Company reg no missing from our invoice. Valid excuse?

I'm chasing an invoice from May, the latest in the string of excuses is that the copy of the invoice I sent them does not have our company reg number or registered address on it and this is a legal requirement, which I agree is, it was not on the footer of this invoice.

They have this info from our submitted supplier info sent in June but they have only informed us of the omission today.

My question is, if legal action was to take place - ie. they contested late payment on these grounds - would my omission of this information on their invoice warrant as a valid excuse for non-payment?

Hi Jon,

The issue here is not so much is it a valid excuse but is it a valid invoice!!

Information provided at the following link may be helpful:

www.lawdonut.co.uk/tools/disclosure-of-company-details-stationery-and-premises


It may be that in this instance "Ruttle" does not provide the answer as your invoice may be valid and undisputed.

Sometimes a little knowledge in the wrong hands can be a dangerous thing!!

You really do need to escalate this matter and perhaps the first thing you should do after escalating this particular issue is to review your credit control policies because if your customer is right you have a problem.

Good Luck

LH

Thanks for info, it's a clear case of the 'big boys' dragging their heals and stringing it out as long as they can 'because they [think they] can'!

Work carried out and invoice sent for 2 exports to China.... 30 days later invoice chased "we need to set you up as a supplier'.... forms replied to ... 30 days passes again.... invoice chased.... "there's an issue with your VAT number" - we have had the same VAT number since 1995, it's on all our invoices, no issue with VAT number ..... "there's no company number or registered address on your invoice", as it happened the email version they were sent did not have this on the footer, however all other correspondence does.... "Now we need a Purchase order from the person that booked the job", finally a PO was issued, PO authorised, invoice cleared for payment...... and still waiting!

Thanks for the 'Good Luck'! It seems we all need it in business these days!

Jon

We got paid, but had this amusing email....

'The input team here at X & X advised me that the invoice was paid on Thursday 4th September 2014. It should have cleared in your account shortly after that.

We disagree that this payment was made late. There was a mistake in your vendor set-up form, a form that is required before a PO can be raised and therefore is required to be correct before an invoice can be paid.

Our vendor set-up team only received the correct information from you on 19th August 2014, so payment on 4th September 2014 was well within the 30 day payment terms.'

31st May until 4th September? The vendor set up form was sent on 11th June.... now I would expect more from a 'vendor set-up team' than take 2 months to set up a supplier!

Is it really worth arguing with these people over £44.07, the sad thing is that no-one does and they are left to get away with it.

Keep up the great work Pay On Time team!!