Unpaid Invoices Dating Back 4 Years

[Dagz]

I used to be terrible at checking if my invoices had been paid and at chasing them up if they hadn't. I spent ages going through my accounts recently and found two big clients of mine owed me over £3,000 each from jobs going back years. One of them checked their accounts, saw that they did owe me the money, and have paid me. The other are flat out saying they aren't paying. They say they have changed their system so can't verify what they owe me. I find it hard to believe a large car dealership group would not keep that information. Either way, that surely doesn't get them out of their dept, they still owe me the money, right?

So now that they have said they aren't paying me, where should I go from here?

Thanks

 

[billybob99]

Tricky one - but since you're local, will use you for tinting now.

 

[The Byre]

They say have changed their system so can't verify what they owe me. I find it hard to believe a large car dealership group would not keep that information. Either way, that surely doesn't get them out of their dept, they still owe me the money, right?

You are perfectly correct - but YOU have to now prove that they owe the money. If they dig their heels in, it could become a small claims issue.

One lesson I learned is that customers that owe you money stay away. So not only have you been failing to collect, but you have been driving them away from you.

 

[Mr D]

The car dealership may not keep that information to hand. They will have information somewhere though.
Perhaps not accessible at the dealership.

Businesses have to keep records for years. Bet if HMRC came and visited they'd be able to provide the information toot sweet.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Usually I'd say you should pursue it, but given the time-scales involved TBH I'd write it off to experience.

Learn the lesson, and take credit control seriously!

 

[Karimbo]

The car dealership may not keep that information to hand. They will have information somewhere though.
Perhaps not accessible at the dealership.

Businesses have to keep records for years. Bet if HMRC came and visited they'd be able to provide the information toot sweet.

yeah they'll find that expense receipt fairly quickly.

 

[Karimbo]

Do you have paperworks, employees signing that the work was done, paperwork/emails of them placing the order. I think the onus is on you to prove the work was carried out.

I too have credit control issues, there's so much to do in a small business so you dont have time to do the bookkeeping and just want to go home after a long day and relax.

What I find helps is to post all the invoices into your accounting software as they are raised. better use an accounting software that sends invoices inside. Make sure you do your bank reconciliation every quarter (vat return) at the very least. This issues get picked up. If you dont do bank reconciliation you'll never spot them. Debt gets old, the staff in the other company change and they have no recollection of the unpaid job.

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

I used to be terrible at checking if my invoices had been paid and at chasing them up if they hadn't. I spent ages going through my accounts recently and found two big clients of mine owed me over £3,000 each from jobs going back years. One of them checked their accounts, saw that they did owe me the money, and have paid me. The other are flat out saying they aren't paying. They say they have changed their system so can't verify what they owe me. I find it hard to believe a large car dealership group would not keep that information. Either way, that surely doesn't get them out of their dept, they still owe me the money, right?

So now that they have said they aren't paying me, where should I go from here?

Thanks

I dont think its fair to expect anyone to spend time hunting old records to check going back 4 years! I'd put this down to experience and make sure you sort your invoicing out going forward.

 

[pentel]

I dont think its fair to expect anyone to spend time hunting old records to check going back 4 years! I'd put this down to experience and make sure you sort your invoicing out going forward.

They shouldn't have to search old records. Assuming they have received the invoice it should be entered on their accounts system and show as outstanding.

To OP a job not paid for is a gift.

The easy part should be chasing the money. a £3000 invoice which doesn't get paid means around £30,000 of work done to make up for the loss of payment (assuming 10% net profit)

I would take this all the way assuming I had the paper trail. Doing so would probably take less time than making £3000 any other way.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Could the invoice have been lost in the post or mishandled in the company so never even entered into the accounts, these things do happen. my mortgage company had lost my deeds when the end of the mortgage arrived

If you did not notice £3000 missing at the time, you were probably doing ok so forget it and spend the time on better credit control

PS have you checked your own bank statements to make sure its not you that has had the money and paid it in but not entered into your accounts