Any way of complaing ?

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.

[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.

[NotAllThere]

With a small company, I started the whole dunning process plus interest. Eventually, I got the bill paid - once I'd got to the point of "If you ignore this letter, legal action will be taken". But the interest and admin charges that I was legally entitled to didn't get paid. I could have pursued it, but I'd really only use those charges for emphasis. I think it amounted to £100 or so by the end. Not worth the effort.

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. They'll do all they can to pay as late as possible. I'm not sure how precisely this helps. It's like paying your electricity bill only on final demand. You gain a few months once. After that, it's just as if you'd paid it on time.

Some larger companies have a responsible attitude to smaller suppliers. One of my clients mucked up a payment paying 30 days late. To make up for it, they volunteered to pay the next one upon receipt. I was gobsmacked.

[BolshieBastard]

I had been doing some work for a PLC company and have had to fight tooth and nail to get paid for the invoices I raised against them. I am no longer working for them and have one invoice outstanding.

Their attitude (from a director level) is extremely cavalier to paying on time. Such as, and I quote

"we cannot pander to individual providers and pay them on the exact date that payment is due." - My agreement with the company was invoices paid within 14 days.

I have no doubt that I won't get paid, but it annoys me that there is nothing I can do about it. I have already complained to the directors and thats there attitude. Surely there must be some external body or something you can make a complaint against for bad practices ?

This is the risk you take in business. It should be noted it applies to any business too. People you supply a service to want to delay payment to you for as long as possible. The bigger the company is and the smaller you are, expect to be at the bottom of the food chain when it comes to being paid.

In another busines I had, we offered business customers a 30 day payment period, Some of the cheey twats stretched this to 60 days and said 'we'll pay you when we want.' When you stop providing a service they need urgently though they quickly pay up. Dont expect that to last long though as invariably, they take their 'custom' elsewhere.

In short, there's no a lot you can do about it except be patient and keep prodding.

[Wanderer]

I think that you can only charge interest if you've alerted the client to that fact.

Sorry, but you are mistaken. There is no requirement that you warn them before you charge a penalty and interest for late payment. If they are a big company then they will be well aware of the legislation anyway.

Late payment legislation and the BPPG Interest calculator.

[lxt04]

Interest is due on the late payment from the day after it was supposed to be paid. There is also a penalty for paying late, so send them an invoice for the interest and late payment penalties.

I think that you can only charge interest if you've alerted the client to that fact. So if your invoice doesn't mention anything about interest you can't charge it until you have written to the client telling them interest will be payable on the late balance.

[Wanderer]

14 days sounds a bit strict. Surely most companies will deal with their bills on a monthly basis, at best.

30 days then charge interest seems like a better policy.

If they agreed to it in the contract then they should stick to it.

Interest is due on the late payment from the day after it was supposed to be paid. There is also a penalty for paying late, so send them an invoice for the interest and late payment penalties. If they don't pay then take it to small claims court.

[IR35 Avoider]

14 days sounds a bit strict. Surely most companies will deal with their bills on a monthly basis, at best.

30 days then charge interest seems like a better policy.

[VectraMan]

I think you're being a bit naive in thinking that there's some kind of authority that makes people pay on time, but in reality it's up to you to take them to court. Every company tries to stretch the payment terms for suppliers, and unfortunately you're much smaller than they are in this case, and as you've finished your contract, you don't have any leverage.

Starting court action isn't as bad as you probably think. I used Lovetts a couple of years ago, and they only charge £2 to send a late payment demand letter, including working out the interest you can legally add on. If that fails you can get a CCJ, which is a black mark against the company - but a large company won't let it get that far. This is assuming that there's no dispute, which could get expensive, and that they're not about to go bankrupt, in which case you're wasting your time (which is what happened to me ).

[doodab]

Actually there are a couple of things you can do.

a) charge interest + fees. Google "late payment of commercial debts act" to get good advice on that + details of the interest you can charge etc
b) take them to court
c) if all else fails, you can petition to have the company wound up. Liquidation and Insolvency - GPO8 gives you an idea of what is involved.

[Jet Setter]

I had been doing some work for a PLC company and have had to fight tooth and nail to get paid for the invoices I raised against them. I am no longer working for them and have one invoice outstanding.

Their attitude (from a director level) is extremely cavalier to paying on time. Such as, and I quote

"we cannot pander to individual providers and pay them on the exact date that payment is due." - My agreement with the company was invoices paid within 14 days.

I have no doubt that I won't get paid, but it annoys me that there is nothing I can do about it. I have already complained to the directors and thats there attitude. Surely there must be some external body or something you can make a complaint against for bad practices ?

I had a mate in a situation like this and the company actually incentivised the FD for putting off paying bills. He went to the source and found the money man and told him he wouldn't be doing any work unless the payment terms were met. By harassing this guy he got his way, as long as he didn't tell the bosses.

[chance1234]

I had been doing some work for a PLC company and have had to fight tooth and nail to get paid for the invoices I raised against them. I am no longer working for them and have one invoice outstanding.

Their attitude (from a director level) is extremely cavalier to paying on time. Such as, and I quote

"we cannot pander to individual providers and pay them on the exact date that payment is due." - My agreement with the company was invoices paid within 14 days.

I have no doubt that I won't get paid, but it annoys me that there is nothing I can do about it. I have already complained to the directors and thats there attitude. Surely there must be some external body or something you can make a complaint against for bad practices ?