Advise needed on non payment from Agency, any contracts solicitors monitoring this gr

[overseascontrator]

Do a forum search for 'dunning'.

SafeCollections will hopefully be along at some point.

Thanks, this will be the pressure I was hoping to add in my favour, I have also been told of Business Debt Collection & Recovery Solicitors | The Thomas Higgins Partnership (Thomas Higgins), they are able to offer a letter of demand for a few pounds!

Thanks.

[Sausage Surprise]

advice !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[VectraMan]

Thanks, this will be the pressure I was hoping to add in my favour, I have also been told of Business Debt Collection & Recovery Solicitors | The Thomas Higgins Partnership (Thomas Higgins), they are able to offer a letter of demand for a few pounds!

Thanks.

Lots of people will do that. Lovetts was the one I used. I would start there; a letter from a solicitor will get taken more seriously than any number of letters from you stamping your feet, demanding payment and threatening interest. But you may ultimately have to take them to court, which will cost a couple of hundred at least. Then there's the likes of SafeCollections who seem to be pretty good but will want a sizeable cut for their efforts.

[Safe Collections]

Hi, My UK based agency is frequently late in making payments and at one point also threatened me that they would altogether stop paying me when I made enquiries about their practices.

At that stage I reminded them of the contract specifically the payment terms and then threatened them with legal action because if they did not pay me this was clearly a breach of the contract.

As far as I can tell they have on multiple occasions breached the payment terms clearly set out in the contract.

I have decided to terminate my contract with this agency and now I am concerned that they will not pay me for 3 months of billings that are outstanding. My invoice for april 2014 remains unpaid, and they have/will invoice my client until June 2014.

Are there any solicitors here willing to take this up as a case to apply legal pressure and if necessary take the agency to court ?

The contract I have is legally enforceable in UK and Wales.

Thanks.

Hello

So the agency haven't paid you since March? Ouch!

Ordinarily our advice is that repeated late payments (that are eventually received) or one late payment may not necessarily constitute a breach of contract, but in this instance allowing it to continue serves only to increase your financial risk.

As others have said, you need to make sure that you terminate the contract in line with any clauses included within it and it would be worth having it reviewed prior to termination if at all possible, to ensure your conduct in relation to terminating is above reproach (this will save you time and money in the event you are forced to take legal action, as the agency wont be able to issue a legitimate counterclaim).

Once you have exited the contract, act quickly in relation to recovering what is owed. It is not uncommon for unscrupulous agencies to withhold payment to contractors for the months leading up to a surprise "insolvency". We would suggest you immediately issue a final demand (you can use the free one on contractorUK here) and then place in the hands of an experienced commercial litigator or debt collection company.

£2 demand letters are fine but in our view you get what you pay for. Speaking of which:

Then there's the likes of SafeCollections who seem to be pretty good but will want a sizeable cut for their efforts.

Sizeable? We would charge 10% of the recovered amount for invoice between April-June and even then we only charge the contractor if the debtor doesn't pay our fee as claimed under "the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (regulations) 2013" as these allow for the recovery of "reasonable costs"

Not if you use the term Dunning at them they won't...

Never going to live that down...

[Lola C]

OP, can you give us the name of the agency, to avoid in the future?

Seems to be the only way to deal with them.

[speling bee]

OP, can you give us the name of the agency, to avoid in the future?

Seems to be the only way to deal with them.

Unwise before payment received.

And OP, have you done a credit check?

[Lola C]

Unwise before payment received.

And OP, have you done a credit check?

Not unwise at all. I wanna know if the agent is always late or fiddle with payment.
So name please.

[eek]

Not unwise at all. I wanna know if the agent is always late or fiddle with payment.
So name please.

It's very unwise as they will simply say its a one off...

[VectraMan]

Sizeable? We would charge 10% of the recovered amount for invoice between April-June and even then we only charge the contractor if the debtor doesn't pay our fee as claimed under "the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (regulations) 2013" as these allow for the recovery of "reasonable costs"

"A modest cut" is what I meant to say.

I'm surprised it's that reasonable. Debt collectors haven't always had the best reputation you have to admit, so my apologies for jumping to a conclusion.

[Lola C]

It's very unwise as they will simply say its a one off...

OP says it's their systematic approach to payments. It's in our own interests to know the name of the agency.