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Advice on non payment of invoices

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Anyone have any advice about customers not paying invoices iv got a few customers some from on here who have not payed despite several emails and phone calls.the amounts are not much but it's the principle and the fact people think they can have work done and not pay

Edited by DVCI

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After 30 days you can add 10% to the invoice legally.

Send them a letter of final notice before court action, you can find templates for the letters by googling. Send it registered so you get a signature, state a date (2 to 4 weeks, up to you) at which point if they haven't been in touch you will start court proceedings, then file a small claims action through money claim online, it's not expensive to file, they'll probably pay up once they get court papers through the post.

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Is it called a statutory demand ? My payment terms are clearly stated on my invoices

Edited by DVCI

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Good advice from Cyclone. It might be useful to look at the T&Cs on your quote. Ours state that price(s) quoted are discounted fro payment cleared within 30 days. Payment cleared 31-60 days are a higher price (this is also written on the quote). We also add that if the debit is passed to a debt collector their fees will also be added. The approximate fee for this is quoted too.

 

We had someone who wouldn't pay us. After he received the surcharge invoice he started querying the invoice. There was nothing to query or refute and he had already had two months to do this anyway. Silly man said he would see us in court so we filed a small claims court claim on line. In just over a week he was begging us to take his call and confirm we had received payment. He ended up having to pay small claims court fees for us too.

 

If someone is struggling to pay we try to work with them. Some people just don't pay as a matter of course so future work is proforma.

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Yes I understand tines are hard for people and I do my best to work with them but when iv been told my payment was sent a week ago by bacs and still received nothing and when I query this by email I get no reply so I'll wait another week then I'll send a final notice to the unpaid invoices thanks for your help

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Send them an E/M saying if they dont pay in full in 7 days that you will put it in the hands of a debt collector and 10 percent added as allowed in law

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Yes I understand tines are hard for people and I do my best to work with them but when iv been told my payment was sent a week ago by bacs and still received nothing and when I query this by email I get no reply so I'll wait another week then I'll send a final notice to the unpaid invoices thanks for your help

 

If they aren't replying to you then I would send the email 'letter' now. We gave our customer a week to pay the bill but after they said they would "see us in court", (a bluff we think), we filed small claim immediately.

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Yes I understand tines are hard for people and I do my best to work with them but when iv been told my payment was sent a week ago by bacs and still received nothing and when I query this by email I get no reply so I'll wait another week then I'll send a final notice to the unpaid invoices thanks for your help

 

Tell them you'll be there in a week to take away everything you've installed. ;)

 

Special delivery letters are ok if they get signed for - I've had a couple where they've just refused to sign for them.

 

---------- Post added 07-01-2017 at 19:07 ----------

 

If they aren't replying to you then I would send the email 'letter' now. We gave our customer a week to pay the bill but after they said they would "see us in court", (a bluff we think), we filed small claim immediately.

 

How easy have you found that?

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Tell them you'll be there in a week to take away everything you've installed. ;)

 

Special delivery letters are ok if they get signed for - I've had a couple where they've just refused to sign for them.

 

---------- Post added 07-01-2017 at 19:07 ----------

 

 

How easy have you found that?

 

VERY easy. We send all our invoices via email, switched a few years ago. We can then proved the email arrived, nobody can say they didn't receive an invoice.

 

We have only ever had two real problems. One company was going bust so I sent debt collector sharpish to get our money. The second one was really nasty / difficult, said he would see us in court. Totally changed his tune when he got the communication from small claims court. I thought there would be some effort involved but after filing the claim a cheque arrived about a week later for the money plus expenses etc.

 

Edit - we sent the one week notification of debt collectors / court action by fax and email not post.

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Send them an E/M saying if they dont pay in full in 7 days that you will put it in the hands of a debt collector and 10 percent added as allowed in law

 

Until a court rules that they have to pay there is nothing a "debt collector" can do. Filing a small claims action is far more likely to get the invoice paid.

 

---------- Post added 08-01-2017 at 10:49 ----------

 

VERY easy. We send all our invoices via email, switched a few years ago. We can then proved the email arrived, nobody can say they didn't receive an invoice.

How can you prove that email arrived?

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Until a court rules that they have to pay there is nothing a "debt collector" can do. Filing a small claims action is far more likely to get the invoice paid.

 

---------- Post added 08-01-2017 at 10:49 ----------

 

How can you prove that email arrived?

Iv ad replies saying payment has been sent and when payment hasn't been received days later I emailed againy

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