Recruitment Agency Not Paying Invoice after 2 months, what to do?

**WTFH** · 27 January 2017, 17:13

If they have offered to pay and you have accepted that offer, then you're just going to have to wait. If you decide to chase after them now and it ends up going to court, the fact that you accepted their offer would mean you'd not come out of it well. Hold off until 28th Feb.

**SueEllen** · 27 January 2017, 17:14

More fool you.

You should have told the agency you don't accept those terms explicitly then after your payment was a week late you should have sent a letter by registered post AND email with an invoice demanding payment within 2 weeks stating otherwise you would take further action. After that time you then contact a debt collector, rather than a court, to see what you action you should take next.

I suggest since you have implicitly agreed to accept payment on 28th February, you now send a invoice and letter by registered mail and email* stating if you haven't received the money by the 2nd March you will walk off site and be chasing them for the debt and they will be liable for all costs.

If you are still at the client you need to have a quiet word with the manager paying them to inform them what the agency is up to.

Oh and Google Safe Collections they frequently appear on here.

*The back up method is to ensure they can't deny you sent the letter.

**Bee** · 27 January 2017, 17:16

If you agreed on this date and If they don't pay you until 28th of Feb, you should find a lawyer to take care of this.

**kaiser78** · 27 January 2017, 17:21

Originally posted by Bee View Post

If you agreed on this date and If they don't pay you until 28th of Feb, you should find a lawyer to take care of this.

I would get the ball rolling now, because we all know that they won't be paying you a penny on the 28th of Feb.

**SueEllen** · 27 January 2017, 17:24

Originally posted by Bee View Post

If you agreed on this date and If they don't pay you until 28th of Feb, you should find a lawyer to take care of this.

He doesn't need a lawyer to chase up the debt.

It would be far easier to use a debt collection agency after he sent debt chasing letters which he can easily do himself.

In addition as soon as the director said I need the money to pay of a court fine I would have been talking to the client telling them I can no longer work for them as I am not going to get paid, then explained the situation the agency was in.

**chuck32** · 27 January 2017, 17:31

Ok, thanks for the quick replies.

The thing is that I didn't explicitly say "I accept that you can pay me at some point before the 28th Feb" but instead the emails went like this:

From the agency director:
"The remainder of the cash owed to you (c£7k) will be paid to you no later than 28th February."

My reply:
"Please let me know that you accept that you will pay my monthly accountancy fees for every month that this invoice remains unpaid from 01/01/2017. So if the invoice was paid in February then I would need two months worth of accountancy fees."

Have I implicitly accepted that he can pay me anytime until the 28th Feb?

EDIT: I left this contract (on amicable terms with the client) in order to go back to permanent work so this was the final invoice to the agency. The client is fully aware of whats going on and has stopped working with the agency because of their dishonesty.

**RonBW** · 27 January 2017, 18:57

Why have you asked them to pay your accountancy fees? I'm struggling to see the link between not getting paid what you are owed and a completely unrelated business expense that you were going to incur anyway.

When it gets to March 1st and they still haven't paid, then get chasing and charging interest.

**SussexSeagull** · 27 January 2017, 19:50

If money is that tight for the agency I wouldn't give them any breathing space.

**SueEllen** · 27 January 2017, 19:55

Originally posted by chuck32 View Post

Ok, thanks for the quick replies.

The thing is that I didn't explicitly say "I accept that you can pay me at some point before the 28th Feb" but instead the emails went like this:

From the agency director:
"The remainder of the cash owed to you (c£7k) will be paid to you no later than 28th February."

My reply:
"Please let me know that you accept that you will pay my monthly accountancy fees for every month that this invoice remains unpaid from 01/01/2017. So if the invoice was paid in February then I would need two months worth of accountancy fees."

Have I implicitly accepted that he can pay me anytime until the 28th Feb?

EDIT: I left this contract (on amicable terms with the client) in order to go back to permanent work so this was the final invoice to the agency. The client is fully aware of whats going on and has stopped working with the agency because of their dishonesty.

More fool you.

You should have sent an email stating something like:

Dear agency director,

In reference to your email stating my full invoice will not be paid until 28th February 2017, I need to make it clear that I am not interested in your internal affairs and will expect your full payment as per our contractual agreement on 31st December 2016.

regards,
chuck32

Then you shouldn't have engaged any further.

Once the invoice is late you should have done Dunning. (Google it if you don't know what the term means.)

Agencies can do invoice factoring so they pay you before they get paid. This is part of the reason they take commission of our payments.

Recruitment Agency Not Paying Invoice after 2 months, what to do?