Unpaid invoice, what can i do?

bpk101

Hi,

I work in the UK as a freelance designer, i get hired by design studios to help on projects with bookings ranging from a few days to 6 months or more. I've been doing this for 5 years now and never had an issue with getting paid. However...

I did a couple of days work back in early October for a studio i've worked with in the past, they initially booked me for 3 days but on the 2nd day cut my booking short with the following email:

"Due to time constraints we’re going to have to bring this in house, can you please package up all files and send over"

I've not had a booking cut short in all my years freelancing but given it was just a day i was losing out on i thought i'd let it slide. I invoiced them for the 2 days worked and i haven't been paid.

I invoiced them on October 6th and chased the accountant after 30 days (my invoice actually states 14 day payment term however i don't chase till after 30 as i appreciate some studios have their own terms). Her response was:

"Sorry your invoice hasn’t been settled. I am not working today. I am back in on Tuesday and can settle it then."

Tuesday came and went, nothing. I've chased twice again since and copied in the founder/director of the studio but neither of them are now responding to me. I've tried texting / calling the director too and my calls aren't being taken. My guess is he's told the accountant he doesn't want to / can't pay me and is ignoring all of my correspondence.

What can i do and what are my next steps for resolving this?

Thanks.

ps: when working with studios directly (as opposed to through an agency) freelancers don't generally draw up a contract, we just agree the booking, the day rate and any other details over email (or text depending on how friendly we are with the studio) and get to work. In that respect i don't have a contract with this studio, just the email chain with the agreed booking days and rates.

MovingForwards

Send a letter before action and look to issue court proceedings.

ACG

MovingForwards said:

Send a letter before action and look to issue court proceedings.

This.

Letter before action - make sure to include you will be looking to also charge interest at the standard rate (8%) and add on any court related fees to the final bill. 

Give them 7/14 days to pay and the if nothing, fill out the form on the MCOL website and pay the fee. They will get paperwork through the post a few days later and that will either spur them on to pay or it wont. 

AskAsk

Write a formal letter to the directors and state that you are owed money which the accountant has not paid, despite promising to do so on xxxx.  You ask that the instruct the accountant to make payment by xxxx.  I would give them a month from the official letter to pay, so no one can accuse you of not trying to resolve the issue before resorting to court proceedings.

I wouldn't start threatening court proceedings at this stage as they will already know that can be done, so just keep it civil for now, but to start a paper trail.

bpk101

ACG said:

make sure to include you will be looking to also charge interest at the standard rate (8%) and add on any court related fees to the final bill. 

I'm happy to write a letter. When would the interest apply from, 14 days from invoice (my terms), 30 days from invoice (standard terms) or from the day they receive my letter?
I feel the mention of 'court related fees' might be a little heavy handed in the first letter, is this essential at the outset?
Is there a draft template available anywhere for this sort of letter?
Thanks

bpk101

bpk101 said:

Is there a draft template available anywhere for this sort of letter?

I've just come across this website actually:
https://fluidly.com/blog/overdue-payment-reminder-template/
Assume i should start with the 'First overdue payment reminder template'?

AskAsk

bpk101 said:

ACG said:

make sure to include you will be looking to also charge interest at the standard rate (8%) and add on any court related fees to the final bill. 

I'm happy to write a letter. When would the interest apply from, 14 days from invoice (my terms), 30 days from invoice (standard terms) or from the day they receive my letter?
I feel the mention of 'court related fees' might be a little heavy handed in the first letter, is this essential at the outset?
Is there a draft template available anywhere for this sort of letter?
Thanks

you don't need to say you will be adding interest, as that should only be done when you had issued the original invoice.  however, if you go to court, the interest for late payment will be awarded to you automatically by the court if they decide in your favour.  so i wouldn't start an argument at this stage, but try to get the money they owe you.

ACG

AskAsk said:

bpk101 said:

ACG said:

make sure to include you will be looking to also charge interest at the standard rate (8%) and add on any court related fees to the final bill. 

I'm happy to write a letter. When would the interest apply from, 14 days from invoice (my terms), 30 days from invoice (standard terms) or from the day they receive my letter?
I feel the mention of 'court related fees' might be a little heavy handed in the first letter, is this essential at the outset?
Is there a draft template available anywhere for this sort of letter?
Thanks

you don't need to say you will be adding interest, as that should only be done when you had issued the original invoice.  however, if you go to court, the interest for late payment will be awarded to you automatically by the court if they decide in your favour.  so i wouldn't start an argument at this stage, but try to get the money they owe you.

I take a slightly different view... If they think they are going to be liable for interest and fees, they may just pay it sooner rather than later. 

Each to their own of course, there will be arguments for both ways. 

You dont need to worry about when the interest is charged from, I would just add that you will be asking the courts to add interest on at the standard rate of 8%. 

