Getting Paid

[Gary Birch]

Phill
Just spoke to a large transport operator for the umpteenth time chasing £93. By the time I have paid for the calls and my time I would probably been better just giving them the stuff. Told will be paid nest week

P1sses me right off.

Gary

[George Elsmore]

I would of summons them by now no matter how big the company (:)

[David Rogers]

I’ve just lost ANOTHER customer.

Been due for a couple of months – he’s usually pretty good at 15-30 days.

Informed today that he has liquidated…solicitor will be sending out letters to his creditors.

Yay for me… 👿

Now it’s half or all up front for just about everybody – even some long-standing or large corporations.

The thing is – most small to medium sized businesses don’t even make mention of you wanting paid up front…they just whip out the cheque book or credit card.

I’m slowly tidying up the stragglers due me money before THEY go bust.

It’s scary to think that if a £100 job would have made you £50 (net), losing that income leaves you having to sell another £100 job just to break even…

Dave

[Paul Humble]

Im owed £440 from a client but its a little complicated. The job was placed by a letting agent on behalf of one of their clients back in November on a 30 day invoice. I chased it up with the letting agent who claims that I need to contact the client. I did this at the start of last week but still havent heard back from them.

Im now considering using Thomas Higgins Debt Recovery to issue a Letter Before Action or even a Late Payment Demand but dont know who this should be issued to (the client or the Letting Agent).

Has anyone went down this route before?

[Warren Beard]

quote Paul Humble:

Im owed £440 from a client but its a little complicated. The job was placed by a letting agent on behalf of one of their clients back in November on a 30 day invoice. I chased it up with the letting agent who claims that I need to contact the client. I did this at the start of last week but still havent heard back from them.

Im now considering using Thomas Higgins Debt Recovery to issue a Letter Before Action or even a Late Payment Demand but dont know who this should be issued to (the client or the Letting Agent).

Has anyone went down this route before?

I think the person who placed the order with you is responsible for payment, it’s their responsibility to get payment for themselves from a 3rd party. Sounds like they are trying to get out of paying it because they know it won’t get paid and want to distance themselves from the bad debt 😕

[Paul Humble]

quote Warren Beard:

quote Paul Humble:

Im owed £440 from a client but its a little complicated. The job was placed by a letting agent on behalf of one of their clients back in November on a 30 day invoice. I chased it up with the letting agent who claims that I need to contact the client. I did this at the start of last week but still havent heard back from them.

Im now considering using Thomas Higgins Debt Recovery to issue a Letter Before Action or even a Late Payment Demand but dont know who this should be issued to (the client or the Letting Agent).

Has anyone went down this route before?

I think the person who placed the order with you is responsible for payment, it’s their responsibility to get payment for themselves from a 3rd party. Sounds like they are trying to get out of paying it because they know it won’t get paid and want to distance themselves from the bad debt 😕

Pity as I didnt really want to fall out with a letting agent, but needs must!

[Kevin Flowers]

Sorry to say i have the same problems, have a company had signs fitted Aug 08 they ignored statements for the 1st month. So demand for immediate payment issued received a phone call could they have a month to pay as they where waiting on payment themselves. So agreed as we had done work previously for them with no problems. However since then back to ignoring statement etc. So beginning of week took the time to complete a Statutory Demand Form 4.1 sent it registered post, received a most urgent phone call today from the company wanting to settle their invoice.

This is the second occasion that i have used this with 100% success it can only be used for invoices of a greater value than £750 & i only ever use it as threat as it costs approx £950 to actually take it to court so to go through with it means the debt needs to be worth it. However you issue the demand yourself & it costs you nothing which warns the company they have 21 days or you will petition the court for a winding up order. Has i said the threat is normally enough to get the companies attention.

http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/pdfs/forms/form4-1.pdf

Kev

[Paul Humble]

Kevin, according to the Thomas Higgins site they can issue a Late Payment Demand and charge Base Rate + 8% per day the amount is overdue. The HMCS site states that if no agreement is in place for payment times then its 30 days.

