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I did some work for a client a few months ago, and invoiced them 2.5 months ago. They haven't refused to pay, just have gone radio silent. Not sure what my next course of action is as I haven't had this happen before. Small claims court? The freelance world is pretty fecked at the moment as it is, without people you've done work for not paying... and I'm genuinely worried about how I'm going to pay my mortgage a few months down the line. Any advice much appreciated (would appreciate if the jokers can stay away from this thread, thanks).
Trust the process. Trust Phil.
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Clients who aren't paying up - Lucan or another business owner might know on 10:51 - Oct 31 with 1529 views
Clients who aren't paying up - Lucan or another business owner might know on 09:51 - Oct 31 by Lord_Lucan
Check this out - creditfocus.co.uk
From this you can automatically get final demands and solicitors letters sent out within the monthly fee - just do it all online. It works and it is cheaper than instructing a solicitor. You can just fill the details and press the button to send final demand or solicitors letter.
We have a terrible history with bad debts and I am useless at chasing money, our worst one was £136k
If they go silent then they are skint, I always say to customers, if you can't pay then tell me, don't ignore it. Same as if we are having cash flow issues, I will phone them and ask for a break until some money comes in. If you keep in contact then it works out.
We are only a very small company but look at the proportion of late payers over the total we are owed.
I just see Mookamoo posted which has made me feel bad as I am often late paying him
You do pay though!
As you said, its the silence that is the problem. Normally means something has gone wrong and the only way to resolve it is to talk to them
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Clients who aren't paying up - Lucan or another business owner might know on 11:04 - Oct 31 with 1475 views
Clients who aren't paying up - Lucan or another business owner might know on 09:18 - Oct 31 by Mookamoo
I'm a freelancer and feel your pain.
I would ask if its a new client and if you've had trouble before. If its out of character and they have normally paid on time, it suggests something might have gone wrong their end, maybe a new accounts bod who doesn't recognise the project, or just your invoice is lost in the system somehow. I have found calling them and giving them the benefit of the doubt normally works. Call them repeatedly if needed and if they don't answer, try and find someone further up the food chain and hassle them - twice daily if needed. Emails just get ignored, if you need to chase, then it has to be done on the phone. Just start with some kind of indication that the invoice is in their system and go from there. If they can't answer that, then as other have suggested, the only real option is a recorded letter demanding payment by a certain date or you'll have no option than to talk to your solicitor.
I've found any 30 day term invoice is getting paid about 45-60 days on average. The main issue I have found is most account departments like to deal with recurring costs from known suppliers. When my one-off invoice lands in their email, they don't action it in the same way. It often needs approval etc, so have started asking from the outset if they have any kind of purchase order system that might slow the payment up.
I don't do this, but I have friends who have a clause on the invoice/terms of business that states they will charge 5% interest per month on late payments.
Good luck
I have a side note on my invoices which just states simply:
"Terms: 14 days. We reserve the right to apply late payment charges if payment is not received in accordance with these terms."
The number of days in the terms vary, as it depends if it has incurred bought in costs, such as printing, I'd rather reclaim this sooner rather than later, obviously. But from the outset it is stated about the late payment charges that may be applied. Fortunately I've not had to use that, apart from the one job mentioned earlier on this thread.
Clients who aren't paying up - Lucan or another business owner might know on 10:23 - Oct 31 by befxblue
I had a client go radio silent on me late 2021 for an invoice in excess of £25k, and it nearly put me under.
After the initial 30 days, I spent around another month trying phone calls, emails, WhatsApp, 1 week polite notice to pay letter (Recorded all of this as a solicitor will ask if you have sensibly exhausted all avenues). At the end of the month I gave all this info to a solicitor who sent their own notice to pay letter (14 days) which was also ignored.
At this stage the solicitor suggested starting court proceedings, a writ was served and the client contacted me that evening to settle as long as I didn't include the near £1000 fee it had cost to initiate the process with the court, which I could have easily followed through and claimed back, but accepted in the face of elongation of the whole process.
Barring the £1000 lost, the solicitors fees were surprisingly only around £250 in total, as they try to keep costs to a minimum at the early stages as the letters usually work.
Hopefully Dolly is not still reading this thread but on the way to the Post Office to sort out the recorded delivery letter. But yours is a salutary tale as regards wasted effort and cost. Act as soon as possible to ensure that if another business is in trouble you get paid before they go under rather than join the queue of creditors waiting for their 5p in the £. That may seem harsh but modern Capitalism allows for businesses to fail and one of the key skills necessary to survive is to ensure your company receives maximum revenue. At the same time the mechanisms to wind up businesses exist that allow owners and employees to at least walk away from the wreckage (although their bankers may not let them do that unencumbered.)
