, I did find it weird that you phoned them. 😅 🤗


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## rynd2it

Clic Clac said:


> Nope. But they sound like a reputable company. Must have good cash-flow s well.
> The cheque will be guaranteed, so it shows your commitment.
> It may also solidify the contract.
> 
> Must admit, I did find it weird that you phoned them. 😅 🤗


I wanted to make sure they hadn't lost it - it's happened before. They are a very reputable company, much respected in the town.


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## Bevdeforges

Back in the Stone Age when I was an accountant and auditor in the US, one of the very very basic rules of "control" of resources in businesses was that the check handling procedure include an immediate separation of the check from any accompanying paperwork sent in at the same time. The checks were then supposed to be endorsed and taken to the bank by the end of the business day for deposit. The accompanying paperwork was then what was used to process the accounting side - and if at the end of the day or the week or the month, the totals for checks deposited in the company account didn't tally with the accounting entries, you knew you had a problem.

Here in France that's not at all the normal procedure. Businesses and associations hold onto checks for weeks and sometimes months. I suspect it has something to do with the tighter controls built into the check system here (e.g. all checks are "crossed checks" and can only be deposited, not cashed, and even then only into a account in the payee's name. 

Business procedures here aren't nearly as strict - at least when it comes to making sure no one is fooling around with the accounts or kiting checks or any of those other "classic" embezzlement techniques.


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## BackinFrance

rynd2it said:


> About two weeks ago I gave a substantial cheque for 30% of the devis to the business that will be installing our heat pump. As it had not been deposited, I contacted them to ask why and they told me they only deposit ALL the payments when the job is finished! As it will be several weeks before they start work this you have to wonder why they wanted the deposit.
> 
> Anyone else come across this?


It happens, especially with some large companies like Engie Home Services, and they may not deposit promptly even when the job is completed (I experienced this early last year and despite various calls and emails they didn't deposit my 2 chèques until about 5 months after installation was completed.

It is not any real risk to the company because in France you are bound by law to honour a cheque. However it is really annoying for the client in terms of keeping track of unpresented chèques etc.


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## zarathustra

Am having a new roof installed later in the year, and last year had to hand over a similar sort of cheque - they won't cash it until the work in complete, but I think it's to ensure both parties honour their part of the deal.


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## EuroTrash

As a freelancer there were times when I would have liked to have done this. The convention in my "industry" is to invoice upon completion. But, the first time you work for a new client on a big job, and you've put in many weeks or sometimes months of work, and sometimes you've already delivered in stages along the way along, it does cross your mind to wonder what would happen if at the end of the job the client starts messing around over making the payment. There is a lot of trust involved on the provider's part. As a person who constantly worries about "what if", I would have felt far happier if I'd had at least part of the payment upfront, even if the agreement was that I wouldn't cash it until the job was complete. 
And it does happen, I knew of colleagues who were at their wits' end trying to get paid for as much as 9k of work that they'd completed and delivered


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## BackinFrance

zarathustra said:


> Am having a new roof installed later in the year, and last year had to hand over a similar sort of cheque - they won't cash it until the work in complete, but I think it's to ensure both parties honour their part of the deal.


It confirm the terms of the devis and for many installation jobs it also means that they set aside the materials, in the OP's case that would be the heat pump at the very least.


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## ccm47

We've had this happen on a couple of occasions here when buying vehicles which needed work doing or extras fitted.


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## Nomoss

We always asked for (and received) advances for the full amount of large equipment we installed.

This was because most of the major equipment we installed was manufactured to order, and not returnable, nor likely in most cases to be suitable for another vessel, and also because we were liable for full payment to the manufacturer as soon as we ordered, and payment would often become due before the installation was completed.


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