Collecting overdue money

Premier_2

hippyadam wrote: »

An LBA is an LBA in my humble opinion I don't think it needs to come from a solicitor, it's the content that counts. :beer:

If you need a free template i've found on on Scribd here

Hope that helps

Quite agree

After all, it's just a pre-cursor to the small claims summons which would cost just £35 online - probably cheaper than a solicitor to send a letter and of course the court fee would be expected to be added to the claim (whereas a solicitors fee would not usually be permitted for a small claim)

Horace

Lucyeff wrote: »

Woo hoooo! :j:beer:

Fab news!

I'm still sat googling to see what to do next about the £1500 we're owed. It might not seem a lot but my husband's income isn't huge by any means, and I'm not working while the kids are still little and so it's a huuuuge amuont to us. It's my daughters' birthday too in June and while we're used to doing things on a shoe string, I have no idea how we'll pull this off

I hope that didn't sound like I was expecting violins, it's just sickening how big companies can shrug it off and not realise the consequences of them playing around with small businesses.

I'm all for sending a letter of intent and we have worked out the costs we can add to the invoices. My husband won't let me email it as he's actually believing the 'we're looking into it' (which has been going on for weeks).

Anyway. I only came on here to post this link which I'm sure lots of people know about but which I found useful. Especially the bit about claiming interest in retrospect. Hope someone finds this useful, and I'm so glad to hear your cheque arrived!
Lucy

The thing to do with non-payers is to ring them and ask to speak to the Finance Director. Be polite and don't shout and ask if there has been an oversight and when you expect to receive payment for xyz outstanding invoice.

Follow this up with a letter giving them 7 days to pay from the date of the letter, note on this letter that failure to pay within the time scale specified will result in legal action being taken to recover the debt without any further recourse to them. If the time is up, don't fanny about waiting for what if...stick them into the small claims court or employ the services of a solicitor.

Ensure that you have proper terms and conditions with regard to payment - if you are selling goods then you should have some wording in your terms to say that the goods remain your property until paid for in full. Take a 50% deposit up front and payment is due after the goods have been delivered or the service provided. Also show your interest rates because you are allowed to charge interest on outstanding monies.

I was given this advice by one of Europe's leading credit managers and I have utilised this when I have been chasing debts for one of my own clients.

HTH

seismicryan

I know this is a little late to the party, but perhaps it could be of use to anyone in the same situation...

I read a while ago that if you need to get on someones back about paying up but do not want to sour the relationship, ask a spouse or relative to call them claiming to be from your accounts department, and have them handle it, then when they do pay and you get back to business with them, there is no awkwardness in the air between you and them...

I thought this sounded like good advice when I read it

Ryan

easyhost

Premier wrote: »

Quite agree

After all, it's just a pre-cursor to the small claims summons which would cost just £35 online - probably cheaper than a solicitor to send a letter and of course the court fee would be expected to be added to the claim (whereas a solicitors fee would not usually be permitted for a small claim)

an LBA from the solicitor i use costs all of £1 + VAT

Premier_2

easyhost wrote: »

an LBA from the solicitor i use costs all of £1 + VAT

Yes, we've seem the type of companies you recommend.

Presumably you have access to legal services of a similar ilk, especially if they are prepared to write letters for a quid

(But that's still £1.20 spent you will not recover!)

easyhost

Premier wrote: »

Yes, we've seem the type of companies you recommend.

Presumably you have access to legal services of a similar ilk, especially if they are prepared to write letters for a quid

(But that's still £1.20 spent you will not recover!)

i run a hosting company that i have run for 10+ yrs and sometimes clients become overdue by several weeks and after several days they incur a late fee and 3 days after that i will send an LBA, this works all the time and they get back on track and pay. only once did a client become very abusive after receiving an LBA and finding his account suspended (expected hosting free) normally if they dont pay after and LBA i would terminate their account, but when this client become very abusive i tool that extra step and went to moneyclaim.gov.uk/ and made a claim against him £25. with all the evidence i had he admitted he owned me the money but refused to pay, so i processed a CCJ against him £35. with interest etc. his £30 hosting fee become £275 which he was given 7 days to pay at his local court. which he did

Lizbetty

We finally got paid after sending the LBA, withing the 14 days we'd stated. It cleared today. :j

Thanks for your advice everyone - sorry Saphyrdog for hijacking your thread! :beer:

It's certainly a lesson learned - we've noted the advice on here and amended our invoices and terms of business now.

It's the last time we'll be doing business with that company anyway!

Lucy

PasturesNew

In the past week I was reading some old story about a shopkeeper who had late paying customers. He hit upon a novel idea to make them get in touch with him - and pay some off. Although it was an old article, so before people had phones, when people would go into the shop to sort things out.

He simply sent them an erroneous and HUGE bill.... and they'd turn up at the shop desperate to point out the error - and usually settle up while they were in there.

He'd just say "Oh, I'm sorry, I've made a big error there haven't I. I'm sorry about that..."

Mistral001

PasturesNew wrote: »

In the past week I was reading some old story about a shopkeeper who had late paying customers. He hit upon a novel idea to make them get in touch with him - and pay some off. Although it was an old article, so before people had phones, when people would go into the shop to sort things out.

He simply sent them an erroneous and HUGE bill.... and they'd turn up at the shop desperate to point out the error - and usually settle up while they were in there.

He'd just say "Oh, I'm sorry, I've made a big error there haven't I. I'm sorry about that..."

LOL. Pity the telphone was invented.