Client not paying up

[Yizi]

Hi all, I have a small issue here where I have done the job for my client about 2 months ago and they kept saying they are going to pay up, now they are not even communicating back. I tried threatening them to legal action but nothing came from that. The amount is under £1000. Is there away that I can obtain my hard earned money without spending more.

Thanks,
Y

 

[dan@webpeasy]

I tried threatening them to legal action but nothing came from that. The amount is under £1000. Is there away that I can obtain my hard earned money without spending more.

Not at this point, if they aren't communicating you don't have a lot of options.

Follow through on the legal action. File a claim with MCOL (Money Claim Online). It'll cost you approximately £70.

Other than that you could try sending a formal letter via recorded delivery?

 

[Paul_Rosser]

Is the client a limited company? Have you checked to ensure they are still trading and haven't gone into liquidation?

 

[businessfunding]

Turn up on their doorstep

 

[prosma1]

I agree. Sending a formal letter through recorded delivery, you'll be able to see when they have signed for the letter stating they have received communication from yourself. Make sure you take note of the tracking number before you send it and track it online through Royal Mail.

 

[maxine]

What action have you taken already? Is it Business to Business or Business to Consumer? What type of product or service is it for? How old is it?

 

[Vectis]

First things first, what were the terms for payment of your invoice? What did it say on the invoice?

You say you did the work 'about 2 months ago'. What was the date of your invoice? Some time after that, presumably.

Normally terms are 30 days or even 30 days after the end of the month. Given either of these, having only finished the work 'about 2 months ago', payment isn't that far overdue - unless your terms were 7 days or such like.

Tell us what terms your client agreed to.

 

[LeafletsInLincs]

Make sure you look into pre action protocol if you're taking someone to court.

If the business in question is a branch and they have a head office then contact them as they'll chase up for you.

I've chased a few large sums in my time and got them all.

 

[Andre1981]

Yes I would send a recorded letter, be polite but just state that they will have to pick up the court cost when the judge opts in your favour, give a 7 day response time, if you don't hear anything they are just taking the mick and hoping that you go away, only naff thing is when they get to court they can plead they are skint and end up paying £10 a month, better than nothing but it still stinks.good luck

 

[Christine Hough]

Need to know more about the details first..
Business or consumer client?
If business was it a ltd company?
Is it a branch?
Did you quote and is there any dispute over your work or the fee?
Did you state payment terms?
Who are/were you dealing with and did they have the authority to pay?
Can they pay?

You may be able to get payment but to give good advice you need to give us more detail. The small claims court may wellbe able to help, but you need to warn them first with a 'letter before action'

 

[Big G]

I completely agree with Christine Hough regarding the information that is required before advice can be given but generally a letter before action then county court proceedings. However, you have asked about recovering it without spending more money and issuing county court proceedings does cost. The court fee of a debt between £500 - £1000 is £60 using money claim online.

If you want help checking out the financial status debtor then send me a private message.

Good luck.!!

 

[templateagreements]

It might be worth trying a Statutory Demand (https://www.gov.uk/statutory-demands/overview). They look quite formal which helps the debtor take notice and starting with this provides a good first step towards legal recovery of the money. Using the Statutory Demand forms on the gov.uk website will help to ensure that you provide all the correct information to the client and follow a legally correct process, which could help you later if you need to go to the next stage.

Best of luck getting the money.

 

[Big G]

To issue a statutory demand the debt must be over £750.00.

To ensure the statutory demand comes to the attention of the debtor it has to be personally served and this should be carried out by a licensed process server who will then provide a certificate of service.

Then, if the debtor does not respond within the statutory period (18 days) you can enforce with a bankruptcy petition but this has to be issued by a solicitor and can be costly.

Under the circumstances I would not advise anyone to issue a statutory demand for a debt smaller than £1k as it is simply not cost effective.

Definitely stick to County Court Proceedings if you are going to issue.

 

[vvaannmmaann]

Turn up on their doorstep

And then what?

 

[Shaun_Pearce]

Drop me a quick message and I'll a full credit report on the company to see if there's anything underlying that you may want to be aware of.

 

[zevi]

For your own health, it can easier to just forgo the sum and move on rather then letting it drain your emotions over the long process.