Why haven t I been invoiced?

[elise2000]

Hi all

I had a door fitted early last October at my home. Upon fitting the guy said he’d invoice in a few weeks after his honeymoon. Fair enough.

I hadn’t heard anything by the end of November. I then messaged him to see if he could quote for another door. He said yes, he’d be in touch, and would send the invoice.

January arrives and still no invoice or quote. I messaged him to remind him, and again he said he’d be in touch and would invoice.

Here we are the of Feb and still nothing.

It’s not a problem. If he doesn’t want paying that’s fine! The other doors aren’t urgent, and I’ve actually now found a better solution for them.

I’m just wondering why on earth a small business wouldn’t invoice for nearly 5 months. As a business owner myself it makes no sense! I’ve used them in the past and they’ve invoiced quickly. It’s around £2k worth of work. European company, so doesn’t relate to Uk tax issues.

Thoughts welcome!

[JoshSm]

Some people just can't manage a business.

At least this time their failure is working for your benefit.

[mikef]

Could be close to the VAT threshold for current year

Could be managing out a shareholder and doesn’t want the money in before that happens

Who knows?

[elise2000]

JoshSm said:

Some people just can't manage a business.

At least this time their failure is working for your benefit.

Could be I suppose. Although he seems quite sucessful. Yep- won’t let it bother me! Does intrigue me though

[elise2000]

mikef said:

Could be close to the VAT threshold for current year

Could be managing out a shareholder and doesn t want the money in before that happens

Who knows?

I know it’s not a vat threshold thing as he’s the Croatian equivalent of vat registered.

Could be something shareholder related as there are two of them I think.

We’ll wait and see if he ever does

[greygoose]

A lot of tradesmen would benefit from a middle aged woman to manage their paperwork and sort out their appointments, some people are just very disorganised.

[elise2000]

greygoose said:

A lot of tradesmen would benefit from a middle aged woman to manage their paperwork and sort out their appointments, some people are just very disorganised.

Yep could well be this. Although he’s been fine in the past. Will probably never know

[StevieBee]

My money is on shoddy admin.

Just out of curiosity, why did you get a Croatian company to fit a £2k door?

[jeremyc]

StevieBee said:

Just out of curiosity, why did you get a Croatian company to fit a £2k door?

Maybe the OP lives in Croatia.

[jonamv8]

elise2000 said:

greygoose said:

A lot of tradesmen would benefit from a middle aged woman to manage their paperwork and sort out their appointments, some people are just very disorganised.

Yep could well be this. Although he s been fine in the past. Will probably never know

Maybe the middle-aged woman that he did have doing all that has left the business.

Multiple reasons for why they might do this of which you will probably never know unless of course you ask him and he’s honest

[StevieBee]

jeremyc said:

StevieBee said:

Just out of curiosity, why did you get a Croatian company to fit a £2k door?

Maybe the OP lives in Croatia.

Logic and research has no place on Pistonheads, don't you know

[elise2000]

jeremyc said:

StevieBee said:

Just out of curiosity, why did you get a Croatian company to fit a £2k door?

Maybe the OP lives in Croatia.

Yes, this!

[8IKERDAVE]

It's crazy how often I come across this. In my business we subcontract a lot of installation work out. I like to pay the contractors as soon as the client pays and the amount of times I'm chasing invoices down is quite remarkable. I've developed relationships with a lot of these guys now but I imagine there will be companies out there that will just let them fall on their own swords.

[trickywoo]

He’s probably making so much money it doesn’t matter.

I’d not remind him again and use someone else for the other job in case he remembers.

[Harpoon]

We had a chimney stack repointed and reflaunched in late 2018 - I'm still waiting for the invoice today...

[elise2000]

8IKERDAVE said:

It's crazy how often I come across this. In my business we subcontract a lot of installation work out. I like to pay the contractors as soon as the client pays and the amount of times I'm chasing invoices down is quite remarkable. I've developed relationships with a lot of these guys now but I imagine there will be companies out there that will just let them fall on their own swords.

Crazy. Can’t understand it!

[elise2000]

trickywoo said:

He s probably making so much money it doesn t matter.

I d not remind him again and use someone else for the other job in case he remembers.

Maybe.

That’s the plan!

[elise2000]

Harpoon said:

We had a chimney stack repointed and reflaunched in late 2018 - I'm still waiting for the invoice today...

Ha!

[NDA]

elise2000 said:

I had a door fitted early last October at my home.

Here we are the of Feb and still nothing.

I am in exactly the same situation with an electrician - a two day job at the end of September and no bill. I've texted a couple of times and received replies of 'oh yes, thanks...' sort of thing, but still no bill.

[lizardbrain]

Seems a little bit harsh if he's independent. I would persevere if it were me. One of the reasons you got a better price than a big business is that he doesn't have his own finance department.

If it's a bigger business, I wouldn't think twice about forgetting it. I've encountered finance departments so incompetent they would rather forsake payment than admit they forget to invoice. And I'm happy to go along with that.

but an indy?