Chasing overdue payment..some advice thanks

tobeloy

Hi

I am a sole trader within the Airport Transfer industry, I share work with other companies and vice versa, I have a overdue payment from a company for work completed on 14th August. the amount is £140 but its £140 I am not prepared to just let go.

I noticed I had not been paid in mid October as I had moved home at the beginning of September and my accounts were behind a little. I sent an email reminder on the 27th October and another on the 4th November and both received no reply. I followed the emails up with a call on the 15th Nov and spoke to one of the office girls who said they would ask the boss to call me which he didn't, I called again on the 18th November and spoke to the boss to raise the issue, I was told he would look into this and come back to me which he has not.

I am a very fair person but extremely annoyed at this ignorance now, being fair I was thinking of penning a final letter and sending it by recorded delivery with a copy of the invoice stating that if I am not paid within 7 days I will proceed with further action.

I intend to then send a letter before action as I will happily take it to small claims and I just want to make sure the court would view my actions to retrieve payments have been fair to the company that owe me?

I know I may be thinking ahead but this chap runs two companies from his offices both are Airport transfer companies and he was a director on both but resigned from the one I am owed money by and his wife is the only director named where as he is the director of the other company. Should I have to chase this company through the courts etc and I can show a link between them can I go after either for the money if there is a clear link or he is trying to hide or avoid payment?

I know its thinking far ahead but when I look at the setup its like they are hiding behind being directors etc, we had a good working relationship but this is business and I have to make sure I am doing everything in the right way before I proceed with action.

Any questions please ask and advice is appreciated, thanks

Aquamania

tobeloy wrote: »

Hi

I am a sole trader within the Airport Transfer industry, I share work with other companies and vice versa, I have a overdue payment from a company for work completed on 14th August. the amount is £140 but its £140 I am not prepared to just let go.

I noticed I had not been paid in mid October as I had moved home at the beginning of September and my accounts were behind a little. I sent an email reminder on the 27th October and another on the 4th November and both received no reply. I followed the emails up with a call on the 15th Nov and spoke to one of the office girls who said they would ask the boss to call me which he didn't, I called again on the 18th November and spoke to the boss to raise the issue, I was told he would look into this and come back to me which he has not.

I am a very fair person but extremely annoyed at this ignorance now, being fair I was thinking of penning a final letter and sending it by recorded delivery with a copy of the invoice stating that if I am not paid within 7 days I will proceed with further action.

I intend to then send a letter before action as I will happily take it to small claims and I just want to make sure the court would view my actions to retrieve payments have been fair to the company that owe me?

I know I may be thinking ahead but this chap runs two companies from his offices both are Airport transfer companies and he was a director on both but resigned from the one I am owed money by and his wife is the only director named where as he is the director of the other company. Should I have to chase this company through the courts etc and I can show a link between them can I go after either for the money if there is a clear link or he is trying to hide or avoid payment?

I know its thinking far ahead but when I look at the setup its like they are hiding behind being directors etc, we had a good working relationship but this is business and I have to make sure I am doing everything in the right way before I proceed with action.

Any questions please ask and advice is appreciated, thanks

Whilst not explicitly stated in your post, you have presumably invoiced the amount owed.

You have since asked for payment

You now plan to send a LBA

If payment is not then forthcoming, then of course carry out the threat contained in that LBA.

What more do you think a court would exect you to do first???

You have to pursue the legal entity that owes you the money. Hopefully that is who you have corresponded with so far. If not, start again.

trailingspouse

Of course you have to pursue the money that is owed to you - but sometimes it's not as simple as that. For example, do you get a lot of business from these people? You can be sure that, once you've threatened to take them to court, you'll get no more business from them. This may be a small price to pay, but you need to be aware of the ramifications.

It might be worth sending another email directly to the person responsible for making the payments, attaching a copy of the original invoice. I find that the commonest 'reason' I'm given for not paying on time is that they've lost the invoice. A statement of account can also work wonders - detail date of invoice, amount, date payment was due (eg if you allow 30 days credit the due date would be 30 days after the invoice date), and the fact that it is overdue.

And in the meantime, do no more work for them.

tobeloy

trailingspouse wrote: »

Of course you have to pursue the money that is owed to you - but sometimes it's not as simple as that. For example, do you get a lot of business from these people? You can be sure that, once you've threatened to take them to court, you'll get no more business from them. This may be a small price to pay, but you need to be aware of the ramifications.

It might be worth sending another email directly to the person responsible for making the payments, attaching a copy of the original invoice. I find that the commonest 'reason' I'm given for not paying on time is that they've lost the invoice. A statement of account can also work wonders - detail date of invoice, amount, date payment was due (eg if you allow 30 days credit the due date would be 30 days after the invoice date), and the fact that it is overdue.

And in the meantime, do no more work for them.

@trailingspouse

I never had to invoice the company, they set up a drivers account and paid us promptly the following month without issue, I have access to this online, I have been through the work I have done for them and it all tally's apart from the one job.

I am now going to send the LBA however the way the company is set up is why I am asking this next question.

The guy who does the accounts and who issues a lot of work and who I mainley deal with is listed as a secretary of the company (he was firstly a director along with his wife but resigned that position and is now just a secretary on the business information that I have seen online). His wife is still a director, the office they operate from is a different address to the registered business address which is his home address.

The chap also runs a second Airport car business from the same offices and the same setup applies as that is registered to his home address as the business address. He is a director of the second company, the second company don't owe me any money.

So do I send a letter to the offices and his home address or just the home address (reg as the business address)?

Looking further down the line me being suspicious of the setup of their businesses, if I were to gain judgement in my favour if it went that far and he still refused to pay up can I go after him personally at his home address or is it just the offices that they operate from are liable?

Thanks

tobeloy

Admin I am happy for this thread to be deleted / closed