Contractor wants me to pay before supplying invoice

gettingtheresometime

This does seem very odd and yes I'd be reluctant to pay as well with out some sort of Invoice - even if it was just a proforma Invoice.


Personally I would write/email them and state that whilst you're not unwilling to pay you can't see their reasoning for not providing either an Invoice or at least a pro-forma invoice before payment is made.


(of course if you did pay beforehand what leverage have you got for actually getting the Invoice & receipt afterwards?)

DoaM

I'm imagining the company are putting this through as a cash sale to try and avoid the VAT element. That's the only reason I can think why they're reluctant to provide an invoice.

OR ... what they've charged you for the glass is way more than what it has actually cost them. But then they simply need to reflect the amount charged in the invoice - they don't need to mention cost to them at all.

This is a strange one.

Manxman_in_exile

I'd be wondering if they have "financial difficulties". They need the cash in their account but don't want to raise an invoice as a sale. Short term solution but not a long term one.


If the work has been done then they need to be paid, but, to be fair, there's no good reason (or at least I can't think of one) why they can't produce an invoice itemising the work they are demanding payment for.


OP - was this additional work done through the company or one of their fitters? Is it the company demanding payment? Also, I'd be paying by credit card, not bank transfer. (Is it the same account you paid the original invoice to?)


I fully support small local traders who have a good reputation, but I don't think it's too much to ask for an invoice to back up payment.

Jumblebumble

hollydays wrote: »

Perhaps they think you are stalling paying.

Perhaps if they have never heard of emailing invoices.
What an absolutely cretinous way of behaving towards a good customer.
In our business we have a very strict policy of no invoice no payment as we do not wish to spend our time chasing such fools if they don't send one

unholyangel

davidmcn wrote: »

Maybe, but there's no legal requirement for them to provide an invoice. If you need a paper trail of what the payment is for, why not produce it yourself: "I am sending you £x for y" etc.

There may be a contractual one (which would still be a legal requirement in essence), depending on what was agreed.

But that aside, there most definitely is a legal requirement to give the consumer - in durable medium - certain information before the consumer is bound by the contract. Part of that information involves the main characteristics of the services, the arrangements for payment & performance and the total price.

And, of course, the onus is on the trader to prove they complied with that obligation.

badmemory

I still do bookkeeping for a friend who will pay some bills without the invoices because he trusts the person. You have no idea what a nightmare it can be getting those invoices. One supplier about £500 per month - no invoices since last November. Stick to your guns. If you pay you will never get an invoice & if anything goes wrong they will deny all knowledge.

AlicePearl24

It gets a bit stranger - on Friday I went to the office to pay (and get that invoice!) and was asked by the owner to pay by BACS into a personal account not the company account because there was apparently a security issue with the company account so it was temporarily blocked...I haven't done this yet as when I got home and sat in front of my laptop to do it, it struck me that this was not right as the owner and the company are legally separate entities and my contract is with the company. I’ll wait until Monday and talk to them again. Views?

davidmcn

AlicePearl24 wrote: »

It gets a bit stranger - on Friday I went to the office to pay (and get that invoice!) and was asked by the owner to pay by BACS into a personal account not the company account because there was apparently a security issue with the company account so it was temporarily blocked...I haven't done this yet as when I got home and sat in front of my laptop to do it, it struck me that this was not right as the owner and the company are legally separate entities and my contract is with the company.

If you're satisfied that the bank details have been given to you by someone authorised to do so on behalf of the company (which seems to be the case if you know it's the owner), I don't see what the problem would be. Different if it was, say, a rogue employee wanting to steal the customers' payments.

In any event, there's no need for you to know (and not yet any means for you to verify) the name in which the account is held.

If you're uncomfortable with it though, why not just give them a cheque payable to the company?

neilmcl

AlicePearl24 wrote: »

It gets a bit stranger - on Friday I went to the office to pay (and get that invoice!) and was asked by the owner to pay by BACS into a personal account not the company account because there was apparently a security issue with the company account so it was temporarily blocked...I haven't done this yet as when I got home and sat in front of my laptop to do it, it struck me that this was not right as the owner and the company are legally separate entities and my contract is with the company. I’ll wait until Monday and talk to them again. Views?

Could be that the company's having difficulties and is about fold, either that he wants to keep the payment of the books.

I'd just pay them the money and move on but insist you get some sort of receipt as a paper trail, I wouldn't waste any more of your time on them.

DCFC79

AlicePearl24 wrote: »

It gets a bit stranger - on Friday I went to the office to pay (and get that invoice!) and was asked by the owner to pay by BACS into a personal account not the company account because there was apparently a security issue with the company account so it was temporarily blocked...I haven't done this yet as when I got home and sat in front of my laptop to do it, it struck me that this was not right as the owner and the company are legally separate entities and my contract is with the company. I’ll wait until Monday and talk to them again. Views?

Sounds odd to me, Id write a cheque as suggested.


If it is because they are having money trouble could you pay by credit card ? Would be covered if you do.