Customer refusing to pay for service

Hi there

I'm after a bit of advice if possible.

I provide IT support to businesses, and one of the services I sell to customers involves me buying a full year'w worth from my supplier, then selling it on as a monthly service.

One of my customers requested that I invoice them quarterly for this service, which had been going fine for about a year. Then they decided to cancek AFTER I sent another quarterly invoice. They claimed it was due to financial difficulties. I informed them it was too late to cancel, they should have told me before the next invoicing period, but they claim they won't be able to pay for it.

I know the financial difficulty is a load of rubbish, and have sent follow up invoices, a warning letter, and am about to send a final letter before action, itemising interest and late payment charges.

If this continues and I apply to Moneyclaim Online, do you think they can claim they don't owe the money, seeing as there's no contract?

Thanks.

Hi Richard,

From a credit control point of view you really should get a simple contractual agreement in place that confirms the length of the agreement and termination procedures/costs. If you had this for the current issue simply supplying the document would remove any argument to payment.

That said it's worth looking at your email correspondence for any discussion and agreement of payment terms, contract length and the like as these will be useful in any claim.

As for how a judge will look on the claim, we are afraid that is anyone's guess without a contract!