Advice on getting paid pls

kev1n3

Was Wondering if anyone could offer sound advice?.

I recently undertook some work for blue chip company and agreed a 30- day invoice with them. Once I had completed the work I then hand delivered my invoice to their accounts office on the 8th of October. The invoice was for £ 4000.

I’ve just got off the phone with them trying to get a definite date of payment into my account. They are now saying that because the invoice is dated the 8th- payment will fall of the 9th of November (Sunday). I asked if they would be transferring the monies by bac’s on Monday the 10th into my account? - No she said.. we will be paying you by cheque. - and we do our check runs every Friday so we will produce your cheque on Friday the 14th. Then it needs to be signed which usually takes another 4 to 5 days she went onto explain .

OMG… I put everything I had into undertaking this work for them assuming I would be paid in 30 days.. It now looks like I have to add another 14days on top of the 30 days making a total of 44days. Then I have to wait for another 5 days for the check to clear. I’m not a happy bunny.

I’m not too savvy with what they can or cannot do. Is there an avenue I can take with them to speed the process up ?

Thanks in advance

K.

Reggie_Rebel

The majority of companies are like this, what ever terms you agree expect to add 14 days at least to it.

ceebeeby

It really is very bad - companies do do this all the time, including, and probably worst of all, public sector organisations.

Can you speak to the MD - explain that due to the credit situation at the moment, you are speaking to all your customers and requesting speedier payment.

It's perfectly easy for them to write/issue a cheque out for you today, for it to be ready for the Friday print run tomorrow - they're CHOOSING not too, as it means the money's in their account for longer, earning them interest.

SomeBozo

Happens a lot!

I have one company I do work who try to take 10% for quick payment (ie within 30days) and still try to take it off 60 days later.

Bozo

kev1n3

I think i read somewhere that i can add 8% for late payment/ Does anyone know more about this? It might be something that i can use to hurry the payment along.. Or maybe not....

Zazen999

Oh yes, welcome to my world!

We only invoice when the company themselves has received the money we get for them, and then we still have to wait 2 months even though it is a 30 day agreement. by then, they've had the additional money for 2 months, so it is NO excuse.

Unfortunately, these big companies seem to forget about the little people, and just leave invoices unpaid in trays and don't sign them off, and they then travel through their very slow processing, sitting on people's desks for days on end.

The only thing to do is to build it into your schedules, and just keep chasing and chasing. And backdate the invoice that you send by a week, so that the date comes forward, if you can get away with it.

WestonDave

There is a provision for interest on late payment in law but in practice its not really worth the legal paper its written on - if they turn around and pay you the main balance 14 days over the 30 days are you really going to sue them for the interest? Chances are not and they know that so they'll just sit on it and pay it exactly as they have said. The other problem is it will make them very unlikely to contract with you again and may make them unwilling to act as a reference if you are looking for work elsewhere.

Late payment is wrong - there is nothing stopping even a big organisation getting a cheque out same day, nor rewarding good service with prompt payment, but the bigger the organisation the more likely that the department paying out will be solely focused on their own targets of maximising cashflow as opposed to thinking about the wider business implications like the fact that next time you work for them you'll probably factor the likely payment delay into your pricing and make it more expensive for them. The additional cost of that wouldn't feature in the cheque producing departments performance stats so they won't mind!

kev1n3

There should be a law aginst this sort of practice.

toffifee

I googled and found this:

http://www.payontime.co.uk/legislation/legislation_main.html

"In November 1998, the UK Government introduced legislation to give businesses a statutory right to claim interest from other businesses for the late payment of commercial debt."
So you might be able to get compensation for the delay...

Hope this helps.


Oops - sorry! Just realised I was too late.

Quentin

kev1n3 wrote: »

. Is there an avenue I can take with them to speed the process up ?

If you aren't wanting to do any more work for them, you can proceed down the small claims route. Assumes they aren't about to go bust, of course!

Send them a letter today telling them they have 7 days from today to pay you otherwise you will take action to get the money you are owed.

If this fails, issue a summons via MCOL.

They will have to pay the costs you incur, as well as the money they owe you. If they don't, they will get a ccj against them (which, unless they have financial difficulties they will not want!)

kev1n3

Quentin wrote: »

If this fails, issue a summons via MCOL.

They will have to pay the costs you incur, as well as the money they owe you. If they don't, they will get a ccj against them (which, unless they have financial difficulties they will not want!)

I have no intentions of doing any more work for them so your advise is a real option.
Can you explain what MCOL. is?
.