Non payment of invoice

Hi, i could do with some questions answering. I did some carpentry work for a Ltd company on 23/7/2010 invoice total £190. After about 5 weeks and numerous phone calls i realised that i was not going to get my money without a fight. I sent the company a letter stating i was charging them debt recovery charges of £40 and interest on the payment @ 8.5% 30 days after the date on the invoice. Still no payment. The last letter i sent 14/10/2010 was a demand for the full amount which had gone up to £232.08 or i would take them to the small claims court. I recieved a cheque 5 days later but for the orignal amount £190. I sent that back refusing it a telling them that if they did not pay the full amount it would be the small claims court.The £42 is not the issue its the principle of the matter. The questions i need answering are:

*The money online claim form does not allow for debt recovery charges what do i need to do and also they say i can charge only 8% not 8.5% is that correct?

*What other aspects do i need to get right regarding taking the company to court?

*Do you just claim for interest up to the date on the court letter?

I might need more question answering and i also feel the amount of time i have spent on this does not justify spending any more tim on it but companies like this even its only a small amount should not be allowed to get away with treating people/ business like this.

Hope to hear off somebody soon.

Thanks. Paul

You should have kept and cashed the cheque for £190. Then dealt with the latepayment compensation.

The interest I guess will only be due up to the date you received the cheque.

You should easily get you £40 plus interest up to date of cheque and your small claims fee. As it would hardly be in the Ltd company's interest to defend such a small fee.


Just make sure your payment terms where clearly on your invoices.

My advice, try and get the £190 cheq re-issued and then deal with the compensation.

If you dont want to do that, then claim the full amount, I think interest should run to date of cheque. Anything else, if the court heard it, they might say you where unreasonable and dismiss part of your claim. Taking account of the date you did receive the cheq.

I think on your claim, you just mention the total amount of your claim including the compensation charge and the interest separate.

Dont know if that helps or not, but thats what I would do. But your call !