Collecting from deadbeat customers

Well, I've had two different place where we had to do that. The one is a small repir service. Generally it was the call of the owner, and he always tried talking to the guilty party first. After that, it was a decision based on how much was owed versus cost of filing a complaint in civil/small claims court. Factored in was the likelyhood of the offender to pay, and how much discomfort it would cause them in the community.

The second place was a small "buy here, pay here" car lot. If they fell behind more than two payments, we went and brought the car home.

I don't know if that helps, since the reality usually is you get stiffed, and thats how it ends.