self employed getting money owed

lcazma70

I am self employed and owed money by a company that i worked for for a short period. they have failed to pay my invoices for may/june . i recently sent yet another letter with invoices attached this time by recorded delivery. any help please as to my next steps to get payments. ? we are only speaking about 500 gbp but they are mine and i need them. appreciate any suggestions.thanks in advance

Zazen999

Did you have a contract?
Did you need a Purchase Req number?
Did you specify any terms of payments [30 days or suchlike]?

Have you found out what the problem is?

lcazma70

thank you for your quick response i did not have a purchase req. did have a contract , worked for them for about6 months. they opened new premises and sent out a general letter to all homeworkers stating that payments would be delayed but would be honoured unfortunately they havent been.

whitewing

If you live reasonably close, I'd be inclined to pop in and see what's going on. Afterwards, make a note of who you saw, what they said etc and email/post it to them if appropriate. (Be exact in case it's required for legal purposes; you think you'll remember, but you won't remember in enough detail otherwise).

lcazma70

unfortunately they are in surrey and i am at the opposite end of the country, i have thought of contacting the local press and embarrasing them into payment since they had a great opening day for their new premises. would this be a bad move???? the only phone no i have is an 0871 which has no alternative. thea freephone i used to use is no longer answered

whitewing

At this stage I do think local press is not a good idea, unless other people are raising similar concerns.

Try phoning - get a name and ask them to call you back.

Conor_3

lcazma70 wrote: »

I am self employed and owed money by a company that i worked for for a short period. they have failed to pay my invoices for may/june . i recently sent yet another letter with invoices attached this time by recorded delivery. any help please as to my next steps to get payments. ? we are only speaking about 500 gbp but they are mine and i need them. appreciate any suggestions.thanks in advance

Small Claims Court. Do it all online. Claim in your local County Court. Don't forget not only to claim for the £500 but your costs for chasing it up (making out invoices/posting them/phone calls all charged per hour), the costs for putting in the claim, the time you spend at court (all hours to be claimed at £20-£25/hr) plus the amount of interest you're legally allowed to add on for late payment which, AFAIK, is 8%. In short, you should be able to add another £150-£200 on top. They'll be forced to travel to attend which is worth the aggro all on its own. If they don't show, you win by default. If they then still don't pay, you get a walk in possession order from the Court and then send the bailiffs in.

When they get the notice of the intended claim from the county court, they'll no doubt contact you to say that they won't have you working for them again. The default response to this is: "That's fine. Customers who don't pay I don't want anyway. Goodbye."

lcazma70

Thank you so much for all replies ;thanks Conor will follow your advise very many thanks......I feel a sigh of relief coming on, thought I had no chance.Lets hope I get somewhere.Cheers!!!!

Conor_3

At least it'll only cost you £30 to do it.

welnik

I would also go through the County Court. It appears to have changed since I last used it but I think you pay about £30.00 to send the initial letter and then if they pay up, you have only lost £30.00. If they don't, then you go the full hog and pay a bit more.

People hear the word "court" and find it quite intimidating. When I went a few years ago, you all sit round a table and talk and its not at all as scary as I though it would be.

You need to gather evidence together and show that you have made every effort to come to a resolution before going to court and that court action has become necessary as your last resort.