not getting paid

[booboo]

Hi

done some work for a company and i invoiced them almost 120 days ago,my terms were 60 days,after 60 days phoned them they said they misplaced my invoices and they will pay me on 90 days,90 days no payment,phoned again they said i should of been paid and said they will look into it,phoned again week after and they said they will pay 120 days ,guess what its 120 days no money,they are a big company trading with blue chip clients,is their any court order to stop them trading until i get paid or bill them for any days over agreed time,this is first time its happed to me,thanks

[Richie N]

Issue 7 day legal letter and then instruct proceedings.
Alternatively issue a stat demand but depends on the amount you are owed.

We had a similar situation, agreed to client paying us in 60 days, 60 days came, the invoice was processed at unit level and sent to head office for payment, we are still waiting for that payment, it's now 75 days and have given them 7 days before action.

[booboo]

thanks for reply,i think im going to try this:ring them and say im just passing your office can i come pick up the check approach first.then do what you said if i still have no joy

[seanstevens]

You can view the late Payment Legislation: http://www.payontime.co.uk/legislation/legislation_main.html


You need to be direct with them, questions such as: "Our terms were 60 days and you have now given me two excuses, would you please tell me the exact reason why you are unable to pay me to terms?"

After a call if you get nowhere consider sending them a letter so that you have something in writing, drop me a message if you would like a template for debt letters.

[Peter Bowen]

I know a little about helping small business owners get their invoices paid on time (we've helped collect just over 20 million in the last 15 months).

Quite a few of our clients deal with companies much larger than themselves or with government and local government organizations. One of our users in particular (a conference center) really struggled with cash flow problems caused by slow payments from their largest clients in their early years of trading.

It seems like slow payments happen because:


Your invoice doesn't meet the large companies requirements for settlement. Their is no dispute about the work but the invoice needs to contain certain information (usually something like an order number or purchase instruction) or it needs to be submitted as an original paper print or whatever - they exact requirements seem to vary.

or



Your contact at the company doesn't get the invoice onto the payment conveyor belt - he might have to sign it off, there may be some internal paperwork that goes with it etc.

What typically happens is that you submit your invoice thinking that all is well and expecting to get paid and it sits in a pile of unprocessed invoices and everyone (except you) forgets about it. You see, the problem of an unpaid invoice is never going to be as urgent for a salaried employee as it is for you.

If you follow up regularly (you can do this manually but we like to automate it) you'll probably find out if the invoice needs some work before it becomes a problem.

I think small businesses can do well out of larger businesses and government organizations but you've got to be as good at credit control as you are at the actual work of your business (the plumbing, design, engineering or whatever it is that you sell).


----------------------
I asked the client I spoke about earlier (the conference center) to give me a write up on their experiences.:

"Mr Jacob is head of finances for Somerset Solutions Ltd, a company that manages a conference centre and associated services in the South-West of England.

Slow payments caused a severe cash flow crisis about a year ago. Mr Jacob explains "Most of our clients are from the Government sector. They eventually pay but it often takes a long time. Sometimes they're up to 3 months late. We had no real structure for dealing with unpaid invoices. It was very much hit and miss. We'd do a random check and make a couple of calls."
The company uses KashFlow (http://www.kashflow.co.uk) (the online accounting software) and Getting-Paid (http://www.getting-paid.com) for automatic credit control.


They set the Getting-Paid system to remind their customers every few weeks when their invoices were overdue. "Invoices get paid much sooner and we've seen this year a significant improvement in our cash-flow."

[Steve Thornbury]

When you have had enough give me a call and I'll give you some advice on what to do next etc

[GRDCredit]

OK - I see a few salesmen have already replied!!!

My input would be:

I am always concerned when business starts talking about big companies. By what definition? Just because they have posh offices (for example) and deal with blue chips does not in itself make them big or cash rich etc. If you would like to PM me the company name I will happily do you a freebie credit check.

How much is the amount outstanding? Action recommended will depend whether if you are talking about £100 or £10,000.

Do you want to be dealing with them in future?

