Reply to: Unpaid invoice

[MyUserName]

Absolutely correct.... To give it some context, I have invoices outstanding which were on 30 day terms, which currently sit at 67 (?) ish... days outstanding.

Whilst I am about to go legal, maybe I should have demanded payment in an hour 3 days after they went over terms.....then this whole situation would never come up!

Maybe - who knows?

In my case, I knew that they could do a bank transfer in a few minutes if they wanted to with or without their finance company being involved - why should I accept anything less at that point?

[JamJarST]

Absolutely correct.... To give it some context, I have invoices outstanding which were on 30 day terms, which currently sit at 67 (?) ish... days outstanding.

Whilst I am about to go legal, maybe I should have demanded payment in an hour 3 days after they went over terms.....then this whole situation would never come up!

I'm sure in another thread you were claiming to be a better business man than "us" contractors and yet you have allowed invoices to reach 37 days overdure without taking action??

[The Agents View]

Not sure quite how to take that so I am going to assume you think I am awesome.

Absolutely correct.... To give it some context, I have invoices outstanding which were on 30 day terms, which currently sit at 67 (?) ish... days outstanding.

Whilst I am about to go legal, maybe I should have demanded payment in an hour 3 days after they went over terms.....then this whole situation would never come up!

[JamJarST]

Not sure quite how to take that so I am going to assume you think I am awesome.

Lol

[MyUserName]

I have been week. I'm off to demand payment within the hour for my outstanding invoices

Not sure quite how to take that so I am going to assume you think I am awesome.

[MyUserName]

The money is now in my bank for all outstanding invoices!

[The Agents View]

I have been week. I'm off to demand payment within the hour for my outstanding invoices.....

Seriously though, wouldn't it be nice if business paid invoices as soon as they were received, instead of waiting for terms to elapse before bothering - it's not as if it's not possible in this day and age of money just being numbers on a screen!

[MyUserName]

Really? You're starting a thread because a payment is ONE DAY late?

Almost. It was a day late after the agency asked me to change mid contract from weekly billing to monthly (which i refused) and had a poor credit score when I checked it.

Also, it was the first time I had ever had a late payment and wanted advice on what to do.

[d000hg]

Sorry, I should have been more specific:

I submitted 11 working days ago. The contract states that payment will be made in 10 working days, putting them 1 wd late.

Really? You're starting a thread because a payment is ONE DAY late?

[MyUserName]

I got told that they might not be able to do a bank transfer so I asked for an email from the fd explaining why and did not change the deadline of 10.30.

I asked to be copied on the emails to the md and what the reasons the financial company were giving were.

At 10.28 I got an email saying they were going to pay all outstanding invoices immediately and the money should be in my account today. It is not there yet but this might well be sorted.

Also everyone stayed nice, polite and professional throughout the entire process.

[JamJarST]

Ah, I see. Thanks for the input. The weekly to monthly thing was all sorted out on friendly terms. The only issue is the several thousand pounds worth of outstanding invoices which they want to wait another week to pay.

Possibly I paniced slightly. I have no experience of this. I did a credit check on the company and it did not come back with good news.

My thinking was that a bank transfer takes a few minutes and should be doable. Their finance company is causing them a problem but, as I pointed out, they can pay me directly and then the finance company can pay them back plus a penalty which they are welcome to keep.

I think you were right to escalate it, maybe an hour was a bit strict lol, but I think the warning signs are there and you are right not to leave it and wait and see. This whole "finance company" thing just sounds like a made up thing. What exactly are they using a finance company for and why are they paying you?

[GillsMan]

Ah, I see. Thanks for the input. The weekly to monthly thing was all sorted out on friendly terms. The only issue is the several thousand pounds worth of outstanding invoices which they want to wait another week to pay.

Possibly I paniced slightly. I have no experience of this. I did a credit check on the company and it did not come back with good news.

My thinking was that a bank transfer takes a few minutes and should be doable. Their finance company is causing them a problem but, as I pointed out, they can pay me directly and then the finance company can pay them back plus a penalty which they are welcome to keep.

Ah, I see. Probably still took the proverbial a little in asking for payment within an hour, but I think it's definitely better than sitting back and doing nothing.

[MyUserName]

You said you were open to opinions on your approach. Whilst I would be concerned about being mucked about like you have been, I think this response is a bit OTT. You've given people about an hour to resolve things which isn't generally realistic to be fair (though I'd love to be wrong in this case). It does feel like you've gone from being mild mannered and easy going about this all to all of a sudden transforming into the Hulk and demanding everything NOOOOOWWWWWW!!!!! It might weird your agency out tbh.

A middle ground would have been best. An email reminding them of their responsibilities, explaining that much as you'd love to help them out with their monthly billing, you do need to be paid weekly as agreed due to your company's terms of business. Give them a day, follow up with a phone call. All reasonable.

Asking for payment within an hour? I do like your style.

Ah, I see. Thanks for the input. The weekly to monthly thing was all sorted out on friendly terms. The only issue is the several thousand pounds worth of outstanding invoices which they want to wait another week to pay.

Possibly I paniced slightly. I have no experience of this. I did a credit check on the company and it did not come back with good news.

My thinking was that a bank transfer takes a few minutes and should be doable. Their finance company is causing them a problem but, as I pointed out, they can pay me directly and then the finance company can pay them back plus a penalty which they are welcome to keep.

[GillsMan]

Okay, have switched things on and requested immediate payment by bank transfer for all outstanding invoices and that waiting to the end of the month would not be acceptable, as it would not be in the best interests of my company and it would therefore be illegal for me to agree to.

I have also stated that unless I get the bank transfer details by 10.30 I will speak to the client directly about how best to move forward.
I included a section explaining that if I did not see read receipts by 10 I would forward the email to the company directors and then to the client at 10.30.

I might well not be cut out to be a contractor, I am finding this quite stressful and barely anything has happened!

You said you were open to opinions on your approach. Whilst I would be concerned about being mucked about like you have been, I think this response is a bit OTT. You've given people about an hour to resolve things which isn't generally realistic to be fair (though I'd love to be wrong in this case). It does feel like you've gone from being mild mannered and easy going about this all to all of a sudden transforming into the Hulk and demanding everything NOOOOOWWWWWW!!!!! It might weird your agency out tbh.

A middle ground would have been best. An email reminding them of their responsibilities, explaining that much as you'd love to help them out with their monthly billing, you do need to be paid weekly as agreed due to your company's terms of business. Give them a day, follow up with a phone call. All reasonable.

Asking for payment within an hour? I do like your style.

[MyUserName]

Wait until your agent goes bust owing you £Xk, you are fretting over 1 working day or so.
Wait until you've been benched for 6 months and no sight of a new contract.


Really.....AYCOTBAC. (c) NLUK 2012

Well I am not fretting over 1 working day as such. I am fretting over 3 unpaid invoices from an agent who has a low credit rating. I am fretting because I want to nip this in the bud before they go bust owing me many thousands. I would have thought that this was good business sense?

I fret over small problems when I see them as symptoms to large potential problems.

By all means approach as you see fit, but not really a good start to a business relationship. IMHO

Not sure what you mean. Do you think I am handling this badly? If so, how would you go about it?

I am open to all kinds of advice, this kind of judgment call is not covered in the beginner's guides and is something one only learns with experience, if you have been in this situation please tell me how you handled it!

Or do you mean my inexperience is not a good start? Not sure how else one would start something new.