Any way of complaing ?

[SueEllen]

Some companies do muck about. They'll look at the invoice on the due date, and if anything is wrong, reject it, giving themselves even more time.

Which has actually been proven to be illegal in court in more than one case, and you can actually go on to the next procedure in your debt recovery process.

[mavster07]

Agree with many of the posters on here. I too have had similar experiences with non-payers and have always made sure that the terms are clear on each and every invoice.

Another way of getting them to pay is to read the other parts of your contract. Most contracts contain some clause as to 'intellectual property ownership' being transferred etc etc. The fact is that no intellectual property transfers to any party under a contract until

a) All work has been completed under that contract

and

b) All work has been paid for (in legal terms - called 'consideration')


So when you issue a letter to the client requiring payment, you can remind them that the 'entitlement' under the contract for intellectual property to pass across to them only does so upon their completion of payment. Until that payment is made, YOU retain that intellectual property in its entirety (as is your right as a supplier) and you can 'estoppe' them from using any work product for commercial purposes, with any gains from that work product being recoverable as part of any legal proceeding.

Start wording things that way and they'll be consulting their lawyers such that its just easier to pay.


The other thing to do is to find out which industry body they are part of and refer the matter to them. Most clients will avoid damage to their reputation if other parties become involved.