My bill is £440, at base + 8% (9.5%) im sure ill hit the £750 limit pretty quickly.

I would imagine (read "Hope") that the threat of £41.80 interest per day may be enough to get them to pay up.

[Jill Marie Welsh]

I just lost a job because the company insisted I do a PO/Net 30 or a credit card. I have no credit card facilities, and never will.
I offered them the option of credit card deposit via PayPal but no dice.
This was for an order which I would have subbed to a wholesale printer.
It has been my company policy for 24 years to get at least a 50% deposit.
They acted as if I was asking for the CEO’s left testicle.

From another company, a Net 30, I am owed $1950 for several jobs starting in August. My cousin, who works for the company, gets the jobs for me. He is ill and in the hospital now, so I can’t bother him. But it would be f*cking lovely to get paid!
(hot)
Am also owed $75 for a banner and $100 for a painted sign, that customer is waiting for an unemployment check. And the girl’s softball team has owed me $135 since October.
Love….Jill

[Lynn Normington]

Paul you can go to the small claims court, and charge interest and the price of the court claim, check out your local court, you don’t actually have to do it, just send them a copy of your intent.

Lynn

[Paul Humble]

Cheers Lynn,

Ive discussed it with Vickie tonight and we are going to phone both companies involved, email and snail mail them tomorrow stating that we intend to take further action if the account is not cleared in 7 days. After that we will be looking at the small claims etc.

Its a pity as this letting agent potentially could have been a good earner, but we live and learn!

[Kevin Flowers]

quote Paul Humble:

Kevin, according to the Thomas Higgins site they can issue a Late Payment Demand and charge Base Rate + 8% per day the amount is overdue. The HMCS site states that if no agreement is in place for payment times then its 30 days.

My bill is £440, at base + 8% (9.5%) im sure ill hit the £750 limit pretty quickly.

I would imagine (read “Hope”) that the threat of £41.80 interest per day may be enough to get them to pay up.

Paul
base + 8% is an annual rate so you need to divide by 365 then multiply by the number of days over due. Most i my accounts are 30 days so i always allow 30 days then start claiming. I’m sure you can now also claim a one off £40.00 compensation charge. Check this site

http://www.payontime.co.uk/legislation/ … _main.html

Kev

[Paul Humble]

Cheers Kevin, the calculator on that site is very handy too. Hopefully a second phonecall tomorrow will sort it out, but if not atleast I know where I stand.

[BrianGreen]

quote Paul Humble:

Im owed £440 from a client but its a little complicated. The job was placed by a letting agent on behalf of one of their clients back in November on a 30 day invoice. I chased it up with the letting agent who claims that I need to contact the client. I did this at the start of last week but still havent heard back from them.

Im now considering using Thomas Higgins Debt Recovery to issue a Letter Before Action or even a Late Payment Demand but dont know who this should be issued to (the client or the Letting Agent).

Has anyone went down this route before?

I usually leave them upto 60 days if nothing has arrived by then i send a polite letter saying the invoice is overdue, Wait 7 days if ignored i send a letter issuing 7 days notice if this is ignored i then get onto the solicitor. every time i have had to do this one call from the solicitor has got it sorted

[Hugh Potter]

i hate customers who mess me about, got one at the moment, only been a few weeks but i always have him on a 14day max, the last invoice was 7day cos he played up a bit, it’s still oweing now. i just about managed to cover my tax bill, which has left me skint, and have a little work which would normally keep me ticking over, but with car tax/mot/insurance and an accountants bill all due in the next 2 weeks, every penny now counts. i’m about to email him again now, it’s only £100 but if it’s not in my account tomorrow (car tax due) i’ll be heading to the shop and sitting there until he pays it. i might even make a nice t-shirt to wear stating why i’m sitting in the shop!

[Marcella Ross]

I’m the same at the minute. Have 3 customers who I have threatened with small claims court action if they don’t pay up. Unfortunately they’ve not coughed up yet so it’s looking like that the way I’m going to have to go. 🙁
It’s a real struggle at the minute.

