digital invoices no longer acceptable for large companies
Discussion
Having a small rant on here rather than risk loosing a customer. 
All my customers are large commercial companies and they all use computers (surprise, surprise) but recently I've noticed some are reverting back to requiring 'hard copy invoices' in other words they wont accept invoices or statements sent by email. This is (IMO) just an age old tactic to delaying payment, "must be lost in the post", "we didn't receive it", "we lost it", its on the directors desk", etc. I am going to play them at their own game (I've had 25 years of game experience) although I thought the bad old days had gone. I've already posted 2 x invoices so they can loose the first one and shall be following up with weekly phone calls to waste as much time as possible of their accounts department. Would love to let them know this, but you lot will have to do. 
Rant over, as you were.
All my customers are large commercial companies and they all use computers (surprise, surprise) but recently I've noticed some are reverting back to requiring 'hard copy invoices' in other words they wont accept invoices or statements sent by email. This is (IMO) just an age old tactic to delaying payment, "must be lost in the post", "we didn't receive it", "we lost it", its on the directors desk", etc. I am going to play them at their own game (I've had 25 years of game experience) although I thought the bad old days had gone. I've already posted 2 x invoices so they can loose the first one and shall be following up with weekly phone calls to waste as much time as possible of their accounts department. Would love to let them know this, but you lot will have to do. Rant over, as you were.
.Simpo Two said:
I don't like getting invoices by PDF; it smacks of laziness to me. I will send them if asked, as it saves me a stamp and I can print one out for the file, but to me a PDF doesn't really 'exist' and unlike paper is easy to overlook/get forgotten.
I don't like getting invoices in the post; it smacks of old fashionedness and inefficiency to me. I will post one if asked, but it costs me a stamp as well as the time and petrol for going to the postbox. Plus I can't save a paper invoice electronically without going to the trouble of scanning it and unlike pdf's, paper invoices are so easy to lose or get forgotten.So you see, each to his own.
GoneBananas said:
...I've already posted 2 x invoices..
I agree with your dual invoicing - what I've taken to doing is, as long as a document isn't urgent but needs to get there, is send two copies by second class post and get proof of posting for both of them. Cheaper at about £1 than recorded which would cost £1.60 to be signed for.GTIR said:
I've noticed in the last 2 years larger companies delaying payments, whereas they never used to.
It's the main reason why I'm thinking of packing it all in after 6 years of trading. It's just not worth the stress and effort.
Do us all a favour and if you do close down plenty of press on the large companies putting the small man out of business and lots of comments on how they must be near the end of their credit facilities if they can't afford to pay a small bill like yours, etc. Fear for the loss of jobs when they surely close not being able to pay you for the widggets you have made yet still acting like a FTSE100 company.It's the main reason why I'm thinking of packing it all in after 6 years of trading. It's just not worth the stress and effort.
I live for the day I don't have to care about the political ramifications of my actions
arcturus said:
Simpo Two said:
I don't like getting invoices by PDF; it smacks of laziness to me. I will send them if asked, as it saves me a stamp and I can print one out for the file, but to me a PDF doesn't really 'exist' and unlike paper is easy to overlook/get forgotten.
I don't like getting invoices in the post; it smacks of old fashionedness and inefficiency to me. I will post one if asked, but it costs me a stamp as well as the time and petrol for going to the postbox. Plus I can't save a paper invoice electronically without going to the trouble of scanning it and unlike pdf's, paper invoices are so easy to lose or get forgotten.So you see, each to his own.
Perhaps the best is a 'paypal' kind of invoice where it arrives as e-mail and you click a button to pay? But companies will still say 'We've lost the e-mail, can you resend'.
In my experience it depends on the company receiving the invoice and their practice of filing them. Just because a company saves their paperwork electronically doesn't mean that it is the electronic copy that is saved. In many cases it's a hard copy (either posted and received or emailed and then printed) that is scanned and then saved.
In this case there is the additional cost of someone opening the file containng the invoice and then printing it, cost of paper, toner, cost of scanning, time etc
A courier company recently went from posting their invoices that were previously a very simple one page invoice for each account to emailing e-invoices that were a minimum of 5 pages for each account.
In my opinion, invoices should be sent in the preferred format that the customer requires...
In this case there is the additional cost of someone opening the file containng the invoice and then printing it, cost of paper, toner, cost of scanning, time etc
A courier company recently went from posting their invoices that were previously a very simple one page invoice for each account to emailing e-invoices that were a minimum of 5 pages for each account.
In my opinion, invoices should be sent in the preferred format that the customer requires...
I send all my invoices via email, not really dealing with many large companies, but not had a problem yet. If any company requested posted copies, I'd be sending them 1st class to begin with. If any company then complained it got "lost in the post" I'd be sending it via Signed For and adding an admin charge to cover the costs.
quite often people have to find them when it's not been paid on the due date and I call to chase 
If I'm called out/making a delivery in person, I'll generally hand write an invoice from my duplicate book and give it to the customer there and then. Otherwise, I'll email a PDF. It would cost a fortune in stamps to send them out by post, and these days margins are tighter than ever. On the same reasoning, I have no objection to receiving invoices by email, even though the first thing I do is print a copy for my records.
But, like others mentioned, I have one huge customer who insist on paper invoices. Oddly, they have to be posted to a PO Box address at the other end of the country. But the real irony is that the first thing they do when they receive the paper invoice is 'scan it in and put it on the system'!
I don't even bother sending out statements any more, paper or email. We used to do it, but found that the same customers that didn't pay on time, still didn't pay when they received a statement. Now we just get on the phone and chase them, as that's what we invariably ended up doing anyway.
On the odd occasion when I'm chasing up late payers, they'll ask for a copy of the invoice, and there's the odd one that won't/can't accept an email copy, which frustrates me, as it means the cost of an envelope and stamp, and the time to traipse to the post box. But mainly it means that I won't get paid for at least another two weeks, as the same people that won't accept invoices, also won't pay electronically - you have to wait for a cheque to come back in the post, and then get it to the bank and wait for it to clear.
But, like others mentioned, I have one huge customer who insist on paper invoices. Oddly, they have to be posted to a PO Box address at the other end of the country. But the real irony is that the first thing they do when they receive the paper invoice is 'scan it in and put it on the system'!
I don't even bother sending out statements any more, paper or email. We used to do it, but found that the same customers that didn't pay on time, still didn't pay when they received a statement. Now we just get on the phone and chase them, as that's what we invariably ended up doing anyway.
On the odd occasion when I'm chasing up late payers, they'll ask for a copy of the invoice, and there's the odd one that won't/can't accept an email copy, which frustrates me, as it means the cost of an envelope and stamp, and the time to traipse to the post box. But mainly it means that I won't get paid for at least another two weeks, as the same people that won't accept invoices, also won't pay electronically - you have to wait for a cheque to come back in the post, and then get it to the bank and wait for it to clear.
I'm a trade supplier in the Swimming Pool industry, and it is the most backward industry you could ever imagine! Orders are still placed by fax, and customers still want invoices/statements sent by post.
I have tried desperately over the last six months to switch them to email, but the take up has been minuscule.
I have tried desperately over the last six months to switch them to email, but the take up has been minuscule.
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