If they are genuinely a big company then far better to get a relationship built with the accounts payable person and also the person who is actually responsible for authorising the invoice.

[telemax]

OK - I see a few salesmen have already replied!!!

My input would be:

I am always concerned when business starts talking about big companies. By what definition? Just because they have posh offices (for example) and deal with blue chips does not in itself make them big or cash rich etc. If you would like to PM me the company name I will happily do you a freebie credit check.

How much is the amount outstanding? Action recommended will depend whether if you are talking about £100 or £10,000.

Do you want to be dealing with them in future?

If they are genuinely a big company then far better to get a relationship built with the accounts payable person and also the person who is actually responsible for authorising the invoice.

I'd recommend GRD !!

[fundingportal]

A personal visit is by far your most effective tool. If it's not too late, don't call first, just be 'passing by', and be prepared to sit in reception for as long a it takes.

There is no need to be confronational, just positive and straight-forward.

A client of mine -a roofer - followed this advice and not only did he leave with a cheque (which cleared), but he was the last person to get paid before receivers were appointed..

[TaxAssist]

We wrote an article about this recently on our blog - http://blog.taxassist.co.uk/tax-blog/2009/11/3/small-businesses-advised-to-play-hard-ball-with-poor-payers.html

I recommend you speak with a Debt Recovery company. We recommend Collette Rhodes from Debt Collection Services based in Mirfield - http://www.debtcollectionservices.co.uk

Hope that helps.

[Steve Thornbury]

Good luck with their fees page!

[GRDCredit]

We wrote an article about this recently on our blog - http://blog.taxassist.co.uk/tax-blog/2009/11/3/small-businesses-advised-to-play-hard-ball-with-poor-payers.html

I recommend you speak with a Debt Recovery company. We recommend Collette Rhodes from Debt Collection Services based in Mirfield - http://www.debtcollectionservices.co.uk

Hope that helps.

I am not here to recommend any debt collection company over another but I would say beware of any firm (such as the above) who feel to need to charge an amount - however small - upfront!

[TaxAssist]

Geoff, this is all about getting paid isn't it? Maybe if the original poster had asked for payment upfront then we wouldn't need debt recovery services. I wouldn't be put off by paying up front for this service. We recommend them to our network of over 175 accountants and if our accountants weren't happy they would soon let us know! :o)

[Steve Thornbury]

We work for Tax Assist in S Wales

[GRDCredit]

Geoff, this is all about getting paid isn't it? Maybe if the original poster had asked for payment upfront then we wouldn't need debt recovery services. I wouldn't be put off by paying up front for this service. We recommend them to our network of over 175 accountants and if our accountants weren't happy they would soon let us know! :o)

Hi - don't get me wrong. I am not casting doubt on the firm you mention, never heard of them truth be told!. I do however question why anyone would pay up front to any debt collector when there are plenty around who will charge only on a success basis.

(For the record I am not a debt collector!)

[consultantUK]

Go to small claims court, costs £25+ depending on the amount you can fill in the forms online in 5min, yourself. Clients tend to pay within days of getting the court paperwork. Debt collection agencies are good, but they can take 6 months and if the client does not pay they fill in the same paperwork for small claims court, on your behalf and for a fee.

[Steve Thornbury]

Go to small claims court, costs £25+ depending on the amount you can fill in the forms online in 5min, yourself. Clients tend to pay within days of getting the court paperwork. Debt collection agencies are good, but they can take 6 months and if the client does not pay they fill in the same paperwork for small claims court, on your behalf and for a fee.

Good luck with that. £25 and 5 mins???? Bargin!

[Geoff T]

Go to small claims court, costs £25+ depending on the amount you can fill in the forms online in 5min, yourself. Clients tend to pay within days of getting the court paperwork. Debt collection agencies are good, but they can take 6 months and if the client does not pay they fill in the same paperwork for small claims court, on your behalf and for a fee.

Good luck with that. £25 and 5 mins???? Bargin!

Firstly - Steve - you missed the quotes out, so it makes it look a bit odd!