[George Elsmore]

baseball bat :nagnag:

[Paul Humble]

Ive now been promised a cheque within the week. Ive made it clear that if its not recieved within 7 days I will be instructing Thomas Higgins to send a Late Payment Demand and claiming my £40 compensation, at 5 it has to be worth a punt.

[James Martin]

the only people who aren’t paying up at the moment to me are the government for my jury duty.

I wonder how John Childs got on with his tax rebate?

[John Childs]

quote James Martin:

I wonder how John Childs got on with his tax rebate?

It was a VAT refund. And the cheque went through when it was re-presented.

I was never at any risk because I would have just deducted that amount from my next VAT payment, so I was a bit disappointed that the cheque cleared, because I could have had a lot of fun with that. 😀

[John Thomson]

A VAT refund failed to clear? Am I reading this correctly?

john

[John Childs]

quote John Thomson:

A VAT refund failed to clear? Am I reading this correctly?

Yup. 😀

[BrianGreen]

quote Marcella:

I’m the same at the minute. Have 3 customers who I have threatened with small claims court action if they don’t pay up. Unfortunately they’ve not coughed up yet so it’s looking like that the way I’m going to have to go. 🙁
It’s a real struggle at the minute.

if you are going to the court this could take time you have already waited for your money. that is why i go to a solicitor that deals with bad debtors the company i use is called etons solicitors in bradford i hope i am allowed to put this on the boards if not mods please remove. i have had to use them on quite a few occasions, one call from them must tell the company i am serious & on all occasions i have been paid within a week.

[Phill Fenton]

Since starting this thread I’ve thought about this long and hard.

I told the accountant that I expected a cheque sent out by return. This didn’t arrive today – and I suspect will not arrive for some time.

I will therefore name and shame the "organisation" in question if I have not been paid by this time next week.

Hopefully it will alert others to avoid dealing with them.

[John Thomson]

I would simply submit a small claims Court claim………costs are added to the debt………..when someone is clearly messing with you I would not hesitate yo go for the throat and do as much damage to them and their company as possible…………are you going to be keen to work for them again Phil?

john

[Steve Underhill]

When I have a bad payer I tell them that signs come down a lot quicker than they go up, and demonstrate my scant regard for the law, red tape, and regulations regarding property ownership by turning up with a claw hammer and bolt cutters etc, you know the sort of things that say… "Im not taking back my sign, just wrecking it and leaving it for you to clean up".
never have a problem with the law, never have a problem with them not paying.
maybe just my area but the police arent so PC (no pun intended) and would probably agree.
either that or I say I will fit an extra sign over it (rivetted) to say "sign obscured due to non payment) never had to do it but would :lol1:

[Michael Dunn]

quote :

if you are going to the court this could take time you have already waited for your money. that is why i go to a solicitor that deals with bad debtors the company i use is called etons solicitors in bradford.

is there a charge for this service?

[Jason Xuereb]

Do you guys offer early payment discounts? It seems to push our invoices to the front of the payment queues. If you know your going to deal on account just bump up your pricing to account for the discount.

[John Childs]

quote Jason Xuereb:

Do you guys offer early payment discounts? It seems to push our invoices to the front of the payment queues. If you know your going to deal on account just bump up your pricing to account for the discount.

I tried it years ago, and admittedly in a different industry, but couldn’t make it work.

The problem was that customers, even when paying after the due date, would still deduct the early payment discount and pay the lower amount.

So then I had to make a lot of phone calls explaining the error of their ways and trying to get that extra discount back. Not once did I succeed in getting any money back, but some of them got upset that I would even ask.

Bottom line – apart from wasting my time, the bad feeling generated on both sides was more detrimental to my business than waiting for the money.

[BrianGreen]

i think it is about time the government took some action on things like this a lot of companies are going to the wall because of bad payers. I seem to remember when this government came to power there was some mention of it but no action as been taken

[Peter Normington]

They (the government) have just guaranteed loans to car makers and given the banks billions, and lowered vat so in their own minds they are doing something about it, whether or not its the right thing, is a different matter.
If the big companies cant sell their products, it reflects down the food chain. its usually a large firm that goes belly up and then takes the smaller suppliers with it, because they have too many eggs in one basket.

