Unpaid invoices
Discussion
Not exactly a business, but I have an contract with a company who have said they will pay my invoices to them in 28 days. However, they haven't and I've now not heard anything from them in over two weeks, so we're on about day 40.
The next invoice that I'm going to submit will be in the region of 10x the size of the current one.
I've never really been in this situation before and not sure what avenues I have to explore. So any insight would be great.
The next invoice that I'm going to submit will be in the region of 10x the size of the current one.
I've never really been in this situation before and not sure what avenues I have to explore. So any insight would be great.
Process I've always used:
1) Render invoice
2) Ring up shortly after sending it to ask whether invoice has been received and that it's OK. (don't want to wait until the due date to discover they are querying it)
3) Ensure a statement of account is sent at month end
4) If still unpaid ring again to ask why. Also talk to the commercial contact as well as the accounts department. Often those at the sharp end are keener to pay than those in finance
What happens next depends on the relationship.
1) Render invoice
2) Ring up shortly after sending it to ask whether invoice has been received and that it's OK. (don't want to wait until the due date to discover they are querying it)
3) Ensure a statement of account is sent at month end
4) If still unpaid ring again to ask why. Also talk to the commercial contact as well as the accounts department. Often those at the sharp end are keener to pay than those in finance
What happens next depends on the relationship.
Simpo Two said:
When I was trading companies usually paid at the end of the month after you sent in the invoice, regardless of what date/agreement had been made. The main thing IMHO is that it's 'in the system', you have an order number, it's not disputed and the company isn't run by cowboys.
Yes. This end of month payment is how it works with my current employer. So I've been through the middle and end of month payment runs, and we're now 2 weeks beyond the contractual payment date.NDA said:
Many years ago I used to work for a company that would routinely issue Winding Up orders/petitions on unpaid invoices - it was very effective. However it depends on the invoice size and whether you want to keep them as customers. Obviously not relevant in your case.
Yeah, it's a slightly complex arrangement At this point I'm not that keen to go the legal route, but if the next one is treated in the same way I will do. ThisInJapanese said:
NDA said:
Many years ago I used to work for a company that would routinely issue Winding Up orders/petitions on unpaid invoices - it was very effective. However it depends on the invoice size and whether you want to keep them as customers. Obviously not relevant in your case.
Yeah, it's a slightly complex arrangement At this point I'm not that keen to go the legal route, but if the next one is treated in the same way I will do. The guy came round and put every window on his home through after receiving the paperwork. Told him if he didn't pull the legal action he'd burn his house down (which he was try to sell at the time)
Police not interested due to his word against the other.
He pulled the legal action and sucked up the loss to save the house sale.
lizardbrain said:
I can't imagine going down the tough guy route until you've had a least 2 phone calls, polite and friendly ones. Double true if it's an ongoign client
vast majority of the time there are very mundane reasons for delay.
if not, you have nothing to lose by being polite
Indeed.vast majority of the time there are very mundane reasons for delay.
if not, you have nothing to lose by being polite
Loving the cash in is usually better than the alternative.
I've worked in several businesses and usually the only reason for an invoice to go unpaid outside of query is simply inability to pay (call it cash-flow if you like, either way the money isn't there) , so the sooner you find out why the better. Profitable, well run businesses have no problem paying on time, anyone who says, "You're on the list this month" or "needs signing off but they're on holiday" etc is just robbing you.
Monrh end routine mentioned above is reasonable, we do similar and all our suppliers are happy with that, but we've been trading for years with most of them as opposed to your situation OP.
Monrh end routine mentioned above is reasonable, we do similar and all our suppliers are happy with that, but we've been trading for years with most of them as opposed to your situation OP.
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