That's annoying and a shame as its one-off work and not an ongoing service that you're providing that you could withdraw due to non-payment.
They're probably not doing it on purpose, could be just a useless finance dept! I work for a big company and we had a key service switched off last year due to non-payment. Turns out the contact they had sent to the invoice to had left the company so it went unpaid. You could try escalating and raising the matter with someone more senior at the company?
Clients who aren't paying up - Lucan or another business owner might know on 11:39 - Oct 31 by factual_blue
I know you said no jokers, but you knew that was a forlorn hope.
Doesn't get you paid if there is no money in the bank though, does it ? And I have been closer than I ever wanted to be when I found that my employer had signed up an outfit like that in Cambridge (yes, genteel Cambridge) so I can assure you there are no jokers involved.
Its a crap situation that most of us that run a business has encountered at some point.
Like some other posters have said, keep chasing, statements and keep record of anything you send it maybe useful if you do go to court.
Can you turn up at their premises/office? I have sat in a customers office waiting for payment and wouldn't leave until I walked away with a cheque (it was a few years back).
Also, as someone else said here, employed a debt collector, all very legal but he found mobile numbers and home numbers and used to call at all times day and night, payment was soon received after a few calls in the early hours.
The tack really depends on how much the client is worth to you and any future work.
Good luck.
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Clients who aren't paying up - Lucan or another business owner might know on 13:36 - Oct 31 with 1237 views
Clients who aren't paying up - Lucan or another business owner might know on 11:39 - Oct 31 by factual_blue
I know you said no jokers, but you knew that was a forlorn hope.
It was a very forlorn hope. There’s been lots of good advice though - TWTD comes up trumps again. It’s a huge problem, especially for SMEs. The first company I worked for was in some accreditation scheme aimed at reliable payers (can’t remember what it was called), and tried to engage with similar companies. It didn’t stop them eventually going bust though partially through bad debt and cashflow issues.
We run about a £9-10m of outstanding payments for my side of the business where we are now, but 98% of that is slow but guaranteed payments from reliable funders. It’s slightly different to the situation SMEs are in, but gives our finance people a bit of a headache at times.
Clients who aren't paying up - Lucan or another business owner might know on 13:36 - Oct 31 by Swansea_Blue
It was a very forlorn hope. There’s been lots of good advice though - TWTD comes up trumps again. It’s a huge problem, especially for SMEs. The first company I worked for was in some accreditation scheme aimed at reliable payers (can’t remember what it was called), and tried to engage with similar companies. It didn’t stop them eventually going bust though partially through bad debt and cashflow issues.
We run about a £9-10m of outstanding payments for my side of the business where we are now, but 98% of that is slow but guaranteed payments from reliable funders. It’s slightly different to the situation SMEs are in, but gives our finance people a bit of a headache at times.
There's a massive irony in the fact that cameron's government insisted ruthlessly on a thirty-day payment rule for the public sector to pay up. Clearly tory donors, in the shape of larger businesses, don't buy into the concept.
Step one, letter before action. You'll find boiler plate you can amend with a quick Google search.
Step 2, follow up letter, similar template basically saying the same thing but a final request for payment prior to legal action, Small claims tend to look favourably upon having been seen to give every chance of avoiding legal action.
Step 3, file the claim. Its fairly simple to do, start making sure you have all your evidence in one place now to save you hunting for it.
I'd be inclined to go straight to small claims court. Put it through money claim and they'll panic as soon as they receive it and pay if they have the money. It will at the very least illicit a response where they give you a clear anticipated payment date. If they are having cash flow issues it will likely move you to the top of the list as long as they aren't bust.
If you're feeling generous hit up your contact by every means you have and tell them they have 5 days.
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Clients who aren't paying up - Lucan or another business owner might know on 16:40 - Oct 31 with 1051 views
Clients who aren't paying up - Lucan or another business owner might know on 10:42 - Oct 31 by leitrimblue
I've had similar issues in the last year or so. Few clients taking months to pay. When I speak to them they are all polite and just give awful excuses to why they haven't paid yet ( sorry thought it had been paid, didn't get invoice, can you resend it etc). Had a accountant from 1 of these companies call me last Thursday to ask for my address as apparently that was the reason my payment hadn't gone through, but still no payment. 2 of these companies have then tried to re hire me the second they have paid me even though they were 10-12 weeks late in payment from previous invoice. Been some great advice on the subject here
That's some serious weed debt.
"They break our legs and tell us to be grateful when they offer us crutches."
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