invoicing

[cred]

hi guys,
i have started doing a few jobs for a letting agent, i was wondering how long you guys wait for payment before you send a reminder, do you work on a 30 day invoice system.
i did a job on the 8th march and was thinking of sending a reminder tomorrow as it will be the 11th april,just over the 30 day period.
thanx
ray

[Rockford]

Your invoice needs to state the payment terms, and action to be taken if not paid.

I'd advise against chasing in writing in this instance - especially if you want to do work for them in the future. If you are worried about not being paid, just call them - tell them you're calling to ensure your invoice has been received for work carried out on ##/##/##. It's more than likely being processed, getting the 8 signatures it needs, being copied and filed by 13 different departments, and is now sat in the in-box of someone on holiday for a fortnight - it takes time.

Rockford.....

[cred]

cheers rockford, i think i will hold back with the letter for now (at least another month anyways!)

[pinky]

in an ideal world you get paid on 30 days, though many companies take 30 days from date invoice recieved, many more pay 30 days from the end of the month of invoice, others take 60 days from end of month, and major contracts with the large firms often take 90 days plus.

downside to business and self employment, but you want there contract work you take there terms, swine and always aimed at kicking the small guy, but a harsh reality.

[toomush2drink]

On the bottom of the invoice state your terms and conditions ie late payments charged x% per day. This way its clear and above board then if they do get funny and along the line your sending chase up letters then it gives you some leverage. Its up to you wether or not you enforce it out of goodwill etc but it seems to work most of the time for me. The only time it didnt work i called up the company concerned and they sternly told me i wouldnt work for them again if i charged them interest. Well if your going to pay a month late i WILL charge interest as i have bills to pay too. They stopped using me after that incident but im not bothered as they came to me in the first place so its their loss as they cant cover the work. Arrogant attitude i have ? well maybe but most small business's go under because of a lack of cashflow so where do you draw the line. Im not going to let a big company shaft me because they look down on me as a nobody, yet i was the one who got them out of a corner when they couldnt cover the work as they came to me. Nope im not subbing at silly rates for these big companies only to be paid late.

[acl]

Oh god dont get me started on this one! Im afraid it seems to me you can put what you like on the bottom of your invoice 7,14 or 30 days ,most big cos just ignore it anyway.We are owed money from as far back as August 04,granted most of it is due to mistakes their end or mine but certainly from Janurary onwards.its partly our fault as we dont ever seem to get time to chase it. When we do finally get a moment to do so we usually find things start moving.
I had changed a lock in October at a local village hall ,sent an invoice straight away,followed by about 3 or 4 reminders, no cheque and no correspondence.Fiday i dropped another copy of invoice of with a little note saying the lock would be removed if it wasnt paid in 7 days and sure enough i got a phonecall within a couple of hours!
Andy

[acl]

And i got the cheque this morning,funny that eh?

[master in training]

ok, im only 17 and certainly not a locky, so no flames please! but how about getting some things printed up, like self carbonating pages ro something, so theres a copy for customers and a copy for records? on them have printed XXXXX locksmiths, contact details etc, then at the bottom, have this is an invoice, late payment=x% per day added to bill or something like that?

would it work or is it a really poor idea?

[EvoRed]

That's exactly what I, and probably most on here, do use, although at the moment I don't stipulate any penalty for late payment on the standard invoice sheet. Unfortunately, it still doesn't make some people pay up in the specified time!

[master in training]

print on in big bold letters failure to pay will result in 25% of bill added each day of non-payment, after 30days a blocker will be used until payment or something similar. that'd make me pay up fairly quickly!

[Rockford]

You're a hard man m.i.t.

[master in training]

lol, it was an example, i made it up as i went along, it doesnt have to be that exactly word for word!

but yes...if someone takes advantage, i get unfriendly rather quickly

[Rick-the-Pick]

Unfortunately that's how business's operate world wide.
It's such a pain when when your invoice get's stuck in the system, and your eye's would open up when you see how these large companies juggle their finances!
The most common technique is called shoving, shoving invoice's into the next months payments purely to keep the existing months expenditure below the bollicking level.
Anybody's invoice could be shoved six times on one payment, and many companies operate a scream only policy! Pay the one's who scream!
So it's alway's worth chaising your unpaid invoice. Someone with a heart might dig it back out of the shoved tray direct it to the treasurer!

[Varjeal]

If you have a local business office supply centre, go check that out. They usually have carbon-copied invoice books you can stamp with your company name and write any info at the bottom necessary.

Here are a couple of "rules" to keep in mind.

1. Keep it polite. Remember, you want people to actually pay the invoice.
2. Use reasonable terms. Unreasonable terms will NOT stand up in court. Use similar rates to what the credit card companies use.
3. Make it bold and plain and be sure your commercial client knows exactly what's expected. If they want different terms they can ask for them. My standard is "due on receipt" which means immediate payment due.

For example, for your commercial clients, you may want to offer 30 days, so put something like: "Payment due within 30 days, late payment results in 2.5% finance change added every 7 days thereafter. Invoices over 60 days handed over for collection and fees added to total invoice. Full payment required before invoice will be marked paid."

Also, regarding unpaid or late payers....start off with a friendly visit (if they're close by be sure to have a copy of the invoice,) or phone and ask for the person who signed the invoice. Let them be aware that the invoice is late...DON'T wait more than a day or two past due to do this.

If that visit doesn't get you a cheque, wait a week, perform the same, this time having a letter requesting prompt payment plus a copy of the invoice with charges added.

Stick by the word you have on your invoices, and ALWAYS keep track of the exact date and times that you did all the above stuff as it may come down to details if you need to go to court for the amount.

If you let one person get away with it, you'll become a doormat. ALWAYS leave an opening though for settlement if it's possible to avoid court.

Be pleasant, and be firm.

[cred]

thanx guys for all your ideas, gives me more options on how to approach it now.
thankyou
ray