AskAsk

ACG said:

AskAsk said:

bpk101 said:

ACG said:

make sure to include you will be looking to also charge interest at the standard rate (8%) and add on any court related fees to the final bill. 

I'm happy to write a letter. When would the interest apply from, 14 days from invoice (my terms), 30 days from invoice (standard terms) or from the day they receive my letter?
I feel the mention of 'court related fees' might be a little heavy handed in the first letter, is this essential at the outset?
Is there a draft template available anywhere for this sort of letter?
Thanks

you don't need to say you will be adding interest, as that should only be done when you had issued the original invoice.  however, if you go to court, the interest for late payment will be awarded to you automatically by the court if they decide in your favour.  so i wouldn't start an argument at this stage, but try to get the money they owe you.

I take a slightly different view... If they think they are going to be liable for interest and fees, they may just pay it sooner rather than later. 

Each to their own of course, there will be arguments for both ways. 

You dont need to worry about when the interest is charged from, I would just add that you will be asking the courts to add interest on at the standard rate of 8%. 

courts automatically add on interest on claims, so the claimant does not need to ask for interest.  they have an accountant, so he will know about court proceedings i am guessing.

i don't think at this early stage, the OP should go gung ho on the demand, so just to state that he is owed money and that he would like payment to be made by a certain date.  the next stage will be the court proceedings threat.

given the current economic climate, flexibility should be given to organisations to make payment and the OP shouldn't burn his bridges as they may commision him again in future when things are back to normal.

MovingForwards

AskAsk said:

ACG said:

AskAsk said:

bpk101 said:

ACG said:

make sure to include you will be looking to also charge interest at the standard rate (8%) and add on any court related fees to the final bill. 

I'm happy to write a letter. When would the interest apply from, 14 days from invoice (my terms), 30 days from invoice (standard terms) or from the day they receive my letter?
I feel the mention of 'court related fees' might be a little heavy handed in the first letter, is this essential at the outset?
Is there a draft template available anywhere for this sort of letter?
Thanks

you don't need to say you will be adding interest, as that should only be done when you had issued the original invoice.  however, if you go to court, the interest for late payment will be awarded to you automatically by the court if they decide in your favour.  so i wouldn't start an argument at this stage, but try to get the money they owe you.

I take a slightly different view... If they think they are going to be liable for interest and fees, they may just pay it sooner rather than later. 

Each to their own of course, there will be arguments for both ways. 

You dont need to worry about when the interest is charged from, I would just add that you will be asking the courts to add interest on at the standard rate of 8%. 

courts automatically add on interest on claims, so the claimant does not need to ask for interest.  they have an accountant, so he will know about court proceedings i am guessing.

i don't think at this early stage, the OP should go gung ho on the demand, so just to state that he is owed money and that he would like payment to be made by a certain date.  the next stage will be the court proceedings threat.

given the current economic climate, flexibility should be given to organisations to make payment and the OP shouldn't burn his bridges as they may commision him again in future when things are back to normal.

Courts only consider what's included in the proceedings, if no interest is claimed the court won't add it off their own back.

AskAsk

MovingForwards said:

AskAsk said:

ACG said:

AskAsk said:

bpk101 said:

ACG said:

make sure to include you will be looking to also charge interest at the standard rate (8%) and add on any court related fees to the final bill. 

I'm happy to write a letter. When would the interest apply from, 14 days from invoice (my terms), 30 days from invoice (standard terms) or from the day they receive my letter?
I feel the mention of 'court related fees' might be a little heavy handed in the first letter, is this essential at the outset?
Is there a draft template available anywhere for this sort of letter?
Thanks

you don't need to say you will be adding interest, as that should only be done when you had issued the original invoice.  however, if you go to court, the interest for late payment will be awarded to you automatically by the court if they decide in your favour.  so i wouldn't start an argument at this stage, but try to get the money they owe you.

I take a slightly different view... If they think they are going to be liable for interest and fees, they may just pay it sooner rather than later. 

Each to their own of course, there will be arguments for both ways. 

You dont need to worry about when the interest is charged from, I would just add that you will be asking the courts to add interest on at the standard rate of 8%. 

courts automatically add on interest on claims, so the claimant does not need to ask for interest.  they have an accountant, so he will know about court proceedings i am guessing.

i don't think at this early stage, the OP should go gung ho on the demand, so just to state that he is owed money and that he would like payment to be made by a certain date.  the next stage will be the court proceedings threat.

given the current economic climate, flexibility should be given to organisations to make payment and the OP shouldn't burn his bridges as they may commision him again in future when things are back to normal.

Courts only consider what's included in the proceedings, if no interest is claimed the court won't add it off their own back.

i have claimed through the small claims in the past and i didn't ask for interest.  it just asked me how much i am owed and when they issued the demand it included interest in the demand itself by default.

it was a while ago so my memory may be wrong or the process has changed.  i remember being surprised that i was given interest on the debt when i hadn't asked for it.