Dylan Oliver wrote: > Hah - perhaps WISPA could offer its members a blacklist service. Ops could > check the blacklist right before the credit check. That guy has to move > somewhere, and the local operators should be warned!
I dunno the relevant laws, but could you even do this? Tracking by "just" names is useless, so you'd need some relatively unique identifier (driver's license number, SSN, something like that). If you even get that information from your customer in the first place (I do, but maybe you don't), you'd then have to pass that information along to a third party. Whatever contract you have your customer sign would then have to include language to that effect. Then someone would have to run that central registry, comply with about a hojillion privacy laws, and so on. I imagine WISPA's budget is a few hundred million dollars short of that required to do it right. Fortunately, there are already companies that will take your notes about whether a given customer has, in the past, defaulted on financial obligations. They're called credit bureaus. :D There's two ways to play this one out, I think. The first choice is to do a credit check, and based on the customer's history with other lenders and service providers, choose whether to install them in the first place. Pro: the folks that pass your check are very likely to pay their bills on time. Con: You're arbitrarily shutting out a lot of potential customers. The second is to get most or all of the money up-front, and bill in advance for your service. If a customer doesn't pay, you call them, then shut them off. You're probably only out your cost to provide service to one customer for a few days. (Unless they move and steal your equipment, which is rare but has happened.) Pro: More revenue, as you install basically everyone you can. Con: Higher costs (more installs, then picking up equipment from folks who default). Overall probably a bit riskier. There's a couple subtle shades on both of those, but you're taking risks either way. David Smith MVN.net -- WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