2nd - OP, Steve is saying here that the cost of the claim is dependent upon the amount of the claim - and that it takes way more than 5 mins to do it properly...having done one for a client I know! If you're talking billable time, allow an hour to do it properly...IMO

[BuzInBox]

Hi guys.
If a company does not pay me for such a long time and plays a game "we paid/we send cheque" etc I post a negative review on
e-customer-satisfaction.com.

I am telling you that works as no-one want others to know how they deal with invoices and suppliers.

Also bosses do not want their staff to know too much about their unpaid invoices so get a member of staff involved in responding about the payment progress.

[BuzInBox]

If a company does not pay me for such a long time and plays a game "we paid/we send cheque" etc I post a negative review on
e-customer-satisfaction.com.

I am telling you that works as no-one want others to know how they deal with invoices and suppliers.

Also bosses do not want their staff to know too much about their unpaid invoices so get a member of staff involved in responding about the payment progress.

[KateCB]

I only had this once and as another poster said I called in as I was 'passing' - the person who wrote cheques (This is back in the 1990's!) wasn't available, so I said I would wait - it was a large amount and 60 days overdue.

I waited in that reception area for 3 hours. Finally the cheque writer came out and told me that their terms were 120 days - I pointed out that as they had bought from me, received invoices from me along with OUR terms and conditions they had effectively agreed to abide by OUR T&C's and not the other way around, and that I would only accept orders in the future if they were accompanied by a cheque; I was in a relatively strong position as i knew that they could only buy these particular products and services from me.

The cheque was issued, it cleared and then their fitting crew arrived one Saturday in a panic as they needed something specialist NOW - sorry, they went away as no money, no supplies. For the following 5 years each order was accompanied by a cheque.... I was firm, polite and patient in their waiting room, I was also consistent in NOT supplying if no cheque was received with their purchase order; yes I felt sorry for the fitting crew who desperately needed things from us, but then again did they feel sorry for me when I had to budget for things waiting for them to pay me in the past - I think not!

Small claims is a last resport, it does take a long time, and sadly even if you win the judgement they can STILL drag their heels paying - try the calling in, the 'make friends with the purchase ledger clerk" as they may be able to tell you exactly WHY the payment has been delayed - and set the record straight for next time, you WILL charge interest on overdue amounts (Kashflow software calculates this for you!) and you WILL take action to recover outstanding monies - no matter how big they are they will take notice if you shout loudly and consistently enough. Another trick is to call at least once a day - they do get fed up in the end and pay up to shut you up!

[UKSBD]

I supplied to a company who were doing a lot of work for a high street
chemist, they imposed 90 day terms and a 2% reduction on all invoices to
the firm I was supplying to, who then tried to pass this on to me.

I told them I wouldn't accept these terms.
They are now in liquidation, luckily having already paid me for all I supplied
to them.

[DickM]

"If they are genuinely a big company then far better to get a relationship built with the accounts payable person and also the person who is actually responsible for authorising the invoice."

I've witnessed Geoff's above advice being practised by large and small suppliers to a global automotive company, where I worked for many years.

Following became the standard approach ............. A supplier's rep. would visit the automotive parts/materials/services buyer (whether it was an important issue that prompted the appointment or not). If the buyer was not immediately available, the rep would make a bee-line for our Accounts Payable Dept., where he would seek out the the desk clerk responsible for his Co's Name lead letter (each clerk was responsible for say A-C named suppliers, and so on). The rep would have an outstanding invoice list with him, by aged date. He would not leave until some of the outstanding invoices were in the week's cheque run. As a buyer myself, I often recognised a Payables clerk being entertained @ lunchtime by a supplier's rep in a local restaurant - they almost commanded as much "power" as a buyer responsible for placing a $10 million annual turnover with the same supplier!
Good commercial habits survive the test of time! But you won't see them in any text books I guess? :p

[Peter Bowen]

"If they are genuinely a big company then far better to get a relationship built with the accounts payable person and also the person who is actually responsible for authorising the invoice."

Good advice.

I've written a little more on the subject here (http://pete-bowen.com/index.php/credit-control/make-money-from-the-government-without-going-broke/):

[estradamanny98]

thank you for the information
I learn a lot.thank