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Regular client who NEVER pays on time
I have been doing a regular piece of work every week for a client for the past few months now, and they never pay on time.
They are a company with at least 30 employees, I would say, and the only ones apparently authorised to make payments are the MD and the Finance Director.
Payment is always made later than the 30 day payment terms and after much cajoling and sending of reminders. My reminder emails never get acknowledged. It is a regular piece of work I do for them so they should be used to paying efficiently.
I have offered them some moderately firm words, and would like to go further by charging them £40 each time they are late or perhaps by refusing to work if payment is overdue. Unfortunately I really like having the money when they do pay, and I am mindful that if I withhold the work, or attempt to charge them £40 - which they may well ignore - it could end up in a situation where I lose the work.
Any ideas how best to deal with them?
They are a company with at least 30 employees, I would say, and the only ones apparently authorised to make payments are the MD and the Finance Director.
Payment is always made later than the 30 day payment terms and after much cajoling and sending of reminders. My reminder emails never get acknowledged. It is a regular piece of work I do for them so they should be used to paying efficiently.
I have offered them some moderately firm words, and would like to go further by charging them £40 each time they are late or perhaps by refusing to work if payment is overdue. Unfortunately I really like having the money when they do pay, and I am mindful that if I withhold the work, or attempt to charge them £40 - which they may well ignore - it could end up in a situation where I lose the work.
Any ideas how best to deal with them?
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Dcmtr
Messages count : 20Likes count : 0Registration : 27 May 2008Thanks for the reply. I've put in my terms that compensation may be levied for late payments. I believe the standard amount chargeable by law is, as you say, about 8% *plus* a £40 fixed fee. The only problem is that the 8% interest will be a negligible amount, and it will probably be hard to get them to pay the £40! Slightly comforting to think I am not alone anyway. cheers. - Contact in PM
glebe digital
Messages count : 105Likes count : 2Registration : 21 December 2006Dcmtr - You are not alone, there's a lot of it about right now.
I've recently had a number of invoices stretching back six to eight months, all one can do is keep politely asking & reminding.....even that, in the current climate, makes you look like 'a pain' when all you want is the money you rightly earned. Even this softly-softly approach can make the client go elsewhere, which seems to be happening to quite a few small design Co.s at the moment.
Difficult times, but if you follow the markets, that 'light at the end of the tunnel' is a freight train with your name on it.
Best o' luck. 😉CGI Specialist - Contact in PM
Opus
Messages count : 87Likes count : 3Registration : 4 February 2008I had a similar issue with a client - payment was pretty much always 60 days and only after lots of reminders. I know with other suppliers to the same company they are often often paying on 90 days or more though. I never solved it but I'm not doing so much work there anymore (largely because I've moved away from doing that type of thing).
I never got around to it, but I'd considered increasing my fees to them but then offering a discount if paid within a defined period (possibly 14 days) - essentially meaning they would pay the original fee if they did so on time. I hadn't worked out the finer points of this but I was working on the principle of giving them an incentive to pay early rather than a penalty for paying late. Worth considering?Opus Creative Design Ltd - Contact in PM
Dcmtr
Messages count : 20Likes count : 0Registration : 27 May 2008Thanks for the further replies. Yeah the discount for prompt payment seems like a good idea, maybe in future I will build it into the price from the beginning. Problem is upping the price now could be tricky. Pity I like having the money so much, otherwise I would have real fun telling them where to stick it!