How long do you wait before chasing an invoice for payment?

[timbobelfast]

How long do you wait before chasing payment from the client?

Done a smallish job for a well known charity in one of their shops when I was back home in September. Have contacted their accounts dept twice now in the last couple of weeks to no avail yet!

Starting to get impatient now and considering sending someone round to remove the items that were installed.

I know that they are a charity, but i'm not!

 

[MDJ]

What does your terms on your letter head say? I give 28 days for Regular customers and 7 days for first time private customers, if the payment is late I wait 2-3 days and phone with a polite enquiry as to why, something like "did you get my invoice?" that usually sorts it out.

 

[timbobelfast]

28 days on t&c. Although most customers settle before the week is up.

I think one last phone call tomorrow before they spend a winter without heaters!

 

[MDJ]

I have worked for charities myself fella, basically the manager of the shop you did the work for will have to send the invoice to head office, she or he may have had it a week before passing it on, they will sit on it for 28 days then approve for payment, by time the admin sends the cheque 35-40 days would have passed, you need to keep onto them, unless you sent it direct to head office of course. I'm sure you will get it, these charities are loaded.

 

[Octopus]

Most businesses will pay up on 30 days + month end so you're often waiting 6 weeks. Factor this into your costs when doing commercial work.

Sorry if this doesn't help - thats why its so important to have spare cash in your business account.

 

[timbobelfast]

I sent it via email to head office.

I know what your saying Murdoch about cash flow. I am just trying to keep a couple of guys in work while I am stuck here in Afghan.

Cash flow is key lol!

 

[SPARTYKUS]

Timbo what you up to there? Are you in the forces?

 

[timbobelfast]

No, contractor for the US forces.

 

[imago]

Wait? I don't operate a credit company, so when the work is done the money is due.

 

[MDJ]

Murdoch is right though regarding 30 days payments, most firms work on monthly valuations on jobs and it seems to be the norm in larger projects to get monthly draws. If you insisted on instant payment you wouldn't get any serious consideration by major contractors on projects especially when architects are running projects as they like to look at works then approve valuations which are put to them by the main contractor, in saying that though I get your point of course and would love to get payed straight after works ended. Actually a while back, the then government, at the time suggested a 21 day system where invoices must be paid within that period, well so much for that, I haven't heard anything about that since, it went dead in the water.

 

[SPARTYKUS]

In my experience, the bigger the company the better paid the work, the slower the money comes....

 

[Geordie Spark]

One of the first things I learned in business is that there is no obligation legal or otherwise to give credit terms to anyone - it is a courtesy not a right.

With that in mind, I had what can be best described as Variable Terms, which varied depending on my assessment of the customer (call it a Risk Assessment if you like)

Some customers I would get payment in full before work started, some I would get the cost of materials before the work started, some I would charge cash on completion of the work, some would be payment within 7 days of completion and others would be 28 days from the date of the invoice.

Those who were given 28 days from date of invoice I would chase as soon as 30 days had passed with a phone call, then 7 days after that with a letter giving the customer a further 7 days before starting action in the court.

It was a system that worked very well as in 12 years of continuous business I lost £2k to bad debts.

 

[LlandrilloSpark]

I installed 6 wall mounted 2kw heaters for a very very well known high st budget chain, my t&c is 28 days, when working for this establishment it goes to end off next month so could be 60,after 90 I hadn't been paid, I took 6 lads up to the shop, each armed with the tools they needed to take one down, result , all down within 10 mins and out the door, my t&c state I own the goods until all debts are paid

 

[Darkwood]

I got 3 customers on 12week terms as thats the way the cookie rolls but my invoices state 28days, if you work for big corporate companies you quickly learn they have a long drawn out payment system and to start chasing wont do you any favours, as already mentioned never show a negative tone and show it as an enquiry to check they got the invoice, although at 6months i draw the line and tell them im selling the debt on to someone else who will add there collection fees if they aint payed by then then i dont wont them on my books....

But remember a small yearly loss may take year to sink you but cashflow with drop you in a month, its a balancing game of keeping sweet with the customer and by their payment terms or putting the pressure on and risking losing a good source of income.

 

[Steve_P]

Depends entirely on the customer. Some assume 28 days and you have to go with that. A builder I worked for recently, fed me a load of bull s**t and after about a month and a half I threatened him with legal action.

 

[timbobelfast]

Finally received a cheque last week. All it took was a strongly worded letter.

It gets my goat how some of these companys operate with a wall of silence.

I think that will be the last time I do work for any other charities!

 

[Steve_P]

It's the silence that gets me every time.

 

[Thomas123]

Before you even leave their house ! Lol

 

[Octopus]

Got 2 small customers oweing me £62.50 and £50.00 respectively.

Both are ignoring me completely and I could start legal action costing £25 ish pounds but even if I win the case there's no guarantee they will pay up and I suspect neither would be bothered about having a CCJ against them.

 

[Geordie Spark]

Got 2 small customers oweing me £62.50 and £50.00 respectively.

Both are ignoring me completely and I could start legal action costing £25 ish pounds but even if I win the case there's no guarantee they will pay up and I suspect neither would be bothered about having a CCJ against them.

I wonder how much a couple of new tyres for their cars would cost them.

 

[Octopus]

I wonder how much a couple of new tyres for their cars would cost them.

You're not suggesting anything dodgy are you? lol

 

[Geordie Spark]

You're not suggesting anything dodgy are you? lol

Would I ??? :angel_smile:

 

[MDJ]

Finally received a cheque last week. All it took was a strongly worded letter.

It gets my goat how some of these companys operate with a wall of silence.

I think that will be the last time I do work for any other charities!

Glad to hear they finally paid up Timbo, great news

 

[imago]

I answered a call to a potential (now not so) customer today. Fair to say, I'd been having a bit of a struggle and wasn't at my most placid. This pancake flipper starts giving me the third degree about everything from scheme membership to insurance cover and beyond. I did my best to answer calmly even though he hadn't described the work at that point. Shortly after I'd made up my mind that if he offered me 2 years work at twice my day rate I'd tell him to stuff it as he really was an objectionable creature.

Anyway, the point and relevence to this thread is when he asked "Do you have a minimum charge?" I replied "Yes, I do." "Well what is it then?" he enquired "Four times the cost of recovering the debt if you don't pay." "Click. Burrrr."

Sarcasm with customers is never a good thing, but it set me thinking that 'many's the true word said in jest'. So now I have decided on a minimum charge