Late Payment Invoice
Discussion
Hi
I have a customer (a university) who is notoriously useless at paying.
An invoice due mid December wasn't paid by early February, so I sent them a late-payment invoice including interest. They have now paid the original invoice and the late payment fee, but not the interest which I am still chasing.
Another invoice due 8 Feb wasn't paid by 22 Feb, so I sent them a late-payment invoice with ten-day payment terms. They have now paid the original invoice, but not the late payment invoice which is now 14 days overdue.
So my question is can I send a late-payment invoice in relation to the unpaid late-payment invoice, or is the next step threatening small claims court?
There aren't massive amounts at stake here, but it's the principle!
Thanks
I have a customer (a university) who is notoriously useless at paying.
An invoice due mid December wasn't paid by early February, so I sent them a late-payment invoice including interest. They have now paid the original invoice and the late payment fee, but not the interest which I am still chasing.
Another invoice due 8 Feb wasn't paid by 22 Feb, so I sent them a late-payment invoice with ten-day payment terms. They have now paid the original invoice, but not the late payment invoice which is now 14 days overdue.
So my question is can I send a late-payment invoice in relation to the unpaid late-payment invoice, or is the next step threatening small claims court?
There aren't massive amounts at stake here, but it's the principle!
Thanks
akirk said:
Send them a statement showing each amount invoiced / amount paid / difference and ask for it to be paid - otherwise it is all too bitty...
Good idea. I emailed them this morning saying unless payment was received by 5pm tomorrow, further action would be taken and additional costs incurred. We'll see if that does the trick.
Having worked in Europe for many years, I had a fair bit of knowledge of how interest invoices effect business relationships, and I was part of an oil and gas group that wrote an advisory paper for the government in the 90's when interest charges were introduced into UK law.
Be very careful, its a great way to destroy a relationship,
If some one is paying you regularly but late, the first thing I would do is talk to them, then see if you can do something like changing your invoicing schedule, Maybe drop a the last week of the month of your invoice and add that to the next one so you get your invoices in before any cut of date. Dependent on what you are selling you may only drop a few days. If its labour look at maybe changing your weekend date, so you meet more cut of dates.
I'd advise the use of unilateral interest invoices as a last resort.
Be very careful, its a great way to destroy a relationship,
If some one is paying you regularly but late, the first thing I would do is talk to them, then see if you can do something like changing your invoicing schedule, Maybe drop a the last week of the month of your invoice and add that to the next one so you get your invoices in before any cut of date. Dependent on what you are selling you may only drop a few days. If its labour look at maybe changing your weekend date, so you meet more cut of dates.
I'd advise the use of unilateral interest invoices as a last resort.
Berw said:
Having worked in Europe for many years, I had a fair bit of knowledge of how interest invoices effect business relationships, and I was part of an oil and gas group that wrote an advisory paper for the government in the 90's when interest charges were introduced into UK law.
Be very careful, its a great way to destroy a relationship,
If some one is paying you regularly but late, the first thing I would do is talk to them, then see if you can do something like changing your invoicing schedule, Maybe drop a the last week of the month of your invoice and add that to the next one so you get your invoices in before any cut of date. Dependent on what you are selling you may only drop a few days. If its labour look at maybe changing your weekend date, so you meet more cut of dates.
I'd advise the use of unilateral interest invoices as a last resort.
wise words...Be very careful, its a great way to destroy a relationship,
If some one is paying you regularly but late, the first thing I would do is talk to them, then see if you can do something like changing your invoicing schedule, Maybe drop a the last week of the month of your invoice and add that to the next one so you get your invoices in before any cut of date. Dependent on what you are selling you may only drop a few days. If its labour look at maybe changing your weekend date, so you meet more cut of dates.
I'd advise the use of unilateral interest invoices as a last resort.
also, consider upping your price, but offering a discount for prompt payment - same sets of figures, but a totally different relationship.
so, £90 bill, but £10 of charges if paid late
or £100 bill but 10% discount if you pay £90 within 7 days
both are a bill for £90 or £100 if paid late, both are exactly the same, but changes the nature of the relationship to one where they want to pay you quickly! if they have 30 day payment runs which make that difficult, then send a pro-forma so that they can add it to their run ahead of time...
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