need to vent my anger on here

[Spinner]

Oh the joys of being in business. For what’s its worth as soon as they passed the date of payment due I would have sent a letter giving them 7 days. Then visited them in person and used the friendly approach and all the stuff about small business staff to pay, Vat due etc and asked that if they cant pay in full then can they manage an interim payment even if it’s a small amount and the rest within 2 weeks. Then if 2 weeks passes issue court proceedings, contrary to what lots of people say it is worth it as every week that goes past they could be getting deeper in trouble.

 

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but perhaps its time to amend your terms and conditions to include a clause at the bottom saying the undersigned has read and agreed to our terms of conditions overleaf. Then somewhere in those terms include something along the lines of ‘in the event of late payment the contractor has the right to charge for storage of all materials / waste removed from the site or return them to the business address or address of the person signing this contract on behalf of the client / person or company as shown on the front of this contract’.

 

Try and get the boss / owners signature then if they go belly up you can turn up at his house. Either way when they have not paid simply turn up with said materials / waste point out the terms of the contract and ask for payment by debit card or cash. If not dump the materials / waste on there doorstep and proceed to small claims court. If it’s the bosses / owners address they still have a responsibility and cannot hide behind the businesses lack of funds or failure.

 

Run it by a solicitor to be sure.

[skyhuck]

This is a fair comment....but equally there are plenty of people who would just see this as a sign of weakness and make you wait even longer for your money

 

Maybe, but I don't seem to have the problems getting paid that many on here report.

[Highland Forestry]

If you have tried calling them and have been passed around the houses, I would be heading to thier office with a copy of the original purchase order/formalletter of go ahead, email etc and a copy of the invoice and politley ask to speak to the manager in charge of the job, and if he or she was unavailable I would ask to speak to a company director, MD etc.

If this failed to raise a payment on the day then I would ask my solicitor to send them a copy of the invoice along with a letter giving them a formal warning that payment to settle within the next 7 days will result in legal action.

If no payment came within 7 days I would instruct my solicitor to set legal proceeding against them and that would be that.

 

It probably costs a bit more with a solicitor, but they do keep you right - and at the end of the day by this stage in the game it's about the principal of the matter.

 

If the boot was on the other foot, and you owed money to them, being a factoring company, they would already have handed your account over to a debt collection company.

 

It seems you have been quite lenient with them so I would be looking now to make things more formal and let them know in no uncertain terms that you do need to be paid, and if they do not pay the invoice in full then you will use the correct and legal mechanisms to force a payment.

 

Tipping the waste back at their premises is very unprofessional IMO and would constitute an irrational act as you would most likely end up with a fine, or at the very least a caution for breach of the peace.

 

Keep it legal, keep it professional and keep your reputation in tact

[renewablejohn]

This is a fair comment....but equally there are plenty of people who would just see this as a sign of weakness and make you wait even longer for your money

 

I tried the softly softly approach to a member on here for 3k of log processing hire back in January. As Steve said he viewed it as a sign of weakness and kept promising payment and finally after a cryptic comment on Arbtalk he confirmed that a cheque was in the post. Obviously a fortnight later and still no cheque we issued a 7 day letter and put debt into hands of Thomas Higgins. Now in court for collection which he has now defended so dont expect to get paid for at least another 6 months. Turns out after speaking to trading standards that I am only one of many creditors chasing him including former climbers and groundies. I understand Steves policy with regards to naming and shaming but really some people do not deserve to be in business.

[Catweazle]

I have used these people;

 

LPL Commercial Investigations - Home

 

for many late payers. So far they've got 100% payment.

 

I wouldn't set them onto a valued customer who was having staff or cashflow problems, but for the chancers ( sometimes big corporations ) who take the mickey they are great.