All we can do is to try and keep our own houses in order, and watch for the warning signs when customers dont keep to payment dates.

Peter

[BrianGreen]

quote Peter Normington:

They (the government) have just guaranteed loans to car makers and given the banks billions, and lowered vat so in their own minds they are doing something about it, whether or not its the right thing, is a different matter.
If the big companies cant sell their products, it reflects down the food chain. its usually a large firm that goes belly up and then takes the smaller suppliers with it, because they have too many eggs in one basket.

All we can do is to try and keep our own houses in order, and watch for the warning signs when customers dont keep to payment dates.

Peter

I agree with what you are saying but even in the better times i have had bad payers they seem to think they can get you do the work & not pay for it. This is very difficult to anticipate

[Shane Drew]

quote John Childs:

quote Jason Xuereb:

Do you guys offer early payment discounts? It seems to push our invoices to the front of the payment queues. If you know your going to deal on account just bump up your pricing to account for the discount.

I tried it years ago, and admittedly in a different industry, but couldn’t make it work.

The problem was that customers, even when paying after the due date, would still deduct the early payment discount and pay the lower amount.

So then I had to make a lot of phone calls explaining the error of their ways and trying to get that extra discount back. Not once did I succeed in getting any money back, but some of them got upset that I would even ask.

Bottom line – apart from wasting my time, the bad feeling generated on both sides was more detrimental to my business than waiting for the money.

I tried this too, some time back.

Didn’t work for the bad payers, just my good payers who were happy to take the extra discount. The bad payers took the discount, and still paid late. Common trick was to pre date the cheque to fall within the discount period then let it sit in an envelope for a few more week/months until they had the money.

No discount will really make a bad payer pay quicker unless its a substantial reduction. If they take up the offer, chances are they were going to pay anyway.

The only time it does work is with bigger corporations and government depts. Our Governments here, in most states, have a code of conduct that states if a supplier discounts an invoice for early payment, they MUST pay within that time period to get the discount. Most multinationals and large businesses have the same or similar policy. My wife works for a building company, and if you offer a 2% discount for payment within 7 days, instead of their normal 30 day trading terms, they will pay early to get the discount.

Small business are less likely to take up the offer, because the discount is so small, its cheaper to make you wait than pay the interest on their overdraft. 😕

[John Childs]

I reckon that the only answer is to make it a criminal offence not to pay invoices within the agreed terms. After all, ordering stuff for which you are either unable, or unwilling, to pay is fraud.

The benefits would be a major improvement in cashflow, for large companies as well as us smaller concerns.

It would also reduce the amount of damage that an insolvent company could do to the rest of the economy, in that they would have less time to build up massive debts before they are stopped. If they’re going down anyway, much better that they do so owing one month’s invoices, rather than three.

Great stuff, but don’t forget that it would be a double edged sword. It would apply to you as well as your customers. 😛

[Mike Grant]

Everyone should pay cash up front, that way if you can’t afford it you can’t have it. Simple maths in my books.

OK back to the real world 😳 🙄

[Shane Drew]

quote John Childs:

Great stuff, but don’t forget that it would be a double edged sword. It would apply to you as well as your customers. 😛

😮 Glad you are not PM John…. I’d be stuffed 😮 :lol1: :lol1:

[Jason Xuereb]

We don’t offer a blanket early payment discount to everyone. Well smaller bad payers we don’t even offer accounts too. It’s only larger corporations who you know will pay but might take 60-90 days to pay. The only real risk with them is that they totally go under. But that’s business.

[David Rowland]

quote Jason Xuereb:

We don’t offer a blanket early payment discount to everyone. Well smaller bad payers we don’t even offer accounts too. It’s only larger corporations who you know will pay but might take 60-90 days to pay. The only real risk with them is that they totally go under. But that’s business.

well 1 of our bigger clients went under 2 months ago
our biggest client (who didn’t owe us money) decided to sell the assets to another company, and we checked the credit scoring earlier this week, a well trusted company lol